The Midnight Boys

Chapter 11

At quarter to twelve the following day, I pushed open the door to Kandy Kane and was greeted by the mouthwatering scent of taffy.

"Evelyn, that you?" came the faint call of someone from the back room.

"Yeah!" I shouted back as I skirted the counter.

As per employee rules, I dumped my phone and car keys in the designated cubby and grabbed my name tag. As I was pinning it to my shirt, I heard a muffled crash followed by a long string of curse words. Sophia appeared ten seconds later, stomping her feet as she muttered to herself.

"Ah... everything okay?" I asked. I'd never seen Sophia without a smile, so the frown currently marring her face was a bit disconcerting.

She drew in a breath like she was trying to calm herself down, then released a heavy sigh. "My dad asked me to organize the office this morning."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Considering the man is the opposite of a neat freak? Definitely." She marched over to the supply closet, glanced inside, then slammed the door shut. "Honestly, it's been a complete nightmare. I've been working all morning and I'm not even close to being done."

"Need any help?" I offered, even though I had no desire to. If the office reorg was frustrating enough to aggravate happy-go-lucky Sophia, then surely it would drive me ballistic.

"Thanks, Evelyn," Sophia said, her lips curving into the smallest of smiles. "That's super sweet of you, but don't worry about me. I've been running back and forth between the counter and the office whenever I hear the bell ring, so just having you here to man the floor will be helpful."

I shrugged, secretly relieved. "All right. Let me know if you change your mind."

"Will do." Sophia dragged herself over to the employee cubby, grabbed her phone, and shot off a text. As she waited for a response, she chewed on her bottom lip and scrolled through her Instagram feed. A moment later, a digital chime announced a new message. "Seriously?" she exclaimed after reading it.

My brow's dipped into a frown. "You sure everything's good?"

"Couldn't find the mop," she explained. "Why Owen would leave it in the walk-in cooler is beyond me. Boys are idiots."

"Beyond idiots," I said, averting my gaze. I had a hunch the mop was partially my fault.

When the three of us were closing the shop last night, I'd needed help finding more Windex to wipe the display case down with. Sophia had been hands deep in counting the till, so I asked Owen for help. He'd been cleaning up a spill in the refrigerator, and my quest for more cleaner must have distracted him enough to forget about the mop.

Oops.

Still grumbling to herself, Sophia disappeared into the back room and didn't emerge for another two hours. When she finally reappeared, she looked significantly less grumpy.

"All finished?"

"Finally. Next time my dad needs something organized, he's on his own." She hopped onto the counter, leaned back against the wall, and gave me what I was starting to recognized as her signature Disney princess smile. "Did you have fun last night?"

"I suppose it wasn't total torture," I joked.

Sophia paused, and I could tell from the gleam in her eyes that I wouldn't like what she said next. "So you and Zuke, huh?"

My entire body went stiff at her question.

Jesus F. Christ. This bumpkin ass town was going to be the death of me.