“General Manager Remy Dauphine, please report to customer service. Your sexy and talented girlfriend Allison Miller, executive chef of Anjou—yes, that’s right, the local café currently making headlines—has arrived for your lunch date. She’s prepared some of their specialties just for you and is eagerly awaiting your arrival. Again, Remy Dauphine, please report to—”
“Are you outside of your mind?”
“Oh! It seems you’re already here. For your lunch date. With your sexy and talented girlfriend Allison Mil—”
“Why. Are you still. Announcing this?”
“Don’t you have more important things to worry about? You know, like your lunch date with—”
“Give me that!”
After what felt like an eternity of trying to wrestle the phone receiver from Jade’s hands, Remy stood towering over Jade, struggling to recover both her breath and her dignity. She clutched the receiver so tightly that the plastic began to creak under her fingertips, her victory feeling hollow as the blood rushing in her ears faded away only to be replaced by echoing laughter that seemed to be coming from all around her. Employees and customers alike were in various states of amusement; some were smiling in mild surprise or confusion while politely pretending to not notice, but most employees and regulars were doubled over in laughter. Jade’s misuse of the store’s intercom and her announcements of Allison’s arrival had slowly become nearly as frequent as the arrivals themselves and, to Remy’s chagrin, they had become popular enough that people had begun to look forward to them.
With as much dignity as she could muster, Remy hung up the receiver and rounded on Jade, ready to launch into the closest approximation of a tirade that professionalism would allow. Jade looked back up at her with her usual wide and entirely unrepentant smile, making it clear that any attempt at a reprimand would only add fuel to the fire. Already feeling exhausted by the conversation before it could even begin, Remy simply grumbled and stomped from behind the customer service desk and back toward the sales floor. She would never admit it, but she could never bring herself to take Jade’s smile away from her no matter how much she deserved it.
She normally detested the mere sound of the justification, but it really was just how Jade was. She had a talent for finding her way into people’s hearts, none more than those who resisted her. She could sense a broken heart from a mile away, and she had a penchant for mending them from within. While Remy initially found her off-putting as she only wanted to be left alone, coming to that realization made it difficult to stay angry with her for long. She was certainly forceful about it and it could even be argued that she occasionally took it too far, but there was no denying the good nature behind her intent. Seeing Remy’s relationship with Allison seemed to have inspired her to attempt to get Remy to open up more in general, and she’d recently begun to ambush Remy with incessant conversations about it when they were alone. When Allison was present, she often assumed the role of chaperone, monitoring their interactions as if attempting to ensure that things continued to progress in a positive direction. It was infuriating, but Remy knew her too well to deny that it was how she showed that she cared.
Unable to properly reprimand Jade under even the best of circumstances, Remy tried to push the matter from her mind entirely. Ignoring the barely concealed laughter from customers and the blend of amusement and fear of employees who scrambled out of her path, she came to a stop in front of Allison only to see her pursing her lips and turning crimson from the strain of trying to hold back laughter, herself. Remy groaned again, rolling her eyes as her shoulders slumped.
“Not you, too. You know what happens when you encourage her.”
Closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths, Allison seemed to be working up the courage to risk responding in a calm and neutral voice. “Come on, Remy…don’t be mad at her.”
Remy huffed as she took Allison by the hand and began leading her away from the laughter that was taking entirely too long to fade. Stalling for the time she needed to work her way up to a convincing argument, she busied herself with taking the heavy basket from Allison’s free hand as she led the way to their usual table in the deli. Finally ready to deliver a scathing retort, Remy placed the basket on the table and sat across from Allison only to have her thoughts derailed by arms wrapping around her from behind and squeezing her tightly. She didn’t bother to wonder who it was.
“The only thing saving you from disciplinary action right now is the fact that I can’t think of anything horrible enough to do to you yet.”
As expected, Remy’s empty threat was met by the sound of Jade’s cheerful laughter in her ear. “You have to admit…it was at least a little funny.”
“I don’t have to admit to any such thing. You’re just lucky that the employee manual doesn’t have any specific punishments outlined for being annoying.”
Remy had more to say, but she stopped herself in favor of repressing a sigh when she saw Allison standing up from her seat. Jade’s appearances during lunch had become so common that they had long since ceased to be questioned, and Allison often moved to sit next to Remy to make room for her. As if on cue, Jade released Remy and excitedly moved around the table to take the seat that Allison had just left. Remy initially worried about how the interruptions would be received, more for Allison’s sake than her own. Given that Allison’s baskets had become increasingly larger and heavier in response, however, it was clear that she didn’t mind the company. The most that she’d ever said about it was that she was surprised how everyone in the store seemed to have welcomed her. It was true that nobody had as much as raised an eyebrow when Allison’s visits became a regular occurrence and even seemed to look forward to them, but Remy found it strange that Allison was surprised by it. She’d never seen anyone oppose Allison’s arrival anywhere they went. The fact that it had caught her attention made Remy wonder how much she’d been worrying about being accepted, and that made it impossible to oppose anything that made it clear that she had been.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
“Am I the only one on my side here?”
Allison looked up, startled. “Of course not!”
The staunch denial was significantly undermined when Jade, already opening the basket and pulling out covered dishes, poorly stifled a laugh and said at the same time, “Yeah, pretty much.”
Before Remy could process the simultaneous and conflicting responses, her thoughts were again interrupted by the sound of another familiar voice. “Well, it’s three to one now. Sorry, sweetie—you’ve been outvoted.”
