Page 122 of Worst Nanny Ever
“We want to know what’s going on with Travis,” Briar says, lifting her tea for a sip.
It’s not like they’re not in the know. I’ve been group texting them about the whole situation in a long stream-of-consciousness babble.
I grin at Briar. “For someone who’s so entirely done with love, you’re sure interested in it. You should be begging me to stay away from Travis, because as soon as Dottie decides she’s done working her magic on me, she’s coming for you next. She said we were all going to find our great loves. Nora too. It sounded like a threat.”
“So you’re admitting Travis is your great love?” Sophie says, her eyes sparkling.
“I don’t know,” I say, which makes her look like I just tore a puppy out of her hands, so I admit, “I’m happy, though. Really happy. And last night we told Ollie we’re seeing each other, andhewas happy. But you and I aren’t having a double wedding no matter what happens. I figure I should say that right now to get it out of the way.”
“Who says I want a double wedding?” she asks, glancing at Briar with a mischievous look in her eyes. “I’ll settle for nothing less than a triple wedding.”
“Not a four-way?” I waggle my eyebrows. “Dottie insists that Nora is going to pop up when we least expect her.”
“I don’t blame her for not wanting to talk to us,” Briar says,setting her teacup down. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to be friends with you two in the beginning.”
Sophie gasps as if she just slapped her across the face.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy I did,” Briar says quickly, setting her hand on top of Sophie’s. “But Jonah made me feel so dumb and blindsided, just like I did after my business partner took off with all our money. I didn’t want to keep my stupid mistakes. Maybe that’s how Nora feels.”
“Like hanging with us would mean reliving a horrible memory over and over again?” I ask.
“Yeah, but either way, I say we let her live her life while we live ours.” Briar sighs and fidgets in her chair. “I could really use some good news right now, though, so tell us more about Travis.”
I hesitate, not wanting to gush when she’s clearly dealing with something right now, but I know she believes in even exchanges, so I tell them about the last few days: Travis’s little gifts. The way he’s been helping with Project Applebottom Jeans. How he signed those printed photos of his face so I could send them to Alice and her friends even though he hated doing it. (I made up for it by giving him head beneath the table, which goes without saying.) How he agreed to switch to tacos on Monday night even though it’s supposed to be spaghetti night. (To be fair, the tacos were terrible, so we ended up making spaghetti anyway.)
“You’re glowing,” Briar says with a smile that doesn’t meet her eyes.
“What did your father do to you this time?” I ask suspiciously.
She cradles her head in her hands.
“Briar?” Sophie asks, reaching across the table to put a hand on her arm.
“My dad’s making me fire people,” she says.
I’dask why she’s playing along with his games at all, but I know the answer. She wants the brewery. To him, it’s a disposable project, one he never really liked that much in the first place. But she’s been working there for the past couple of years with the dream of running it, spending each day visualizing how it will go. It’s hard to let go of a dream like that. Especially since her other dream is six feet under.
“Oh no,” Sophie says. “What did they do wrong?”
“Nothing,” Briar says flatly. “He thinks we have too many bartenders now that we scaled back the food menu to just appetizers. So he wants me to pick two people to fire by the end of November. Then he’s going to make me be the one to break the news. It’s part of Briar Boot Camp.”
“Wow, no offense, but your dad’s a piece of work,” I say. “Are you sure he’s not just messing with you to see what it’ll take to get you to say no?”
She releases a heavy sigh and leans back in her chair. “Ididsay no. He threatened to fire five people unless I got on board. If he let five people go, the rest of the staff would be stretched so thin. They’d hate me anyway.”
“Should we introduce your dad to Dottie?” I ask. “She seems to have magic powers to transform assholes.”
“Even she couldn’t save Jonah,” Sophie says, and we all take a moment to savor memories of the asshole’s downfall. Sure, he’s still gainfully employed, but he had to change careers, go work for his daddy, and now every woman in town knows that he’s a philandering creep. That’s got to sting.
“I think I’m going through with it,” Briar says after a moment. “I overheard my dad talking to my mom about his new business. Sounds like they already closed on a space, so it seems like that’s getting closer. This might be one of the final hoops I haveto jump through.”
“I don’t think you should have to jump through any hoops,” Sophie says, frowning.
“I can probably convince Travis to send him a glitter bomb,” I offer. “He’s turning into a loose cannon.”
“And you love it.” Sophie smiles at me.
“I do,” I confirm. “He’s this amazing blend of predictable and unpredictable. I can’t get enough of him.”
