Page 9 of Late Fees

“Tough.”

“Ugh. I’m just saying, maybe get to know me a little better before picking a name.”

“I shoot from the hip, Weezer. Annnnd, don’t even get me started on Alanis Morissette.”

“What’s wrong with Alanis?”

“You do know that she was a Canadian pop star just a few years ago, right? This whole alternative flower child bullshit is a farce.”

“A farce?”

Hannah leaned in closely. “See? Fifty-year-old man.”

“Hey, Boss Lady, don’t encourage the new associate.”

“I give the orders around here, Sully. And watch your language, please. I think I saw a kid in the store.” Hannah looked to Emmett. “Our other new person, Kevin, will be here any minute. He and Tilly are going through a training session from corporate this afternoon.”

“Wow, corporate’s going all out these days, huh? My training was literally being put on the register to fend for myself,” Sully scoffed.

“I highly doubt that,” Hannah said, rolling her eyes.

“No, um…actually, he’s kinda right.” Emmett shrugged. “We didn’t get any formal training, just…trial by fire.”

“And somehow we survived, Polaroid.”

“Polaroid?” I asked, looking between Emmett and Sully, knowing there was a story there.

Emmett pointed to his head. “Photographic memory.”

“Ah-ha.”

“It’s going to take a while for you to learn all the Sully nicknames,” Hannah said, and Sully winked.

“Just don’t call him Bryan,” Emmett said, raising his eyebrows at Sully. Sully grabbed a stuffed cat from next to the register and chucked it at Emmett, who cracked up.

Hannah shook her head, looking amused and annoyed in equal measure. “He hates his first name.”

“I can see that. What’s with the cat?”

“Mr. Whiskers. Don’t worry, you’ll meet him when the time is right.”

“Meet him?” Puzzled, I stared at Sully. “I’ll meet a stuffed cat?”

“Another long story,” Hannah said, looking just outside the store. “Here comes Kevin. Behave yourselves, guys. I don’t want either of these two quitting before they even get started. We need the extra hands.”

A tall guy with dark brown hair and deep brown eyes entered the store. Our eyes locked on one another for just a moment before Hannah greeted him. After introducing him to the guys, she turned to me.

“And this is Tilly. The two of you will be going through training together. We’re going to start with a very exciting video.”

“Titillating,” Sully said under his breath, and Hannah scowled at him. I couldn’t help but laugh as we walked away from the desk, following Hannah to the back room.

“Tilly, right?” Kevin asked. He smelled like fresh coffee and baked bread.

“Yep,” I said with a smile. “Did you just come from a café or something?”

“Yeah, I was at Cool Beans down the street. How did you know?”

I tapped the side of my nose. “Nothing gets by this sniffer.”

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