Dear Roomie (Rookie Rebels #5) - Kate Meader Page 0,9

bam, he opened his mouth.” A hot mouth it was, too. His lips were a perfect pink and had a sexy pout to them, even as the eyes rocked ye old Wild West squint. “I told him it was his fault because he’s usually such a grouch.”

“You didn’t!”

“It had to be said. If I can impart a little wisdom while I’m in the serving trenches, then I’ll do it. For the little people everywhere.”

Elena laughed. “Brave woman.”

Not really. She wasn’t one for tip-toeing around men, grumpy or otherwise. It had taken her time to assume this armor and she made damn sure it was polished bright.

Elena popped a sleeve of cups from their plastic wrap and stocked the empty spot beside the bar. “How’s the house hunt?”

“Ah, yesterday was a bust. The guy wanted me to feed his pet snake when he went on overnight trips. He even showed me the cage of live mice.”

Elena looked appropriated horrified. “How long can you last on that sofa?”

“Oh, I’ll be fine.” She had lied and told Elena that she’d landed at a friend’s for the last few nights. Elena wanted to help but she had two kids, her mother on the premises, and a cheating ex to worry about.

Edie was right. Kennedy needed, if not a bucket list, at least a clear set of goals.

An interrupting cough drew their attention. Laura the manager stood at the door to the office, her mouth set in a grim seal. “Kennedy, could you come in back for a second?”

New to this store as of three weeks ago, Laura had already admonished Kennedy for her pink-streaked blond hair (technically against the dress code but she kept it largely hidden under her baseball cap) and her occasional lateness (Edie’s Ford Focus took a while to warm up in the morning, not unlike their caffeine-deprived clientele.) Their previous beloved manager, Aditi had gone on to better things at the corporate office, so now Laura was in charge at Store No. 1436 in Riverbrook, just north of Chicago.

Elena cut her a quick look and mouthed “what?” to which Kennedy shrugged. Every time Laura asked her to come “in back,” it was usually for something ridiculous—like the time she’d enquired if her tattoo was “one of those fake ones that she could wash off” because it was “in a foreign language and might be profane.” You know, the usual managerial harassment.

Kennedy stepped into the back office-slash-stockroom and hovered near the desk while Laura hit some keys on the computer keyboard. She did that a lot—called the staff for impromptu meetings then made them wait like she was Christian Fucking Grey. Then she would look up, either feigning surprise that the summoned staff member was there or annoyance that they’d arrived as summoned but hadn’t let her know.

Today was surprise. Sure, Jan.

“Oh, Kennedy, there you are! So, uh, Corporate has been in touch.”

“Okay.”

“There was a complaint about service here this past weekend.”

Kennedy’s heart did a dead bounce on the floor. “A complaint?”

“A customer called about the store counter being left unattended because a staff member was on a loud, personal phone call back here. And that staff member was …” She took a deep inhale. “Swearing.”

Kennedy could lie. Or deny. But obviously she was in the frame for this one because she was here “in back.”

“I might have been talking to someone. Okay, arguing, and I might have left a customer waiting for a few seconds too long. But I apologized and he was okay with it.” As for swearing, no might about it. She had definitely let out a NSFW word when she spilled his drink.

“Apparently not. Because he called and complained, Kennedy. And it’s not as if it was just any old customer, is it? That’s Reid Durand, the hockey player.” Said in a hushed tone like he was the Dali Lama.

The asshole complained after she had been thinking charitable thoughts and musing on his sexy, pouting lips? They’d had a moment! He hadn’t left pissed at her, she knew that much.

“According to the email I had from Corporate, his name was mentioned. Not that it matters. All our customers are important, and this is merely one in a long line of examples of where you’ve disregarded customers. Only a couple of weeks ago, you were disrespectful to him and refused to re-make his drink.”

There’d been a quick exchange a while back where she had forgotten to say the full name of his drink per company policy when she