Deal With the Deviled Eggs

Chapter 1-3

“You’re stressed,” said Katie when they both had a moment. It was early afternoon and there were few people in Yolks on You. Kiko had been avoiding her and as many customers as he could all day, instead spending time packing orders to ship and restocking shelves. He was not in the mood to be bubbly. He’d slept like s**t and would go home to an empty house later.

“When did I tell Chad to be in?” asked Kiko instead of replying.

Katie crossed her pale arms, ponytail bobbing as she shook her head at him. In her early forties, Katie was his one full-time employee, and not a bad friend, either.

“Five,” said Katie. “Is Dom’s roommate still living with you?”

Kiko shot her a little half-smile.

“How did you guess?”

“Oof. He needs to go, trust me on that one, Kiko.”

“Personal experience, Katie?” asked Kiko, managing to smile at a customer entering with a five-year-old child.

“It’s only going to get worse.”

“He’s definitely overstayed his welcome. He trashed my kitchen last night.”

Katie blinked at him.

“What?”

“He wanted to make deviled eggs to bring to the Haunted Halloween House.” Kiko sighed. “But I can’t kick him out, Katie. He saved Dom’s life once. Much as he irritates me, I can’t not appreciate that.”

“Dom should talk to him anyway,” said Katie. “Looks like they want a story.”

She left the counter to go to the Mother Goose display, where Kiko’s pet male goose, Mother, sat in his cage. An assortment of Halloween and pumpkin-themed books were stacked on the nearby shelf, as well as egg-themed stories to go with the Yolks on You store. Kiko offered free story time near the goose, which was a draw for people nearly every day. And people who frequented the store were bound to make purchases at some point.

While Katie read the book a second time to the child, who apparently loved it, the parent picked up a copy and moved to the counter to purchase it. Kiko perked up as best he could.

“Will that be all?” he asked. “Yolks on You is holding a costume contest and trick-or-treat ahead of Halloween, later tonight. If you and your child want to come back, there will be prizes for the best three costumes, and finger foods for you.” Kiko handed the card back to the customer and passed them the receipt. “And/or: we’re hosting an Egg-O-Lantern dyeing party here tomorrow, if you’d care to drop by for that.”

“Sorry,” said the parent. “Just passing through on the way to Madison.”

When they had left Kiko slumped behind the counter, thinking he’d lost some of his touch. Usually he could get a smile out of a customer, if only an awkward one. Katie set an egg salad croissant from the case in front of him.

“You haven’t eaten all day,” she said. “I watched.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Katie rolled her eyes.

“Seriously, Kiko. Your blood sugar has to be low. I bet you didn’t have breakfast either.”

He stared sadly at the sandwich. Katie often made him eat at work; he never packed anything and rarely had breakfast. In fact, before he and Dom had gotten together some days he would skip dinner too. It was difficult to care about eating late at night in an empty house. He’d been putting on a little weight now that he was eating every night, lunches when Katie could coax him, and the occasional breakfast with Dom.

“Come on. Does Dom know how many meals you skip?”

“No, and you’re not telling him.” He pushed the sandwich away. “Put it back. I have to clean the bathroom now that there’s down time.”

Katie frowned and tightened her lips at him but didn’t argue. He took as long as he could wiping down the counter, refilling the soap and paper, scrubbing the toilet, and after that, he avoided Katie as best he could. She seemed a little annoyed at him too at that point, which was just as well. He figured if he could get all the bad mood over by the end of the day, it would be smooth sailing tomorrow, maybe even the rest of the week.

“Hey, boss, got any spare candy?” asked Chad the moment he entered and unzipped his hoodie. Kiko was setting out bowls of candy at various sections of the store and passed the blond part-time worker the empty bags when he approached.

Chad took them, looking confused. At eighteen, Chad had been a part-time worker at Yolks on You through most of his time in high school, and though he had started classes at the tech school in September, Kiko hadn’t hired anyone to replace him. It wasn’t necessary yet; Chad still helped out on the weekends, and Yolks on You wasn’t busy enough at the moment for Kiko to need anyone more during the weekdays.

“You can snag a couple once we’re done for the night,” said Kiko as Chad felt all the bags for a stray chocolate. “Let’s go get the other food. Come on.”

Chad followed Kiko down to the basement where there was a refrigerator. Kiko opened it and passed Chad the two plastic containers of deviled eggs before grabbing several others that had meat and cheese Kiko had cut earlier. He snatched up some boxes of crackers and followed Chad back up.

“Are these, like, special eggs?” asked Chad. “Why can’t you use the stuff in the case?”

“Those are regular deviled eggs,” said Kiko, shutting the door behind them. Katie stood by Mother’s pen, dressing the goose in a bonnet, his costume. “These are autumnal. Top box is maple bacon, bottom is pumpkin.”

“Sick,” said Chad. “Can I try one?”

He set them down on the table and popped the lid on the top one as Kiko moved behind the counter to rummage for serving trays for his cheese and crackers.

“Uh…what’d you say these are?” asked Chad.

“Maple bacon,” said Kiko, wondering how Chad was going to pass his college classes with the memory of a goldfish.

“Maple barf, more like.” Chad paused. “Like, I don’t even wanna touch them, boss. Last time I went around trying stuff I got the shits.”

Kiko was confused. Normally Chad ate anything Kiko gave him; he wasn’t that bad of a cook. When he moved around to have a look his spirits immediately fell, followed by a wave of anger. These weren’t his deviled eggs. These were the abominations Travis made.

Kiko stepped into the basement to give Dom a call.