Loving Cousin

"That's not all, is it?" she asked.

No, I thought, but didn't repeat it out loud. After cursing her for being intuitive, I slapped on a fake smile and switched gears. "Let's talk about your party. Mom wants to go, but she needs to check her work schedule. But even if she says she can, she may still bail on us. An ex-employee stuck her with an extra shift when she didn't show up for work last week."

"I can't believe someone would do that," she said, taking a sip of her coffee. "Speaking of work, I was at the mall last weekend and you weren't working when I stopped by."

"The store hired a bunch of seasonal workers this year. Since I don't work during the week because of school, the managers offered my weekend shifts to the seasonal staff if they wanted the extra money. So far, they've snapped them all up. I'm still on call, but as long as they have coverage, I won't have to go in until after New Years."

"Sucks for your paycheck," Steph replied.

"Yeah, but I've been enjoying the extra ti