The Many Dates of Indigo

Original Edition: Chapter 5

"What did you say you hit again?" Hazel looked away from the shattered windshield and back at Indigo.

An hour before opening, Adorn, the upscale shoe boutique that sold a limited assortment of accessories, was quiet.

The quaint corner shop was the epitome of the closet most women fantasized about; walls of shoes, a back corner of high-end handbags and a display case of sparkling jewelry. Raw oak floors, brick walls, and modern fixtures made up the place Indigo dubbed her second home.

Indigo stopped counting the stack of five-dollar bills. "I didn't hit anything." She placed the greenbacks in the cash register. "A crazy bird flew into it." The incident still made her heart beat a little faster. The way the sparrow had crashed into her windshield startled her and caused her to swerve into another other lane as she sped down the busy freeway.

"Is it still alive?" Emery, who was leaning against the checkout counter asked.

"What?"

"The bird."

Indigo shrugged then closed the cash drawer. "I don't know." She grabbed a pair of orange ballet flats off the counter and advanced to the sidewall. "But look at my windshield..." She pointed to the vehicle parallel parked in front of her store. "It looks like someone balled up a piece of paper and then tried to straighten it back out."

Hazel Rodgers, the twenty-six-year-old caramel-hued employee of Indigo, nodded in agreement with her boss. "It looks jacked." She then sprayed cleaner onto the glass door.

"Something else I have to add to my to-do list," Indigo breathed out as she slapped the shoes back on the shelf. "Along with finding a man."

Emery Cortez, the whimsical owner of Percolate, the coffee shop two stores down and her friend since their days at Crawford University, pushed away from the counter. "Find.... a man." The corners of her mouth quirked up. "What are you talking about, Indie?"

"Yeah?" Hazel stopped dragging the rag over the glass, making more streaks than wrinkles on a pug's face. "Cause that's easy." She rested her hand on her narrow waist. "All you have to do is come to the club with me...and I'll have you with a bae in no time."

Indigo's flawlessly made-up face scrunched. "I'm looking for a well-suited suitor—"

"Not a hookup." Emery cut in. "And you can't find love in a club."

"That's not what Usher says," Hazel rebutted.

"But didn't he get divorced though?" Indigo's nude pumps clicked on the hardwood as she crossed the store. "Or are you talking about his second marriage?"

"He didn't meet her at the club," Hazel clarified with a flick of her curly hair.

Emery tsked, "How do you know?"

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Hazel frowned at Emery, who bared a resemblance to her even though Hazel was three shades darker than her. "Isn't coffee like...in demand now?"

"I have employees for that..." Emery gestured to Hazel. "Kinda like you."

Hazel pointed her rag wielding hand at Emery. "I am a partner." Indigo's forehead crinkled and her mouth twisted. "I am a co-worker of..." Hazel rephrased but Indigo slowly shook her head. "I am a...."

"Em...ploy...ee," Emery filled in dragging out every last syllable.

"Argh! I can't stand you." Hazel sprayed glass cleaner at Emery. "Why are we cousins?"

"Don't do that!" Indigo chimed. She yanked the rag out of Hazel's hand. "The last thing I need is someone strutting in here and busting their ass on my floor." She had a lawyer on speed dial and knew how tedious lawsuits were.

Emery gasped like a light bulb flashed on in her head. "We have a cousin!" She gestured to Hazel. "And he's single...."

"No," Hazel spoke up with a crinkle of her wide nose. "I mean he is single but she doesn't want him."

"Why not? He's a catch."

Hazel shook her head at Indigo. "She lies. He has a wandering eye."

"He's a cheater." Indigo waved off the suggestion. She didn't want to put up with that again.

"No. I mean his eye actually wanders...like literally," Hazel cleared up. "It's glass."

Indigo was gawking at them as she stopped mopping up the glass cleaner off the floor. "What?"

"Not Craig." Emery slapped Hazel's shoulder. "Nathan."

"Oh!" Hazel gasped. "Nathan!" She nodded. "He's a catch. Plus..." She pointed toward the window. "He can fix your window."

"Umm." Indigo fixed the waistband of her beige floral pleated shirt. "I don't know." Just say yes, the voice in her mind told her. What's the harm, it countered. Indigo thought about it. "What's his number?"

"I'll give you the address to his shop." Emery pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

Do you think Indigo should go see Nathan?