Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I knew I chose my GIF well when Gabe dropped a Ha Ha on it.
He upped his goodness with a reply of, Bring 1 of ur toffee cookies home for me.
God, I loved it that he loved my baking.
And I didn’t hesitate to hit the case in the coffee cubby to grab his cookie.
However, with all this righteousness happening, by the time the second shift was in, I couldn’t contain it a second longer.
Shanti was logging into the till. Jessie was behind the bar, assessing the area (she wasn’t just a server, she was our mixologist). Harlow was waiting for Shanti to be done so she could log in. Luna was making Byron, one of our regulars, another dirty chai (yes, another one, that dude had to run on caffeine in his veins rather than blood, he consumed so much of it). And Raye was heading out to the seating area with a pitcher of water, when I approached.
“You win,” I said to Shanti.
Shanti’s head twisted toward me, her halo of glorious hair floating with her movement.
I felt everyone’s eyes on me.
I just grinned, and I knew it was goofy, but I didn’t give that first shit.
“Oh my God,” Shanti whispered.
I grinned bigger, so much so, it hurt my face.
And I didn’t give that first shit.
Then she came to me and gave me a hug so big, we had to sway side to side with it.
“This makes me so happy,” she said softly in my ear.
“Me too,” I replied in the same tone.
We let go, she stepped back, and they were all gathered around.
“I don’t think we have to ask if it was good,” Raye, also all smiles, remarked.
“No, you don’t have to ask that,” I concurred.
“I would be bummed I lost a hundred bucks if I didn’t get to see the look on your face right now,” Luna said. “That’s worth way more than a hundred bucks.”
God, soooooooo worth a repeat.
I loved these guys.
“I can’t believe you managed to wait until second shift,” Raye remarked.
“It was a struggle, but I wanted you all to know at the same time,” I replied.
“This means I can pay off my car,” Shanti declared.
For a second, I was stunned.
Shanti was like me with the whole money thing. She didn’t live beyond her means. She kept healthy amounts in savings and checking, and since she didn’t have some loser mooch boyfriend draining her dry, her savings were to the point she was hoping to buy her own condo or townhouse in the next year or two.
None of us wanted to leave the Oasis.
But all of us knew life would go on.
Like, now that they were getting hitched, we knew Alexis and Jacob weren’t going to stay there forever. Not after they got married.
Same with Raye and Cap.
And we were all expecting Jessie to come in any day and share she was letting go of her apartment and moving in officially with Eric. They spent every night together at one or the other of their places anyway, dragging their cat in between. That was bound to get tired. And Eric had a massive house in the Biltmore area.
Same with Harlow.
Javi owned a townhouse, and they were back and forth all the time too (sans cat, though, they were in pet discussions, not sure whether to adopt a cat or a dog—Javi wanted a cat, Harlow wanted a dog, I suspected, in the end, they’d get both). They were a newer couple, but she loved his place. They were decorating it together. The writing was on the wall.
It didn’t occur to me that someone (and I was so happy it was Shanti) would get a windfall with that bet, and it would mean good things.
Shanti had a new model, but used, baby-blue Ford Bronco. She’d bought it two years ago because she fell in love with it. I wouldn’t have said it was very her, until I saw her behind the wheel of it. But she’d hadn’t had enough to buy it outright and keep her savings healthy and her trajectory to owning her own home true, and that chafed.
Now it would be fully her baby.
Because I jumped Gabe last night.
I hugged her again.
“Did you do that on purpose?”
I turned at Luna’s question to see her eyes narrowed on me.
“She knew Shanti’s timeslot,” Raye shared. “Shanti told her last night.”
“Ohmigod, you fixed it!” Jessie crowed. “That is so rad!”
“I didn’t fix it,” I refuted. “It just happened.”
Jessie ignored me and turned to Luna. “When we do your pool, you need to fix it. I call fixing it for me because Henny needs a new cat tree.”
“Henny barely leaves your couch,” Harlow said. “He’s the laziest kitty I know.”
“He’s had a rough life,” Jessie retorted. “He’s earned his lazy.”
“There’s not going to be a pool for me,” Luna snapped, her voice harsh, and we all knew why.