Page 8 of Beaches, Bagels & Babes

Daisy

“Z ee? Hey, Earth to Zee!”

Rio, Daisy’s reliable part-time employee (reliable in the sense that they would occasionally arrive on time for their shifts), tried to get her attention. It was a futile effort.

Daisy had been distracted all morning, and it had nothing to do with a certain blast from the past that had come barging up to her counter the day before.

Nothing at all.

But, in her musings, Daisy did wonder how Candace’s meeting with her uncle had gone. Did she cozy up to the man and get what she wanted? Would she really come back and tell Daisy how those bagel bombs were? Why was she still so damn hot?

Daisy’s mind wandered on that twisting track as she cleaned for shift change. It was not until a bagel, thrown with expert precision, hit her square on her forehead that she realized she was being spoken to.

“Er, yeah.” Daisy guessed, “You can have Tuesday off.”

“That was two conversations ago. And you’re damn right I can have off. Without me, you’d be screwed. Which is why I was offering to post online about a job. You need to hire someone to pick up the slack around here.”

“Dotty is—”

“Dotty is a gem of an old, but she sleeps through half her shifts. We need some life around here.”

For emphasis, Rio set down the box they were stocking the display freezer with, and crossed their arms. The move was far from intimidating coming from a person who looked like Frodo Baggins’ cousin, just as short, complete with canvas overalls and a mop of adorable raven, springy curls.

The wide, rainbow-rope secured shimmer-frame glasses added a bit of Elton John to the mix, and their array of graphic tees gave a dash of nerd.

Today, they wore a print of something called Avatar: The Legend of Korra .

Rio was unabashedly themself, and always spoke their mind. Usually, Daisy listened. But this wasn’t going to be one of those times.

“Look, I hear you,” Daisy told them. She continued packing, aware that if she got caught up in the dinner-time pop, she would get home late tonight.

If she got home late, she wouldn’t have time to catch up on the dough she needed to make. If she didn’t make the dough, she wouldn't be able to make more bombs. And if she ran out of bombs…

Daisy scrubbed harder at the mystery gunk that had melted onto the display window. She did not look at Rio as she continued talking.

“I know it’s been busy. But busy is good, it means we stay in business. You have a lot going on with your degree and your internship at the Wetlands Institute, so just let me know when you need off. I’ll cover it, no questions. ”

“What about you, Zee?”

Daisy flinched. The nickname Rio used, which was actually what everyone called her now, sounded odd after hearing Candace use her given name.

They pressed, “When was the last time you took a real day off? Where you didn’t do bagel prep or bookkeeping?”

A peek at Rio showed that their mouth had drawn into a narrow line, making them look like a disapproving librarian. Daisy looked away again, frowning as well. For an employee and boss, their relationship was too murky.

Rio had started working at the bagel cafe right before the start of their freshman year of college at a nearby university known for environmental studies.

The two bonded over their love of local ecology and marine life, plus some general shared taste in books, movies, and games.

Daisy did not leave herself much time for hobbies, so most of what she knew about popular culture came from the far more socially in-tune Rio.

Oftentimes, they forced Daisy into fun activities.

Apart from Norman, they were the only other person Daisy might call a ‘friend.’

But they were in different life stages.

Currently, Rio was enrolled in a master’s program that involved an internship with the local Wetlands Institute’s technology department.

They were a whiz with computers and had a passion for nature, so they combined the two.

After that was through, though? The world was open to wherever they wanted to take their hard-honed skills, while Daisy was stuck here.

She would be lying if she said it did not sting.

Still, she was excited for Rio, which was why she would not let her friend-ployee worry about some dead-end summer job.

Putting on an air of bravado, Daisy waved Rio off.

“I had the whole winter to hibernate. I’m all good.”

It was a lie. Even during winter, while the pier and most other places on the boardwalk shuttered for the season, she kept the cafe open.

That period was arguably more difficult since she handled the shifts, minus Dotty’s handful, herself.

She had to keep the cash flow coming if she was going to make rent.

Even if she could find someone willing to take over some bagely burden, she could never afford them.

She’d have better luck training Horace the Horseshoe Crab as her newest employee.

But those weren’t concerns she could share with Rio.

“Really. Don’t worry about me.”

