Logan looked up at the door, then at the octagonal clock on the opposite wall again. The minute hand had ticked past the 12 three minutes ago. He pulled out his phone. Lock screen: a canary yellow 2022 Lamborghini Aventador. He swiped it away. Home screen: himself with his arm in a playful chokehold of his favorite niece in the world and the only family he had left. They had gotten the photo taken when she had graduated high school. He had come back from a business trip early to make sure he was there. She didn’t have faith in him, but he proved her wrong that day.

  He pulled up his messages, found Tayzer, and opened it up. The last message was a couple days ago, from him:

  Studying hard, or hardly studying?

  No response, just an emoji of a rude gesture in the corner. He smiled to himself; he’d raised her well.

  Ever is late he’s not picking up the phone

  Almost instantaneously, he saw the three dots bouncing in a row, over and over.

  It’s like 5 mins past 9, chill

  Three dots again, up and down, up and down. This one lasted a minute or so. She didn’t often rewrite things.

  He’s a good worker, cut him some slack

  He pursed his lips. Good worker, not great. He tapped out a new message.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Hey, when did you say you were heading off again?

  Ding!

  Ever walked in; Logan put his phone away. He aborted the ‘you’re late’ at the last second when he saw whose frail arm was hooked around his worker's elbow.

  “Well if it isn’t Ever’s friend,” Logan said with a wide smile, the slightest pressure on the ‘friend’. He was proud of his smile; it had won him deals, sales and contracts for decades. “Good morning Ms…”

  Neither Ever nor his friend answered straight away. Only after Ever had made sure she was sitting did she answer. “G. You may call me G.” She heavily emphasized ‘you’.

  “Sorry Logan,” Ever said. “She lives around here and I bumped into her on the way in. She wants to rest here for a while and then she’ll be on her way.

  “Of course!” He replied straight away. “Please G, put your feet up if you need to.” He paused, then added, “let me or Ever know if you would like something sweet.”

  G grumbled something under her breath then Ever bent down to lend her his ear. Logan might not have been able to hear what she was saying, but changes in tone, he could differentiate. He had to be able to identify these subtle shifts, it was a skill he learned in the trenches wheeling and dealing with people from different countries.

  “I’ve brought this pot back and now it’s got some seeds in it. I was hoping to grow it here," Ever said, holding up the ugly-ass pot.

  “Yeah, I mean, sure,” Logan said haltingly. “We don’t get a lot of sunshine though, it’ll be a lot less now especially since we’re into Fall.”

  “We can just put it by the window here.” There was a little nook, not quite large enough for a person to sit on, but perfect for a pot plant. There was sun coming in right now, but the rays would shift away before midday.

  “OK, OK.” He said, conceding defeat. He didn’t like not getting his way, but he could feel G’s eyes burning into him. There was something odd about her, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.