Page 13 of The Problem with Dating

Willow walked over and yanked off a price tag that stated that the earrings were from Royalty Yours, our town’s jewelry store about a block down the way.

Mrs. Levels huffed and snatched the price tag from Willow’s grip. “Well, then.” She looked over at me with guilt pouring out of her eyes, but her tongue held too much pride to fold. “I thought I was wearing my other pair. These were a gift. Anyway, have a good day, ladies. I’ll be back for Shirley before closing.”

She hurried out of the store, brushing past Willow in a flurry, knocking my sister sideways slightly. “Whoa. What’s her issue?”

“She lied about the new earrings and dodged bringing her account up to date,” I explained.

Willow gave me a stern look. “Again? Yara, you can’t let her get away with not paying.”

I shrugged. “Mr. Parker let her go without paying, so it’s fine.”

“Uh, it’s not. Mr. Parker was a pushover.”

I laughed. “Pushover is my middle name.”

“Change your middle name,” Willow ordered. “Listen, not to sound like Avery, but screw Mrs. Levels’s deal and arrangements with Mr. Parker. You now own this place and need to run it like you’re the owner, not an employee.”

I pouted. “But it’s hard!”

“Hard work, big reward.” She brushed her thumb against her nose. “Or you know what? I can get Avery to give Mrs. Levels a piece of our mind and get her to pay.”

I shook my head. “Don’t you dare? The last time I asked her to stand up for me, a girl walked away with a bloody nose in fifth grade.”

“She called you brace-face,” she argued.

“You both called me brace-face, too.”

She waved me off. “That’s different. We’re your sisters. Bullying with siblings is the ultimate perk of having siblings. But anyone outside of us will get a bloody nose. I do mean it, though, Yara. You have to start standing up for yourself and your business at some point. I bet Mrs. Levels isn’t the only one who got away with not paying, is she?”

I swallowed hard, not wanting to mention how much the business had been suffering lately—even with having more dogs than ever before. Perhaps I let too many people slide by missing a payment here or there. Sadly enough, it was slowly catching up to me.

“How about you head in the back to help for the day like you said you would?” I mentioned. Whenever Willow was in town—which wasn’t often—she loved volunteering at my shop. If there was anything she loved as much as adventure, it was dogs.

Willow’s nose scrunched up. “Is Keri working today?”

“Yeah, she is. Why do you always make that face? Keri’s sweet.”

“She has a bad aura, Yara.”

I laughed. “Don’t do that. She’s just young. There’s nothing wrong with her.”

“If you say so, but all I’m saying is I have a sixth sense of sorts.”

“You can see dead people?”

“Well, that, too, but no. Keri gives me an odd feeling.”

“You’re overthinking this.”

“Maybe,” she agreed. “Or maybe you’re underthinking it—like with people paying. It would help if you spoke up,” she said. “Or I’ll tell Avery to do it for you.”

I tossed my hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay, I’ll handle it.”

“If you want, you can stop by Big Bird tonight to decompress.” She waved my hand. “I can feel your erratic energy.”

I pouted. “I’m not erratic.”

Yes, I was. The bills in my back office were enough to send me into another anxiety spiral. The number of panics I’ve had lately behind closed doors in my office was almost concerning. I couldn’t find a way to pull myself out of the debt hole for the business I’d seemed to be digging for myself.

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