Chapter 25

Kendall

There was an unforeseen downside to starting the day with a prank. I’d taken one look at Van’s pink speckled flesh and felt the most vicious of pleasures right before I beat a hasty retreat. Hopefully it was still OK to take their van, because that’s what I did, booking it to work.

Only to encounter boredom.

Tuesday was hardly a packed day at the bakery, so I was able to open up and get the place ready for sales in peace.

Then wait.

A few regulars came in to grab a coffee or bread, but I was forced to grab the cleaning supplies and start going through the long list of jobs I completed in the quiet times, right up until lunch started.

That brought more people in the door, which helped make the day go faster. When I was moving, I wasn’t thinking: about what I was doing, that the minced meat in the sausage rolls could really do with more seasonings to flavour it, that this was the same damn job I’d been doing for years and I’d mastered the art of making coffee and taking orders in the first six months.

That I was bored standing around behind a counter, serving people.

Some of the regulars helped break things up. Felicity was a young mum with a beautiful bouncing baby and a big fluffy Samoyed dog that waited outside patiently, wagging its big plume of a tail until I brought it out a little treat. I’d watched her son, Jimmy, grow from a tiny baby to a rowdy toddler who loved a babycino, and she was chatting to me about where they were thinking of sending Jimmy to school when they arrived.

Van and Connor would always dominate a space. They did the halls of our school and they did now, flanked by way too many men in construction uniforms, their heavy boots clomping across the floor, only to leave a trail of dirt behind. So Felicity turning around to take them in, instinctively pulling back to let them close to the counter made sense.

“Did you want a loaf of bread today, Felicity?” I asked, pointedly ignoring my ‘housemates.’

“Oh no.” She eyed the men then shot me a sheepish smile. “I better get going. Say bye-bye, Jimmy!”

“Byeee!” the little boy said, waving furiously as they walked out the door.

“Connor,” I said, crossing my arms. “Pinkie Pie.” A little snigger from the guys behind Van had me smirking, but not for long. He just shot me one of those slow, almost shy smiles, if it wasn’t completely apparent, he knew what he was doing. He should’ve looked like a damn idiot, but instead with the construction gear on, he looked like one of the angelic looking marching boys from the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. “The pink is really working for you. Makes your eyes pop.”

“Thanks.” I got a little bit of satisfaction from the way his jaw muscle flexed but not for long.

“So you know there are other places you could pick up lunch from,” I told the two of them. “Places closer, better—”

“Kendall!” Chris’ bark had me turning around to see him come slamming through the swinging doors, carrying a massive bread tray full of food. “Grab the other tray, will ya, love? These boys have a whole site to feed.”

What the fuck had they done? Ordered the whole damn shop? I saw sandwiches and rolls, pies, pasties, and cakes of every description neatly boxed and placed in the tray.

“We’ll do that.”

“Um… no you won’t.” I held out a hand, trying to stop them from entering the kitchen. Customers didn’t go in there, ever, but where I went, so did they, and the whumping sound of the doors swinging on their hinges felt like a physical blow as I whirled around to find Van and Connor had followed me in. “You can’t be in here.”

“Just picking up the tray,” Connor said in his best ‘be reasonable’ voice. So why did it have me feeling anything but?

“And what the hell are you doing ordering this much food?” I asked in a low hiss, watching the door closely. “And Chris’ food? Surely you could spend your money on something better.”

“So you admit it’s not quite up to scratch.” Connor took a step closer. “I mean, I’ve definitely had better. Van?”

“Those sausage rolls you made with lamb and rosemary?” Van’s eyes went heavily lidded and those full lips parted. “Damn, I wake up hard from dreams about them.”

“Ew.”

“And those chicken laksa pies you made?”

“Dad hated those,” I said with a frown, remembering the fuss he made.

“They were freaking genius. It’s not your dad’s fault that he’s a pussy when it comes to chilli.”

“Cool, well, I made none of these so—” I started to say.

“No, but I told you we need to talk.” All the levity was gone and there was only serious Connor now.

“I said I might be asleep by the time you came home,” I replied.

“But you had time to pull another prank.” Van flicked at the glitter sticking to his shirt. “Nice one, by the way. This shit is a freaking nightmare to get off.”

“Craft herpes.” Why the hell did I blurt that out? I covered that with a shrug. “I mean yeah, it’s meant to be hard to get out. Kinda like peanut butter from hair.”

I shot the two of them a meaningful look, making sure they remembered all the hair washes Mum put me through trying to get the thick, greasy gunk out.