Again, Remy didn’t bother wondering who her newest source of opposition was. It wasn’t until Kate came into view as she walked around the table to sit next to Jade that she even thought to wonder who the third vote was. Looking up, she saw Serenity following several steps behind Kate and keeping her between them as if hiding behind her. When Kate sat down and left her exposed, a look of panic came over her as her eyes nervously darted from the table with no empty chairs to the nearest exit. Remy didn’t bother resisting the feeling of her heart’s softening. Still grumbling, she stood and grabbed a chair from a nearby empty table.
“How did this even come to a vote, anyway?”
Kate chuckled as she reached out to take the covered dish that Allison was handing to her. “It’s just democracy in action, sweetie.”
Remy huffed loudly, doing her best to look angry even as she walked around the table and gently led Serenity to her seat. “It sounds more like mutiny to me.” Hearing another stifled laugh from Jade, she turned to glare in response. “Shut up, you. I still haven’t ruled out finding a plank for you to walk.”
Time seemed to slow as everyone began eating and the conversation took too many twists and turns for Remy to follow. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t entirely become accustomed to these moments of being surrounded by people she cared about without constantly looking for escape routes and justifications for using them. More than that, she couldn’t become entirely accustomed to not wanting to. Sitting down to meals with familiar people was hardly new to her; in fact, it had been a regular occurrence for most of her life, particularly on Sundays after church. It wasn’t until recently, however, that she’d experienced the occasion without tension and hostility hanging in the air like a cloud of smoke and the fear of reprisal for acknowledging it by coughing. In her mind, these kinds of gatherings were an exercise in denial masked as restraint that could break out in any number of forms of violence at a moment’s notice. In her mind, this was simply how these things worked. It wasn’t until she heard one of her cousins at one such gathering tell stories of eating in a chow hall while deployed and hearing explosions in the distance that she could clearly define the feeling and start to wonder if it wasn’t normal. Rebuilding her expectations of simply being around others in intimate settings was among the more difficult things she’d had to do since coming to Violet Meadows but, looking at everyone around her, there was no question that it had been worth it.
“Oh! That’s right! I forgot why I actually came over.”
Feeling someone’s attention focused on her, a pang of fear caused Remy to look up and see Kate staring back at her. “…sorry, what?”
“The trip!” Kate suddenly looked excited, seemingly unaware of the relief that Remy found in her reaction. “We still need to go over some things.”
Remy’s relief slowly shifted toward suspicion. She’d arranged the details nearly as soon as it was decided that she was going, which made her wonder why Kate had actually brought it up. “Isn’t Jason going to be running things while I’m gone? Jade isn’t leaving until I get back, so I’ll just take over for her as soon as I do.”
Kate’s smile suddenly turned sheepish. “Well, yes…but…”
A quick glance around the table confirmed Remy’s suspicions. Jade’s knowing glance and Serenity’s barely contained excitement made it clear where the conversation was heading. “Fine…what do you want to know?”
Kate dispensed with all pretense, bouncing in her seat as she rushed to arrange her excitement into coherent sentences. “Okay, so I was looking at this first place where you and Allison are headed. Golden Hills, right?” Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her phone. Remy wasn’t at all surprised to see that information about the winery was already on the screen. “I did some digging and found out that there’s the cutest little bed and breakfast five minutes away! It’s so romantic—”
“Wait…hold on.” Remy hated to put a damper on Kate’s excitement, but responsibility took control of her train of thought. “This is still a business trip. There probably isn’t going to be…time for…”
Remy’s voice trailed off as she glanced at Allison, who was staring intently at Kate’s phone as she pulled up images of the bed and breakfast. Her eyes sparkled as she gasped at pictures of the property in autumn, a large Tudor manor in the center of a sprawling lawn at the end of a road lined with towering maple trees that slowly released golden leaves into the wind. As if in a daze, Allison looked back and forth between the phone and Remy, her eyes pleading.
“Well…we could probably…I mean, it’s not all going to be work…”
Cracks immediately took shape in Remy’s resolve. “Don’t you have meetings to attend? What about—?”
“Oh, there’s going to be plenty of time for that.” Jade didn’t even look up from her lunch, likely to hide her smirk as much as anything else.
“Mari already did the math. Even with all of the scheduled events and the requests for appearances, there’s still going to be plenty of downtime. Lily said that it’s probably a good idea to be seen around town, anyway. If we want people to tour Violet Meadows, we should start by doing the same thing there.”
For a moment, Remy could only stare at Jade in shock. Her particular brand of interference was typically just playful annoyance, but this was a calculated attack. It was no secret that well-reasoned arguments were Remy’s weakness, and Jade was the last one she would’ve expected to make use of one.
“B—but…what about—?”
“Mari’s already booked our rooms for our week.”
Remy suddenly had a sinking feeling. Jade was looking directly at her, but she had a feeling that the words were meant for Allison. As if to confirm, she smirked again as she glanced in Allison’s direction.
“She booked one for the two of you, too, actually. If you want it, that is.”
Remy couldn’t bring herself to look directly at Allison. From the corner of her eye, she could see Allison bouncing in her seat as much as Kate, wordlessly pleading for approval. With a heavy sigh, Remy stood up from her chair and began collecting everyone’s empty dishes before walking toward the trash can. Allison’s expression began to take a turn toward concern as she cautiously watched.
“Where…where are you going?”
Fighting back a smile, Remy gave Jade the harshest glare she could manage. “To find a plank.”