Rio might have argued more. Thankfully, a few customers approached the counter and put a pin in the conversation. From there, inventory tally overtook Daisy’s attention.

Everything flavor was popular today, she mentally noted.

Followed closely by cinnamon crunch and spinach/feta.

The last one was a rotating flavor Daisy only occasionally made, but it sold out within days the last few times she made a batch.

If she let people know ahead of time when the flavor was available, maybe it could drum up some much-needed interest.

Daisy tapped her pen against her tally notebook as she racked her brain.

They sold a decent number of bombs during the morning shift, but not nearly enough.

They needed to do better. She needed to do better, but that would involve business planning and online posting and all sorts of things she was not great at.

With most schools still in session, Wonderwood’s prime season was just a few precious weeks away.

Her time to enact any daring, brilliant business strategies was running low.

What could Daisy do to turn things around? Nothing she could think of seemed anywhere near drastic enough. She lost herself in thought, terrified and, deep down under a sticky layer of guilt, thrilled at what failure would mean for her.

Cutting through Daisy’s mental spiraling, a familiar, valley-girl voice reached her ears.

“Is Daisy here?”

“‘Daisy?’” Rio asked with confusion, “You mean Zee? She’s—”

“Here!”

Too fast, Daisy shot up from where she’d been crouched. Once again, her ex-crush was standing before her looking like she’d stepped off a runway. Daisy cleared her throat and forced an air of nonchalance.

“‘Sup, Perry. Back already?”

“Yes,” Candace exhaled the word, seemingly breathless. Or, rather, she appeared preoccupied as she looked around the cafe with narrowed eyes, muttering to herself. “I’ve seen worse. Paint, a new sign, functional seating, social media campaigns… It would be difficult, but possible.”

Perplexed, Daisy shared a look with Rio. She felt a jolt as the woman’s attention fell on her once more.

Serious-faced, Candace asked, “What’s your overhead like? Employee costs? Rent?”

Daisy started to answer the questions until her brain caught up with what she was doing. “Wait, why am I telling you any of this? You wanna finish me off by reporting me to the IRS or something? I might not have some fancy degree, but I know how to file my taxes.”

“It’s nothing like that! I want to help!”

Daisy cocked an eyebrow.

“‘Help?’”

“Yes,” Candace repeated. “Can we speak in private?”

The woman’s cheeks began to flush, and she cast a nervous backward glance at the long line forming behind her. Of course, it was simple psychology; passersby noticed a bombshell like Candace ordering from the cafe, and were drawn like moths to a flame.

Rio caught Daisy’s eye.

“I got the register. You hear out Princess Peach.”

Daisy snorted at the nickname. Rio was a gamer, specifically a Nintendo stan, and they’d made endless jokes about Daisy being Mushroom Kingdom’s chapstick lesbian princess.

Thank the stars Daisy went by “Zee” in her day-to-day life, so the nerd eventually ran out of steam. Or, Daisy thought they had.

If Candace caught the nickname, she did not mention it. She clutched a three-ring binder to her chest with both hands like it was the one thing that grounded her there .

What’s she so hopped up about?

Candace’s entire presence was different from the weepy, depressed woman Daisy met the day before.

Wired was the best word to describe her.

Intense. No, Daisy was sure she’d missed Rio’s joke because her attention was fixed on whatever she had to say.

Her aura was like an accelerant that kicked Daisy’s pulse up to match.

But she tried not to show it.

Flatly, Daisy told her, “Alright. You’ve got until I get bored.” She lifted the counter divider between them and motioned inside the stall. “C’mon. It’s too hot out here, we’ll talk in the office.”

Wedged between the gigantic chest freezer that housed their back inventory, the back exit, and the washroom, the ‘office’ was a glorified closet.

A window overlooked the employee lot, and an overstuffed desk was jammed up underneath it.

There was a single fold-out chair that had long since abandoned any pretense of being padded.

Since there was not enough room for two full-grown adults to stand comfortably in the space, Daisy plopped her butt on the desk.

Papers, years-old tax documents and receipts, crinkled under her rump.

Candace, meanwhile, perched herself atop the chair as if it were covered in needles. The binder was still clutched to her chest. She took in the office, and Daisy, with assessing eyes.