Free Abby Road by Ophelia London

green shorts hung off the tip of the finger he pointed at Todd. “I’m starvin’ like Marvin!”
    “Minor detour first,” the boss man replied.
    “It was my fault,” I inserted as I emerged from behind Todd.
    Startling me, Todd whipped around so that his body was blocking Chandler’s view of me. “Are you sure?” he whispered, his face bent down to mine. “I can just drop this off, if you’d prefer.” Between our two bodies he was holding the bag with Chandler’s pastrami sandwich inside. “Just give me two seconds, and we’ll be off. He doesn’t have to, um, bother you.”
    “You claim you’re safer than an armored car,” I whispered back. Then I snatched the bag from him. “Prove it.”
    Todd lifted one eyebrow. “Oh, you’re good.”
    Without taking his eyes off me, he said, “Chandler, I’d like you to meet—”
    “Hold up.”
    In unison, Todd and I turned toward the goofy kid.
    His finger with the hanging shorts was now pointing at me. “You look exactly like—”
    “Chandler!”
    The kid jumped about a foot, almost as high as I did, but his eyes obediently fixed on Todd.
    Todd took a beat—after knowing he had his employee’s complete attention—and cleared his throat, staring the poor kid down like a lion tamer.
    It was easy to see that Todd was very good at holding someone’s attention when he wanted to. I’d already fallen under that spell a few times that day, and it was pretty obvious poor Chandler was no match, either.
    “Chandler.” Todd’s voice was deliberate and controlled now. “This. Is. Abby.” He was holding his hands out in front of him, the tamer approaching the beast. “Okay?”
    Oh, brother. Such drama . I stepped between them and extended my hand. “Hi, Chandler.” I beamed. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
    He didn’t lift his hand to shake mine. In fact, the kid didn’t move at all. I lowered my hand to pick up his, which was hanging like a dead thing at his side, and gave it a hardy shake.
    “Uhh, nice to meet me,” Chandler garbled. “Oh, I mean I love you, I mean . . . umm, er, uh?” He swore under his breath and pulled his hand from mine, his tan face turning the same shade as the bright pink T-shirt he was wearing.
    Todd glanced at me, showing his bottom teeth. “We don’t let him out much.”
    “Don’t worry about it.” I waved dismissively. “Here, we brought you lunch.” I handed Chandler the bag.
    He looked like he was on the verge of another out-of-body freak-out. “Abigail Effing Kelly,” he spoke slowly, “is bringing me lunch?” He lifted his chin and let out one loud cackle. “ Totally off the chain ! Wait’ll the guys hear this!”
    I shot Todd a look.
    “Hey, be a mate,” he said to Chandler, “and don’t mention this to anyone. Capiche ?” Todd sounded plenty stern as he continued to reel in his overly enthusiastic employee, but then I noticed something a bit more threatening in his expression when he laid one hand on Chandler’s shoulder.
    Chandler, who had turned slightly green, seemed to understand the gesture. He looked from Todd to me and then back to Todd. Again, his excitement mellowed under the steady gaze of the tamer.
    A moment later, Todd shook Chandler’s shoulder in a friendly way and stepped back. “You finally sold the ruby longboard,” he observed.
    His employee nodded timidly.
    “That’s great work, man. Really great. Congratulations.”
    Chandler’s youthful animation returned as he described to Todd his big sale of the morning. They were friends with mutual respect; I could see that. When Chandler looked up to greet a customer, Todd glanced at me, pointing a thumb at his own chest. “Armored car,” he mouthed.
    I lifted a hand to cover my grin.
    “Well,” Todd said a few minutes later “we’d better shove off.”
    I bid adieu to Chandler and walked to the front door. When I turned back, Todd had his hand clamped down on Chandler’s shoulder again, speaking low, looking him directly