“Joan’s worried about you?”
“She’s being overly cautious because of what happened the other night.”
“Guess you can’t blame her.”
“I guess. But I was perfectly fine walking around by myself when we had Villains before.”
Ny gave her a look. “You got abducted walking to work.”
“That was different.” Not that she could explain how.
“Yeah, thatwasdifferent.”
Glossing over more potential questions, Sadie said, “Trick was about using people, and these guys look like they want to break things. So I’ll definitely not be hanging out by the front windows. But yeah, it’s really nice to have a partner who cares enough about me to not want that to happen again. I’m just prickly about this stuff because my mom’s so overbearing with her concern, y’know?”
“I get it.” Nyah quirked a pierced eyebrow. “This must be tough for Joan.”
You have no idea.“It is.”
They moved over to let an older white man using a cane set his coffee down to grab some napkins. Nyah kept looking at Sadie with her usual amusement tinged withThis girl.
Sadie slid her phone in her jeans pocket. “What sucks is that I was finally ready to take action on my café. But with the new Villains in town, I’m not sure.”
“Insurance won’t go down,” Nyah said.
“Nothing will go down. If anything, rates will go up.” Sadie gestured to the tables pushed away from the windows. “How soon did you move everything back after they showed up?”
“Before we left that night.”
“See? I’ve always been worried that I’ll open my café and it’ll get destroyed.”
“That’s too bad. I was hoping you’d find the perfect spot.”
“Me, too.” She glanced over at Amit taking an order and lowered her voice. “You know you’ll be my first phone call. I want you to be the manager.”
A wide smile spread across Nyah’s face. “You do?”
“For sure. I’d trust you to run it efficiently and keep with the friendly vibe I’m going for. And to hire the best employees and train them right.”
“Sure,” Nyah said. “Just say the word. I could use a manager’s salary to help my aunt more.”
Sadie gave her friend a side hug. “I’d love to be able to do that for you. A belated birthday present.”
“I’ll take it. Thanks.”
They side-squeezed before Ny went to assist behind the counter. She’d be a strong, upbeat manager for Sadie’s Café.
Ugh, it really was old Vector City again, being unable to make future plans because of outside forces. Even with financial assistance and support, opening a new business right now was a massive hurdle to…hurdle.
Was she up for the challenge?
* * *
Joan’s phone rang on the bedside table. Whoever was calling before nine a.m. could damn well wait. She rolled over into Sadie’s warmth and wrapped an arm around her. Sadie lightly stirred and hummed sleepily.
They’d just drifted off when it rang again.
“Noooo,” Sadie mumbled, tugging Joan closer.
