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Authors: Lex Chase,Bru Baker

Some Assembly Required (28 page)

BOOK: Some Assembly Required
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She glanced around her. The store hummed with sleeping energy. She snorted at the irony. Stubborn shit though he was, Agnes understood the torture he had hidden in the deepest parts of himself. At last he knew peace.

Wherever he and Benji had gone—Scope, or even that cute new bistro on the corner—Agnes knew they’d found their little slice of heaven.

Patrick would finally experience fatherhood with Benji. They’d have the white picket fence, two cats and a dog, and the love Patrick was convinced he never deserved.

Agnes loved him like a son, and now she regretted not telling him more.

As she stood in the silence, she didn’t realize the void Patrick and Benji had left behind. Their laugher was a fleeting memory, as were their stolen kisses in inappropriate places. Patrick had said he never cared as a defense mechanism against ever getting attached. But with Benji at his side, he didn’t have a care in the world.

Drifting into the bedding showroom, she found Patrick’s beloved MILAN bed. It had been remade with a new MODENA mattress and colorful feminine sheets with a coordinating duvet. The shiny plastic price tag proclaimed the bed was on final clearance.

Agnes chuckled and slowly passed her hand over the tag, altering the lettering to read:

 

For Display Only

 

It was the least she could do in his memory. Patrick would have been over the moon if he knew the best-selling line in all of the CASA corporation was the worst seller in their store. He had been adamant about protecting his sacred space, and it was a duty that Agnes would proudly uphold.

“I thought they’d never leave,” Karin said from behind Agnes. There was a smile in her tone. “I hate to say it, but I’m going to miss them.”

Agnes turned toward her and frowned with firm disapproval. “If I had to listen to Patrick’s incessant whining for one more day, I would have fed him to Jabba myself.” She straightened her cardigan primly.

Karin smirked, and reached out to pat her shoulder. “It’s okay to miss them.” Her lips pulled into a hungry grin. “How about some meatballs? Henry is pitching one hell of a fit.”

Agnes pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to ease away a headache. “I owe that man everything. He has the patience of a saint.”

“Look who’s talking,” Karin said as she stood straighter, beaming with pride.

Agnes took the lead to the café, only walking two steps away from Patrick’s MILAN and then dispersing into sparks of light. She winked back into existence in the darkened café at the head of the lunch counter. The various dishes and desserts were prepped and ready for service once CASA opened for the day. The frozen tiramisu slowly thawed in the refrigeration case. A sheen of condensation glistened across the dusting of cocoa powder.

Agnes wrinkled her nose in amusement. Tiramisu. Patrick’s favorite thing. As much as he insisted he couldn’t eat them anymore, Agnes knew he must have snuck a few once in a while. She laughed behind her fingers. That boy.

She went through the motions of preparing herself a plate. Agnes gave a shifty glance around the café as Henry chowed down on his meatballs with a broody frown. She took her chance and pilfered extra POLPETTA meatballs, but went light on the gnocchi, yet heavy on the sweet tomato jam. No one ever knew of her vices.

She said nothing as she joined Henry at his usual table. He chewed angrily on his meatballs as he glared at his crossword puzzle like the page had called him a string of profanities.

“It’s not going to run away, dearest,” Agnes cooed as she gently speared a steaming meatball.

Henry grumbled and then took another mouthful of gnocchi. “You know how long I’ve been starving?” he mumbled around a full mouth.

“Long enough,” Karin said as she materialized in the chair next to him. She rubbed her hands and smiled gleefully at her plate of CIALDA waffles topped with an overload of whipped cream.

“There was only so much pushing a meatball around my plate and meaningfully staring off into space I could take before I wanted to smack the shit out of that arrogant man,” Henry rumbled and then shoved another meatball in his mouth. “He took my crosswords. They were
mine
.”

Agnes gave him a comforting pat on the back of his hand. “You made a noble sacrifice, my love.”

“You try next time and see how long you last,” Henry pouted. His distinguished brow furrowed in that petulant way. “You couldn’t go a minute without correcting them.”

Agnes huffed. Henry had a way of getting under her skin. “Everyone has their own methods,” she said and then adjusted her glasses. “But mine are better.”

They laughed together, the CASA filling with a new kind of joy. Patrick and Benji were gone, and they wouldn’t remember their time as spirits here.

Henry laced his fingers with hers, and Agnes blushed.

Karin blinked owlishly. “All right, you lovebirds,” she warned them as she wiped a dab of whipped cream from the corner of her mouth.

Agnes snorted. “One day, you will learn the joy of finding your missing piece.”

Karin crunched on one of her waffles and glowered at Agnes. It was her attempt at silencing her jabs, but Agnes reveled in the fact that she’d won.

“Um…. Excuse me…?” A young man’s voice carried over the café.

The three of them were shocked to attention and turned toward the sound.

With a carefree smile, the young man brushed away the dark curly mop of hair hanging in his eyes. He shuffled his feet, his cowboy boots clicking across the floor. He wore the trendy worn jeans that all of the modern young men seemed to favor these days, and a slim-fitting tee printed with the words I’m A Pepper Too!

Agnes narrowed her eyes, perplexed by the oddity that somehow this new Impression seemed to be a perfect mix of Benji and Patrick’s traits in one man. She glanced at Karin and then back at the young man. Karin held her fork to her lips, but her cheeks flushed an impossible-to-miss pink.

Henry smirked at Agnes and gave a conspiratorial nod. He ruffled his crossword puzzle page and pretended to ponder the next clue. “Looks like someone has a new job to do,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

Karin puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. She glared at Henry like a teenager humiliated for gawking at a rock star. Agnes held her tongue and fought every urge not to burst into cackles.

The young man stepped further into the café, and Karin shot to her feet.

“I didn’t think they let customers in before opening,” he said somewhat sheepishly. He smiled apologetically to them. “I’m really not sure how I got here, come to think of it.”

“I can help with that,” Karin said with a polite nod.

Agnes pretended to make herself busy as she stole a glance at Karin wringing her hands behind her back.

Standing straighter, Karin held her head high like a proper young lady. “What’s your name?”

The Impression rubbed at the back of his head, his dark curls fluffing around his face. He seemed at a loss for words as he tried to recall.

Henry glanced at Agnes, and Agnes waved him off. Together they waited for the Impression to gain clarity.

“Adam,” he said and nodded as if it had just come to him. “It’s Adam.”

Karin sucked in a slow breath, seeming bewildered.

“I’m Karin,” she said extending a hand and casting a radiating smile. “Welcome to CASA.”

Agnes smiled broadly as Karin excitedly elaborated on the finer points of employment. She giggled to herself.

Henry arched a brow. “You old meddler.”

She winked at Henry. “Life is a lot like CASA furniture. It comes in pieces, and some assembly is required.”

BOOK: Some Assembly Required
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