Page 34 of Hope & Harmony

Wild Hope

CHAPTER 1

“After you.”

Andi Jennings smiled at the attractive man, who waited to hold the door for her at the Stop and Go convenience store. “Thanks.”

The man nodded, and the two of them entered together. He walked toward the coffee pots while she headed around the checkout counter.

“I’m here,” she said to Barbie, who gave her a grateful smile before reaching under the counter for her purse, rooting around for her car keys.

“Oh, thank God. I’m so sorry to do this to you, Andi, but my husband is absolutely useless when Eleanor is sick. He can’t stand the sight of vomit. Makes him gag, and he always has to leave the room.”

Andi crinkled her nose, recalling Robbie, who seemed to have a similar aversion to poopy diapers. She got the sense Barbie’s husband had discovered the best way to get out of dirty jobs was to protest too much. “I’m not sure anyone enjoys cleaning it up.”

“Yeah, well, Robbie is the worst. He’s called three times because he moved her from her bed to ours to the couch and shegot sick on all three. He’s out of places to put her, and I swear I’m going out of my mind with all his play-by-play texts about how she’s crying nonstop and how he’s got every window in the apartment open to air it out. He’s twenty-five, for God’s sake. You would think he could deal with a sick kid for a few hours without being such a drama queen.”

In addition to being coworkers, they were friends, so Andi had met Barbie’s husband countless times. Barbie had a running joke about being the mother of a beautiful four-year-old girl and a man-child. Andi didn’t have the heart to tell her the joke was less funny and more accurate.

Barbie looked miserable. “I’m so sorry to dump this on you. I know you just got off at the pub and you have to go to the hotel right after this. I hope you managed to get a little bit of sleep before I called.”

“I’m fine,” Andi reassured her. “Go take care of Eleanor. Craig will be here at six, so it’s only a few hours.”

Andi didn’t add that, even though it was three a.m., she hadn’t been to bed yet. She’d closed Pat’s Pub at two and just gotten back to her apartment when Barbie called asking her to cover the last part of her shift. Today was going to be one long-ass day.

“You’re an angel.” Barbie gave her a quick hug and scurried out the door.

Andi slid on her name tag and stashed her purse under the counter.

The handsome man who’d come in with her still stood near the coffee pots, perusing the packaged pastries. She took a moment to study him, curious about what brought someone like him into a place like this.

They got all sorts of people in the convenience store, though they didn’t get many hot guys in tuxedos. While he’d dumped the bow tie somewhere, unbuttoning the first couple of buttonson his dress shirt, he was still way overdressed for this place. Even in profile, she could see just how good-looking he was with his chiseled jaw, dimples, and five-o’clock shadow. His hair was dark brown with just a sprinkle of gray at the temples.

When he looked at the coffee pots and sighed, she called out, “Can I help you?”

The man turned around, his expression turning serious when he saw her standing there. He looked displeased about something.

“Are the pots empty?” She walked around the counter and down the aisle where he stood. “I can make a fresh pot if you’d like.”

He glanced around the store as if looking for someone, then shook his head. “There is coffee. I’m simply debating between a cup of it or a bottle of water. Coffee sounds better, but…”

“Keeps you up at night?”

He nodded. “It does.”

“It does the same to me.” She lifted the pot and poured herself a cup. One of the perks of the job was that they could help themselves to the coffee. Andi would need a jolt of caffeine if she hoped to stay awake. “But I’m still many, many hours away from bedtime.”

The man watched as she added a dash of cream to her cup. “I suspect coffee is a must if you work the night shift,” he said before glancing at her name tag, “Andi.”

“This isn’t usually my shift. I’m just covering for my friend.”

“So the other woman left?”

Andi nodded. “Sick kid.”

“I see.” She got the feeling he didn’t like her answer, though she couldn’t figure out what she’d said wrong.

Andi took a sip of coffee, then set the cup down so she could clean up the counter, pitching empty sugar packets and coffee stirrers in the trash can. Barbie was typically on top of keepingthings tidy, which just proved how much Robbie had been annoying her with his constant texts and calls.

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