Page 30 of Afternoon Delight
“If you want to walk up to the school and ask whether they’ll let you do that, go ahead, but I can’t go with you today. I have—” I pointed at the customer coming in. “And they like privacy, so you have to leave.”
“’Kay. Can I have some money for the coffee shop?”
I rolled my eyes but found some cash in my purse. “Bring me a scone or something, would you?”
Chapter 15
Meg
Things got busier as the day wore on.
I had Roddie bring me a rice bowl from Nooners, the café up the street, before Mom came by to take him home. She asked if I needed help, but she caught me in a quiet moment, so I said I was fine. The minute she left, people began streaming in again.
Fortunately, one of them was Gail, Georgia’s sister. She worked for a concierge service at the Oak Bay Marina, which she mostly loved. The hours were flexible, which meant she didn’t need a lot of childcare and every day was different. Over the years, she had encountered what she called “seriously posh knobs.” She had some wild stories.
She also looked amazing at all times—full makeup, eyelash extensions, tasteful nail art, and trendy yet professional clothing. Today’s wig was a sophisticated, chin-length bob that made you instinctively believe she was in control of whatever might be freaking you out in the moment.
Like me, right now.
“It’s busy,” Gail said, with a wondrous look around.
“I know. Any chance I can recruit you?”
“I can stand at the desk and do the cash sales.”
“That would be amazing. Thank you.”
“I want it to go well. Georgia’s so stressed.”
“I know,” I said, concerned. The good news was that Georgia was a candidate for the less-invasive surgery. The date was set for next week. It was weighing on me, so I could only imagine how frightening it was for Georgia and Gail.
Having Gail at the desk freed me up to wander with my trusty tablet, looking up items for more information or running transactions if people paid by credit card.
A group of women in the corner were laughing in bursts, clearly enjoying themselves as they pointed at different items.
“Any questions?” I asked as one of them noticed me.
“Are you Meg? I’m Zara.” She reached across the prostate stims to offer her hand.
“Hi! Good to meet you finally.”
Zara’s resemblance to her father and brother was more subtle than the similarity between the men. Her hair was streaked with ash-blonde, and her features were softened by postpartum pounds that I knew from experience were a bitch to lose. Why did we even bother when they added such pretty, voluptuous curves to our bodies? Zara wasn’t as tall as her twin, but she had Zak’s blue eyes, a firm handshake, and that Halligan winning smile.
“Zak told me you were coming with your book club. Welcome.” I smiled at her friends.
“Wine club,” Zara said out of the side of her mouth, then introduced me to Imani, Presley, and Yu-Jun.
“I was going to pitch you a book from our erotica collection, but wine club sounds fun, too,” I said.
“Erotica sounds fun,” Yu-Jun said. “We met through a friend who made us read the most depressing books. As if we don’t have enough real life problems to stress us out.”
“The first meeting after she moved, we got drunk and talked about how much we hated all the books she’d chosen.” Presley tucked her chin as she confessed that.
“It was actually our most lively discussion ever.” Imani’s accent lilted with British notes. “We wouldn’t have met if she hadn’t started the club. The goal was to read more diverse books, which we did, so we try not to slag her too much.”
“But also, fuck her and her fetish for suffering,” Presley said.
“We specialize in fetishes with happy endings here.” I did a game-show wave at the table of products they’d been giggling over. “Can I show you how some of these vibrators work?”
