Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Break up or back out. The phrase haunted Dani over the coming days, as the week petered out and the weekend took its place.
Neither option was the easy one. If she quit the project, she’d essentially be abandoning Oliver and forfeiting the possibility of a life-changing payday on the other side.
But breaking up with Kass—and not being able to be honest with him about it—was also a major loss.
She hadn’t seen him since their impromptu date on Monday night.
He’d messaged her during the day on Thursday, saying he hoped to swing by the café soon, but Dani hadn’t been able to bring herself to respond.
A stubborn part of her brain kept hoping that if she could put it off long enough, the situation would resolve itself.
But it wouldn’t, of course. To make matters worse, Burren cheerfully reminded Dani when she arrived at the café on Saturday that her weekly hours would be cut in December for the holiday break.
Dani spent the majority of her double shift in a gloom that was only temporarily abated by Oliver, who stopped by to grab their drink du jour—a cardamom rose latte.
Her funk still hadn’t lifted by nine o’clock, when the door-ghost let out his umpteenth sigh.
She glanced up from the spicy orange chai she was making to see Kass slip into the café, bundled up in a matching fern-green hat and scarf.
Fuck. She strongly considered an escape to the back, since Joel was working the register, but there were six cups waiting for drinks and only Dani on bar. Plus, Kass had already seen her and was making a beeline straight for the handoff plane.
Relax, she told herself. You can’t exactly have a serious conversation here. Just act like a normal human being who isn’t engaged in illegal activities that revolve around his family.
“Hey,” Kass said as he joined the crowd gathered at the counter. He brought with him a faint smell of frost, a reminder that winter was just around the corner. He was grinning. It hurt her heart.
“Esther!” Dani called as she slid the drink she’d just finished onto the plane. Kass stepped aside for the girl who’d ordered it. “Hey,” she said to him, unable to stop herself from smiling back.
“How are you?”
“Me?”
Kass laughed. “Yes, you. I haven’t heard from you in a couple of days. What have you been up to lately?”
“Oh. Um.” Breaking into your dad and sister’s workplace. “Mostly just trying to keep up with homework and stuff. Sorry I didn’t respond to your last message, my schedule’s been kind of hectic this week. You?”
“Ugh.” He stuffed his mittens in the pockets of his peacoat. “Family drama. I got in a fight with my dad yesterday.” Dani froze. “Kind of a blowout, if I’m being honest. Not sure when he’ll speak to me again.”
“Jeez. That bad?” She tried to sound casual as she inspected the next drink she had to make.
“Oh yeah. Some shit went down at his work the other night, and that put him in a bad mood. He started getting on my case about school, about taking more business classes instead of wood magic. I told him I didn’t want to be like him, always chasing the money no matter what he sacrifices. Or who.”
Red striped across the canvas of Dani’s mind, like someone had taken a sloppy paintbrush to it.
“What do you mean, who he sacrifices?” she asked quietly.
Kass blinked, realizing what he’d said. She could see him trying to decide if he should backtrack or keep going.
“I mean. There’s our family, for one thing,” he said.
“The only way we ever spend time together is if it benefits him or his business. But it’s not just that.
It’s—well, he doesn’t run his company super ethically, in my opinion.
He never sees customers as real people. Just numbers. ”
Wow. He had just inadvertently confirmed everything Silva had said about OneiroLabs using people then tossing them aside. Which meant that what they were doing was justified. Which meant that she shouldn’t quit. But that meant …
For a full minute, Dani seriously weighed the possibility of telling Kass the truth, or at least part of it.
He was clearly already on the same page about the way OneiroLabs operated.
Maybe if he knew what kind of side effects the new product was causing, he could talk to his dad, actually get him to do something about it.
But Dani quashed the idea. Even if Kass reacted the way she hoped he might, telling him would introduce a new level of risk to the situation; he might accidentally let something slip to his father or sister.
She couldn’t create more cracks in the hull of this already precarious ship they were sailing.
So she swallowed the truth and shoved her internal conflict to the side for the time being. “That sucks.”
“Yeah. He’s been like that since my mom died, kind of robotic, and I don’t want to become that. If that’s what going into business is, I won’t do it. And I told him that. I just can’t—”
Kass cut himself off, trapping the rest of his sentence and a pocket of air in his cheeks. Then he let it all leak out slowly, like he was trying to calm himself. “Sorry. He just really gets under my skin, you know?”
“I get it,” she said. “I mean, I don’t get it get it, but I get it. I don’t suppose your dad’s the kind of guy who’s into compromises? Like, maybe you major in business, but you also get to take some classes you really care about?”
“Maybe. We haven’t gotten as far as entertaining something as civil as that. The last thing he said before he stormed out was that he wished I was more like my sister.”
“Kass, that’s awful.” It was especially awful now that she knew who Dr. Rodriguez was. Dani finished the tulip she was pouring, then paused to look at him. “Are you okay?”
“I will be, at least after the holidays. Not my favorite time of year,” he said with a wince. “But that’s enough about my life. Can we hang out again soon?”
Dani knew she should make an excuse, say she was too busy to see him this week. But gods, he was adorable, and his presence was a balm to the gaping wound of her anxiety, even when it was also more than half the cause.
“Yeah,” she said, not giving herself permission to second-guess. “Of course. I’m working tomorrow and Monday night, so … Tuesday?”
“I’ll clear my schedule,” he said with a gentlemanly air. “It’s milady’s choice of activities this time. Just tell me when and where to be.”
“You certainly know how to put someone on the spot,” Dani said, before calling out the white mocha she’d just made. “No, no, it’s fine,” she laughed when he started to apologize. “I’m just teasing. Have you ever been to the OS building?”
“No, actually. Only admired it from afar.”
“There’s an open gaze at the observatory there on Tuesday. Let’s meet at eight,” she said. “I hope it doesn’t rain, but if it does, we’ll figure something else out on the fly.”
“Perfect,” Kass said. He lifted a hand to greet Joel, who side-eyed him curiously as he brought over some more cups for Dani to start on. “Yeah, uh, I guess I better stop bugging you. I might be in here on Monday, but if I don’t see you, Tuesday, yeah?”
“Tuesday, yeah,” she repeated. “Oh. Did you want a drink? On the house.”
“Nah, I think I’m overcaffeinated enough for tonight, but thanks. Have fun slinging lattes.” He donned his mittens once more—gods, he was cute for wearing mittens instead of gloves—and headed for the door, waving one last time before he disappeared into the night.
Tuesday it is, then, Dani thought with a deep sigh. I have until Tuesday to decide what to do.