“See, when it comes to the shit we did, you’re willing to talk,” Connor said. “So let’s schedule that in today. Hit us with it. Level all of your complaints at us, and we promise we’ll listen.”

“To all of it.” Van stepped forward, and that had me backing up against the bench. “Every single sin we committed. Just talk to us about them, Kendall.”

But I didn’t want that. I tried talking to Finn when we were kids, and he just laughed. Dad said boys would be boys and ruffled my brother’s hair, while Mum sighed and told the two of us to sort it out. I’d talked until I was blue in the face and no one listened, so they’d have to forgive me if I thought that it was all too late. I didn’t say that since that would just give them something else to argue with me about.

“Fine,” I replied, having no intention of doing any of that. I’d go home, have a shower while they were still at work, then go and catch up with Barbie if she was free.

“Right then.”

I wasn’t sure what the fuck they were doing when they both converged on me. They got closer and closer, each one taking one side, and I went stiff, until each one of their hands went to the big tray used to carry bread loaves. Van grinned, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, right before I took off and out the door.

“Payments gone through alright?” Connor asked Chris when we all walked out.

“All sorted, mate. Get me your orders in earlier next time and you won’t have to pay double.”

Double? I looked at the food in the trays and frowned. Most of it was overpriced for what it was at retail, and Chris gave discounts when he got bulk orders like this, not charged twice as much.

“Will do.” Connor tapped his finger to his temple as the lot of them took the food outside to the vans lined up beside the footpath.

“Nice guys, those fellas,” Chris said with a satisfied nod. Probably because instead of having to donate a bunch of baked goods at the end of the day to Food Bank, he’d sold all his backup stock. “Friends of yours?”

“Friends of my brother,” I corrected, moving to pick up dirty plates and cups.

“They seem to like you fine.” Chris was giving me that measuring look older guys do when they think they’ve worked out what’s going on. “Enough to spend a ton of money to spend a few minutes with you.”

“More fool them.” I hoisted the tub full of dishes onto my hip. “I rent a room in their house. If they want to hang out, all they need to do is come down the hall.”

Something I’d wanted so damn badly. For them to turn away from Finn and his bullshit and to walk into my bedroom, choosing me. But they didn’t and now it was all too late.

“Sharing a house is no way to court a girl,” Chris said, following me into the kitchen as I started to stack the dishwasher. “A bloke needs to make an effort, show he’s able to provide for a girl. One of those boys? They’ve all got good jobs. They own that company, aren’t working for someone else.”

“Sounds like you should date them.” I smiled to soften my words. “Van, the one with all the pink glitter, he might be looking for a daddy.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I know what he’s looking for.”

My fingers dug into the plastic tub, the edges biting into my fingers, but once I had the dishes stacked, I fished out my phone and called Barbie.

“Biiitch!” she said. “Tell me you’ve fell over and into a mass of big, muscly men with massive schlongs. Tell me you got it in every hole and it was goood.”

“The fuck?” I looked around the kitchen, but Chris had gone out the back for a smoke. “As if I’d tell you if I did, but seriously, have you got work on this afternoon?”

“Job’s been cancelled. I told them the glitter would not wash off in time for the wedding lingerie spread, but would they listen? No. Apparently gold glitter just makes white satin look cheap and tacky. Who would‘ve thought? Anyway, I’m wide open for you, Kenny girl.”

“How do you manage to make that dirty?”

She cackled. “It’s an art, I tells ya. So what’s going on? Did you glitter bomb those poor sods.”

“Did I ever.” She let out a wild giggle at that. “If you want the play-by-play, meet me for coffee after work.”

“That cute bar on the corner in the city, the one with all the hot guys in suits and you’re on,” she replied.

“Barbie, I can’t—”

“Say no to your bestie who’ll ply you with overpriced, weirdly flavoured gin, then pay for an Uber to get you home to those hunks you live with? Damn straight. See you there at five, babes, and wear something pretty. There’s a hot finance bro out there just waiting for you to walk into his life and sit on his face.”

“I fucking hate you…” I growled, right as Chris walked back in.

“No, you don’t. So I’ll see you then? That red dress—”

“See you then.”

I abruptly ended the call, because sitting on the phone during work hours was less than awesome, and because I knew how the phone call would go. Barbie had the doll’s name, but I was the one she liked to dress up.

“We can probably close up early today,” Chris told me. “There’s not much left to sell and business is slow.”

Music to my ears, I just nodded and got started on the end of shift clean up.