Brew or Die by Caroline Fardig

Author:Caroline Fardig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2017-04-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

I slept, but fitfully, finally deciding around noon to give it up and try to drag myself into work at Java Jive. I stood in the shower for a long time, letting the hot water work the knots out of my back from where I’d been sitting in the van all night. It was also a quiet place to think about my predicament. Unfortunately, any endgame scenario I could think of was a total stinker. If Stafford had for some dumb reason gotten himself in bed with criminals, there would inevitably be retribution. Did I want to date someone who would cross the line like that? And what if he got charged and ended up with some jail time—could I convince myself to stand by him? On the other hand, if Ryder was wrong, and Stafford was working on a secret police case, me poking around and quite possibly ruining it would implode our relationship as well. I was screwed any way you looked at it.

My head wasn’t in the game that afternoon, so I flat-out forgot orders, over- and undercharged customers, burned my arm with the espresso-maker’s steam wand, spilled two drinks (one all over my jeans), and finally locked myself in the office, lest I do any more damage. As a last-ditch effort to calm myself down, I put on headphones and laid on the couch to listen to some music. It must have done the trick, because the next thing I knew Pete was shaking my shoulder to wake me up.

“Jules, quit snoozing on the job.”

I made a sad face. “But my life sucks, and sleep is the only thing that can cure it. Other than booze. Which I shouldn’t do at work, either, but it’s the next step.”

He sat down next to me. “What’s up? Can I help?”

I smiled. “Thanks, but no. And what’s worse, I can’t even talk to you about it. Confidential PI bullshit, and I’m all alone this week.”

“That does suck. Have you been able to vent to Maya? I know she’s across the pond and probably up to her armpits in poopy diapers, but I’m sure she’d be happy to help.”

“I haven’t talked to her about it yet. I don’t want to burden her when there’s nothing she can do about it, but I may need to break down and give her a call if only to save my sanity. I’ve been putting it off partly because I don’t want her to think I’m too incompetent to handle things on my own.” And mostly because it would be horrifyingly embarrassing to admit to her that my own boyfriend had become one of the people we were investigating.

Pete squeezed my shoulder. “Want me to make you a chili donut?”

“No. My life isn’t chili-donut-bad yet.”

He laughed. “Okay, but the offer is always on the table. Hey, you know I said I’d come up with a way to do some more digging on Xander Leonidas?”

“Yes,” I replied warily. I didn’t know if I had the energy for one of Pete’s crazy investigative schemes.

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