“Ugh. Gross.”
Sadie grinned and leaned into Joan’s side. “Aww, thank you, honey-woney sweet potato blossom,” she cooed.
“Sogross,” Mark grunted.
Joan wrapped her arms around Sadie’s shoulders from behind, squeezing tight and kissing her soft cheek.
“That’s unsanitary.”
She kissed Sadie’s cheek several times, making her laugh.
Mark rolled his eyes. “Your girlfriend is so clingy, Sades.”
“Your girlfriend knows how good she has it and doesn’t take that for granted,” Joan said.
“Good,” Sadie said.
She patted Joan’s arms before pulling away to measure the milk. Beautiful, sweet, kind, endlessly forgiving Sadie. Yeah, no way was Joan gonna do anything to mess up this perfect life they’d created.
* * *
Classic rock echoed through the warehouse as Sadie checked the inventory inside the ancient, cranky fridge. The small kitchenette was really just a sink and a bit of counterspace.
What had once been a secret lair for Villains was now where they kept the food truck. Joan’s sedan was parked by Mark’s sporty blue car in the mostly empty space. The only things that remained from the old days were a worn folding table, some plastic chairs, and workout equipment in the far corner.
She made a note about excessive arugula on one of the many handy sheets Perry had prepared to keep them properly stocked. Cloud cover had made for a dreary night with low foot traffic, so they’d decided to close up a bit early.
Mark stepped out of the truck munching on his own personal version of the Harvest Moon sandwich. Extra turkey and provolone bulged out between untoasted slices of sourdough bread.
“You’re eating your profits again,” Sadie lightly teased.
“Shh. Don’t tell Perry.” He licked homemade ranch dressing from his index finger.
“He already texted about us closing early.”
“Why do we have the end-of-day reports sent to him again?”
“Because he’s the one who pays attention to them.”
Mark shrugged and took a huge bite.
It wasn’t that he and Joanie didn’t care about watching their budget. They’d just never been held accountable for expenses. Perry trusted Sadie to keep them in line as much as she could. And Perry trusted very few people, so it was a duty she took seriously.
Her position at Hot and Cold had expanded from being the people person and public face to also being the go-between whenever the other three resorted to witty remarks and the occasional use of superpowers instead of just listening to one another.
Ah, Supervillains. They still had a ways to go but were being more responsible every day.
“We got too much arugula at the farmers market,” she said. “Can you incorporate some into a recipe?”
“Sure,” Mark said as he joined her. “I’ll take some off your hands now.”
He reached into the fridge and pulled a few leaves out of the bag, then opened his sandwich and placed them on top.
“That’s coming out of your paycheck,” Sadie said, closing the refrigerator door before he could steal more items.
“Fine with me. I don’t have taxes taken out when I’m paid in food.”
She stopped the music on her phone. No notifications on her lock screen. There were almost never any from the SuperWatch app since setting it to high alerts only. Just the occasional Superhero activity involving regular citizens. Like when Catch moved some downed power lines from a storm, her ability to absorb energy keeping her safe.
