Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
DAISY
We stayed up for hours, unable to fall asleep.
We talked and eventually pulled out a deck of cards and played a few rounds of gin rummy until we finally couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore.
I tried not to look at her with sympathy, but it was hard.
She had lost her mother horribly as a child, and now her father.
Still, after all that, she was the strongest and most gentle person I knew. And that had only grown since we’d met.
She had a heart of gold, and sometimes that meant letting people walk all over her.
I was the same way for the longest time.
I still could be sometimes, so I couldn’t fault her for it.
These last few years, she had been through a lot, and not just with her dad getting sick.
She’d lost a friendship and a job on the same night.
The night Drea and Blair broke up was intense for everyone involved. Not only did they break up, but Blair lost her publishing contract and best friend, and Kaia quit her job and lost her friendship with Drea.
Kaia had come to me so many nights after work, overwhelmed and complaining about working with Drea.
She always started it off by saying how much she loved the store and Drea, but it broke my heart to see her like that.
She didn’t hide her emotions very well, though she tried when she was at work.
But I didn’t miss the way her smile fell instantly when a customer would leave, or how her sparkle would dim a little after she got through a conversation with Drea.
One night, we had a long conversation about it and I thought I got through to her.
A few days later, she came over crying and panicking that she quit her job.
I hadn’t wanted her to quit; I’d just wanted her to stand up for herself.
She said she tried to console Drea after the breakup, and things just took a nasty turn.
I was so proud of her for speaking up, but I hated how upset it made her. Eventually, she calmed down and told me she didn’t regret it and she had to show Drea tough love, hoping it would kick her ass to make some changes.
Fast forward two years later, Kaia was now co-owner of the bookstore. Drea and Blair were together and stronger than ever. And everyone’s friendship was restored. Every now and then after work, Kaia still thanked me for helping her believe in herself enough to change things.
It warmed my heart to be in the store and see the changes firsthand.
Drea came in regularly and pitched in. Blair even came in to help, and so did Fallon, Drea’s best friend.
Sometimes she brought her wife. They all bickered and joked around, but never fought.
Kaia’s brightness didn’t dim after a conversation with Drea.
They were all the cutest little found family, and they have welcomed me so whole-heartedly.
They all attended every sign language class I taught, and I wanted to cry every time they walked through the door.
I was sitting in my usual spot in the bookstore, one of the coral-colored couches in a corner, when I noticed Kaia wiping down every seat.
She did that throughout the day. When she came into work, when she came back from break, and when she was closing up for the day.
Once she got to the couch I was sitting on, I closed my laptop and placed my hand on hers. She stopped abruptly and looked at me.
“Doodle, what are you doing?” I asked.
She scowled at me. “I’m cleaning the seats, duh.”
I rolled my eyes. “Obviously. But why? Why only the seats?”
She blew out a breath. “Because no seat in this store is safe around my friends and their partners.”
It took me only a few seconds to understand what she was implying.
I had seen Fallon and Mackenzie making out in the middle of the store on more than one occasion, and Drea and Blair?
Looks Kaia had given me when they’d come out of Drea’s office said enough.
I was glad she was getting her own office soon.
My eyes widened and I jumped up and started wiping at my butt like something was attacking it.
She waved for my attention and laughed when my eyes met hers, shaking her head at me. “Relax. I wipe yours down first every morning when I know you’re about to be here.”
I frowned. “And what if I choose to sit in a different spot?”
She furrowed her brows at me, knowing damn well I had been sitting in the same spot since I first came in a few years ago. It was comfortable and far enough away from everyone that I could work but I could still watch people.
“Will you?” She raised an eyebrow like she already knew the answer to that.
I pouted. “I could. You don’t know.” I sighed when she just gave me a skeptical look. Damn her! “Okay, fine. Probably not.”
She smiled and patted my leg before getting up and returning to her chair cleaning. I hated to admit that I watched her walk away and was thankful she never turned around. For some reason I couldn’t stop staring at her ass, and I would’ve died of embarrassment if she’d caught me staring.
She was wearing skintight leggings and an oversized black shirt to match. She had been working hard, so it was rolled up just above her hips, giving me a perfect view of her perky, round ass.
I adjusted in my seat on the couch and shook my head, trying desperately to erase the vision of her walking away from my mind. What are you doing? She’s your best friend! Yeah, but my best friend has a nice ass, and I love women and asses, so sue me!
Great, now I was arguing with myself. What was she doing to me? I had to get it together. I couldn’t be thinking about her like that. It wouldn’t work.
I returned to my work in progress and got back into focus mode. I was in the final stages of a book cover, and I needed to finish before the holidays.
It was a fantasy cover, a little more detailed than my normal romance covers, but I was having a lot of fun with it.
The author was a regular client from Ohio who came in once a year to do a signing at the store.
The bookstore carried her books, and they were all signed copies that never stayed in stock for long.
The cover I was doing this time around was for a Hades and Persephone retelling. The colors were dark, but there were a lot of hidden details in the shadows, and that was taking up most of my time. I wanted to make sure it was exactly what she wanted.
One good thing about being deaf was that I was less likely to be distracted, as long as I didn’t look up from my computer and meet Kaia’s eyes. Whenever I did that, I’d find that so many minutes had gone by that I should’ve been using to work.
I positioned myself so that I wasn’t completely facing the store and it would be a struggle to look up and see anyone distracting. I sat up straighter, rolled my neck and shoulders back, determined to get some real work done.
I was working on the little details on the front.
The author wanted intricate roses and a snake encompassing the border.
It was a very dark-themed book, so I took creative reins and decided to add blood to some of the roses and even to the snake's mouth. It was no trouble to remove if she didn’t like it, but I was confident she’d love it.
After almost three hours of being in the zone and putting the finishing touches on the project, I sent it in before Kaia’s hand tapped my shoulder.
“Quitting time already?” I asked.
She smiled and nodded in relief. “Yes, I’m exhausted. Are you ready to go?”
“Ready when you are.”
“Okay. Let me shut everything down real quick and I’ll meet you at the counter?”
I smiled and nodded, closing my laptop and putting everything in my bag. I sent a quick email to the author, letting her know I sent everything over along with my typical finished-project jargon, and sauntered over to the counter just as Kaia was returning from the back.
“Everything good?” I asked when she looked away from her phone and her eyes met mine, a tiredness there I didn’t like. I needed to remind her to take more days off, but ever since she’d stepped into her new role of part-owner, that was easier said than done.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just texting Dre. I’ve been asking her about that antique chair in the back. I feel like it’s just in the way, but she refuses to get rid of it. Says it’s got history.” She shrugged.
I made a face, and then we both started laughing. “Tell her to give it to Fallon and Mackenzie since they’d get more use out of it than she would. They already have.”
The blush on her face was delightful. I loved teasing her about that chair every time I thought about how Fallon and Mackenzie had put on quite the show for Drea.
“That’s not a bad idea. It grosses me out, but if I think about all the places in this store that may or may not have been violated, I’d demolish the building. Can we go and please stop talking about my friends’ and coworkers’ sex life please?”
“Of course. I know how jealous you get that you haven’t made out with someone on one of the couches, but don’t give up.
Your time will come, I’m sure.” I dropped the subject with a wink and headed to the door.
I didn’t have to see her face to know she was rolling her eyes. I loved riling up my best friend.
With a final glance around the store, Kaia shut the door behind us, locking up before we headed to her car.