Starla racked her brain. She’d snapped at Ghost so many times over the last week that she couldn’t even remember all of them. Maybe she’d had someone in her chair, maybe not. Talking shit to him was simply second nature—the insults popped out without her thinking about it.
“My sources didn’t mention names. Your regulars are loyal, and they love you. They just said there’s a bad vibe, and they’re worried. I doubt very much that you’re the problem, Jan.”
“I’ve always been an asshole, and you know that,” Ghost said. “I’m surprised it’s taken this long to get called out on it.”
Starla wanted to snap me too, but that was probably the very thing Brian was talking about. The very thing she needed to watch. She and Ghost had happily been at each other’s throats for years, but it wasn’t so happy anymore. Ever since the Jared thing. Well, apparently Ghost didn’t have anything to fucking worry about on that score.
“Most everyone knows not to take you seriously,” Brian told Ghost. Jesus, was it Starla alone who’d been the reason for the complaints? If it wasn’t Janelle and it wasn’t Ghost and it damn sure couldn’t be Tay… Brian had said no names were mentioned, but that was probably bullshit. People loved dropping names.
She’d been down in the dumps, but she didn’t think she’d allowed it to affect her relationships with her clients at all. Most of them were her friends; she could call or text any one of them right now and shoot the shit for hours on end. They knew her. She’d had a couple of walkins who weren’t privy to her moods, but still. Enough to complain to the boss about her?
“We can do better,” Janelle promised.
“I don’t want to dampen your spirits out there or anything,” Brian said. “It would be just as weird if you were all quiet as it would be if you were snapping at each other all the time. All I ask is that you keep it civil, and if there are any issues, deal with them in private.”
“Fuck this, dude,” Ghost suddenly said, leaning forward to stare at Brian with conviction. He was brave; Starla had barely been able to look at Brian since he began speaking, terrified she’d find those intense blue eyes on her. “Don’t feel like you need to take time away from your wife and kid to sit up here and babysit us. We’ve got this, all right? If it’s been weird, then we’ll make it right. So go home. Be a dad.”
“I appreciate that,” Brian said, “but I do miss it. I’m not only up here because of that.”
“He’s bored out of his mind,” Candace supplied, and Brian looked at her with a chuckle.
“I’m really not,” he said, sharing a loving look with her, “but she thinks I am.”
Candace’s lips curled, and she dropped a kiss on Lyric’s tiny forehead while he sucked hungrily at his bottle.
“And it won’t be every day yet,” Brian added, looking back at them. “A few days a week or when I have appointments.”
Keeping an eye on us, Starla thought bitterly. On me. She didn’t think there could be any worse feeling in the world than to think she’d let him down or been a disappointment to him. The weight of it settled crushingly in her chest, suffocating her. She couldn’t breathe.
“You’ve been quiet, Star,” Brian said, and her head snapped up from where she’d been picking at her chipped nail polish. “Usually I can count on your input.”
At least Ghost had the courtesy to unknowingly repay her earlier favor and keep his big mouth shut on that one. Starla glanced around at all of them, but none of them were paying any attention to her, eyes averted. She shrugged, forcing herself to meet Brian’s steady gaze.
“I’m sorry if I’ve been weird. I’ll work on it.” It was then that Candace looked over and frowned a little. Brian seemed even less convinced, his eyes lingering on her for much longer than was comfortable. Not that it ever was.
At last, he looked away just as the front door chimed. “I appreciate it, guys. Y’all can head back up now. Kick some ass.”
At last. Maybe it was only her, but it had grown uncomfortably stuffy in that room.
The others went back up front, while Brian and Candace hung back in his office. Starla ducked into the restroom to check her reflection and almost recoiled. Two bright pink spots burned high in both cheeks. Her eyes were glassy, like she had a fever. With a muttering little sob, she turned on the cold water and splashed it furiously over her face.
She was coming apart, and they all saw it.
Minutes later, after drying her face and composing herself, she quietly opened the door and slipped out. Brian’s office was just across and down the hall. They couldn’t see each other, but the low conversation going on in there was within earshot.
“…definitely something wrong,” Candace was saying softly. “I’m worried about her.”
“Yeah,” was Brian’s only response.
“You should talk to her alone.” Great. But hey, she shouldn’t make assumptions. Maybe by some miracle they weren’t even talking about—