Small Towns OMG - Everett
Chapter thirteen
Monday morning sucked. I had to go to the brewery to verify the past weekend’s deliveries and catch up on the things I’d skipped while out with Cameron. I wouldn’t trade that time for anything, though.
I stopped at the bakery, Don’t Go Baking My Heart—such a cute name—for coffee, then took it with me along with a piece of some fancy pastry that had apples and pears in it. Breakfast of champions for sure. Not. But it was delicious.
Pushing the door open, I saw Conroy Selzby, my new part-timer, sweeping the floor. He was a good kid. “Hey, Conroy.”
“Hey, Boss. Oh, hey…I wanted to ask you something.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Are you dating Cameron Telliyard? Gah! He’s so…dreamy. You’re lucky.”
Huh. “First, don’t gossip about me. That’s not what I pay you for, and second, none of your business.”
“Oh shit. Sorry. But he’s—”
“I know what he is. Go in the back and see if they need help.” I waved him away. Nosy, pest.
How did he know about it anyway? Probably because he’d been calling and coming around the brewery so much. “Conroy, wait.”
“Yes, sir?” He turned back, taking a few steps forward, but looked as if he were afraid to get too close.
“How exactly do you know about Cameron?”
“I took the food he left for you the other day, remember? But…”
“But what?”
“Well, Reuben, you know Reuben Bennett? The postman? He saw ya’ll pulling into the stables over at Willow Creek, so I figured you were together.”
My eyes bugged out of my head. “What? Why would he tell you that?”
He rolled his eyes. “This is a very small community, Boss.” Lukas was rubbing off on him.
I held my hand up, asking for more info than that.
“Reuben tells everybody everything. He and Evelyn know what’s going on, whether you want them to or not. For that matter, so does Merle, down at Pints.”
That was one aspect of this small-town living that I hadn’t considered.
Everybody up in my business like Cameron said.
I chose this place, and my exact location in particular, to get the best expansion for my business, not to become local gossip.
Fuck my life. And fuck Cameron for pulling me into the local scene.
Just when I was really starting to like him, he smacks me with his gremlin shenanigans again.