Page 50 of If Only In Our Dreams

“Kinky.”

“Don’t start your flirty little shit with me. You know it doesn’t work.” Nancy sighed, a slow put-upon sound. My heart flooded with warmth, my love for her growing exponentially as a car passed by on the street. They honked at me, but it was friendly, and the driver waved so I waved back.

This was some Twilight-Zone shit.

“Are you still putting my renewal contract together?” I asked, picking at a hangnail on my thumb.

Nancy was all bark but no bite. She’d mother hen me to death if she could, even though she was probably the severest, scariest person I’d ever met.

Seemed I liked a lot of those kinds of people.

Lookin’ at you, Ben Montgomery, and your tallness. Nancy was half his size but still towered over me. They could both compete for resting bitch face of the year, though I figured Nancy would probably win—simply because of her competitiveness.

Ben was more chill than she was.

“Yes,” Nancy sighed after a long, drawn-out pause. I’d half-expected her to hang up on me but was grateful she hadn’t.

“Do you think it would be possible to negotiate my time off?” I asked, moving on from picking at my nail to biting it. “You know, so I could…” I trailed off, cheeks growing hot as I realized what my question would imply.

“You’re liking it there, then? In bumfuck Vermont?”

“No bumfucking has happened unfortunately, but yeah.” I bit harder, voice muffled. “I like it. It’s weird. People are…nice. No one bugs me. It’s kinda…peaceful?”

“How much time off are we talking about?” Nancy had officially gone into business mode. “Holidays?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged a shoulder, shrinking in on myself even though she couldn’t see. Another car passed. Another honk. Another wave.

Damn, people here were so nice.

“Maybe summers too?” I wiggled uncomfortably. “And um, Miles’s birthday. Bubba’s birthday too. I’ll need a week for both.” My mind whirred. “Valentines too. Miles told me yesterday that he has a hard time prepping for class during the holidays. Maybe I could come back and help?”

Nancy was silent.

“Oh, and Halloween!” I blurted, still biting at my nail. Couldn’t catch the damn thing with my teeth. “I need to be here for Halloween. I can’t miss that.”

“What aboutyourbirthday?” Nancy’s voice was gentle—the gentlest I’d ever heard it.

“My birthday would be cool too,” I agreed, already imagining that.

I could throw a party! Invite Ben and his kids. Miles, Trent, and Bubs. Hell, even Ben’s grumpy brother, Paxton, could come. Actually, you know what—it would be weird not to just invite everyone, right? Maybe Matilda would let me host it at the B&B and we could get the haunted house up and going again.

There’d be lights and food andmusic!

I could get one of those projector things and play Tim Burton movies on it. Hire scare actors. The whole shebang. Could test run animatronics with Ben and the munchkins and pick out which ones were the spookiest!

“So…you want…every holiday off. Summers off. Your birthday, Miles, Bubba, and?—”

“Ben’s too,” I added, even though I didn’t know when it was. “I bet he’s not great at celebrating his own birthday. I could throw him a party!”

“And Ben’s birthday.” Nancy sounded amused. She didn’t ask me who Ben was, which I appreciated because I knew my voice would betray me. “Robin,honey,” her tone softened in a way it only had after my big fall last year. “Have you considered retiring?”

“Retiring?” I blinked, confused. “I mean, yeah, I’ve thought about it.”

“I hate to break it to you, sweetie, but your label isn’t going to like you not working…” There was a rustling sound in the background, like she’d been writing down my words. “Ever?”

“Oh.” I blinked, surprised, and then embarrassed. “Yeah…I mean. I guess I just…”

I’d thought about retiring.

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