Page 80 of Daily Grind
“I— Uh.” He glanced at his watch. “I can’t make it by then.” Panic in his voice. “No, no, if you’re that sick, you can’t come in. I’ll figure something out.” He swallowed. “Thanks for the call.”
Brian held out the phone again and just stared at it, skin white, eyes wide, breath coming too fast. Rob touched his shoulder. “Hey, hey.”
Trembling muscles beneath Rob’s hand. “Mark can’t make his shift. Sounded horrible. Says he’s been throwing up all night. He passed out around dawn and just woke up.” Brian looked away from the phone, but didn’t focus on anything. “Beth’s shift ends in thirty minutes.” A whisper of words.
There was no way they could be back at Grounds N’at in that time. None. Even if they ran back to the car, that would probably take a good twenty minutes. Then an hour’s drive.
Brian sank down to his knees, as if his legs could no longer hold him. Given how much his hands shook, that might have been the case. Rob crouched next to him and took his hand. “Bri—breathe.”
“Can’t.” Brian said. “Beth can’t close the store. Doesn’t have a key. Can’t set the alarm. God, I shouldn’t have…” He trailed off, a touch of color blossoming.
Shouldn’t have left the city with Rob. Never gone hiking. A bitter taste in Rob’s throat. Oh, he knew this was a fluke. You couldn’t predict illness. But a voice—his business sense—wondered if Brian hadn’t been cutting things so close to the edge with personnel—would this have happened? Hard to say. Right now, he had to be a boyfriend, not a fucking CEO. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” Brian snapped. He pulled his hand from Rob’s.
Like a punch to the stomach. He gritted his teeth and said nothing. Brian was upset, but God, hehatedwhen people—boyfriends especially—did that. He was trying tohelp.
After a moment, Brian met his gaze. “Sorry—that was unfair.”
Rob nodded. “I know you’re upset. But let’s take a moment and figure this out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out. I’mscrewed, Rob.”
Maybe he was, but he was also in a full-blown panic. “Who has a key to your shop? Knows how to set the alarm?”
A flicker of sanity in those panicked eyes. “Miranda, Mark, me, and…” He took a breath. “Justin.”
“Justin White?”
Brian nodded. “When Justin left, I had him give the key and the code to Sam, since they were right above me. In case of an emergency. But I think Justin still has the key.”
“Well, I think this counts.” Sure as hell did in his book.
Brian was already pulling up his contacts. A moment later, he held the phone to his ear. “Justin? It’s Brian. I know this is really odd, but I need to ask you a big favor.” A pause. “Okay, so Mark has the next shift at the shop, but he’s down with a stomach thing and I’m up at McConnells Mill and—” He stopped and blushed. “Yeah, with Rob.” Brian blinked. “No I just need you to—” He pulled the phone away and looked at it ruefully. “He wants me to put him on speaker.”
That was odd. Rob shifted on his feet, ankles protesting from the long stint of crouching.
Brian tapped something on the screen. “Okay.”
“I wanted a witness,” Justin said, his voice tinny over the phone. “Because I know Brian’s not going to listen to me.”
“I just need you to close the shop. I’ll reopen it when I get back there.”
The resentment drove ice down Rob’s spine. He tried not to frown at the leaf-strewn trail. OfcourseBrian would rush back.
“Yeah, and that’s why I wanted to be on speaker. I’m going to work Mark’s shift for you. You stay up there andenjoyyourself. You hardly ever get a day off.”
“I can’t ask you to do that!” Brian’s voice pitched higher.
Justin was eminently reasonable. “You’re not. I’moffering. Look, it’s Saturday. Eli and I have nothing planned and I was going to go biking anyway. I always liked working the shop, and this is asmallthing, Bri.”
Brian exhaled and looked up at Rob. “What do you think?”
Oh, that was a fucking loaded question. He cleared his throat. “I’d love to spend the rest of the day with you. You know I would.”
Brian’s face hardened.
“But I also know you need to do whatever makes you comfortable.” Which, in all likelihood, was to rush back to the shop. That place was his first love, indeed. Not like Brian hadn’t warned him.
