Chapter Text
The younger sister took in the elder sister’s somewhat harried appearance when she visited the shop during her lunch break. Waverly couldn’t quite believe her eyes seeing the little room full of customers and a very busy Wynonna. It had been a long time since she’d seen either.
“Wynonna!” she called from the door, waving.
“Waves!” Wynonna called back, relief flooding her features. “Could you man the register for me for like five minutes while-” her attention was quickly drawn back to an impatient customer.
The littlest Earp squeezed her way through to the counter and set to work. After an extraordinarily busy fifteen minutes in which both sisters felt like they barely had any time to catch their breath, the crowd thinned and they both saw her standing in the doorway.
Waverly knew everyone in the town of Purgatory. She had spent all twenty-seven years of her life in the small town and started working for its most popular watering hole since turning twenty-one. She was therefore absolutely certain that - and there wasn’t really any other way to describe her – the ‘bride’ standing in the doorway of her sisters shop wasn’t a local.
“It’s you…” her elder sister all but whispered. And as much as the woman herself had thrown Waverly, Wynonna knowing someone she didn’t completely baffled her.
“Who’s New Girl?” the woman lilted.
“Hi, I’m Waverly,” she said with her signature smile and wave. “I’m Wynonna’s little sister. And you are?”
“Brigitte,” the woman said, looking past her at Wynonna.
“What the fuck? You- What- You tell Waverly after one second but when- oh forget it.” Wynonna spluttered. Of course Waverly could get an answer. She had a way with people that she could only wish for.
“New Girl asked nicely.”
“It’s Waverly…”
“And I didn’t ask nicely?” Wynonna asked angrily.
“No.”
“I think you’ll find I did the first ten times.” She grumbled.
The woman turned her eyes then on Waverly and winked playfully. She then danced into the shop and like the day before moved around the shelves and displays.
***
The two sisters stood behind the counter having a whispered conversation while the woman – Brigitte – talked to the retired park ranger Mr Jett. Wynonna tried to bring her up to speed with the events of yesterday but found herself repeatedly distracted whenever she saw the woman move or heard her laugh.
“So, are you going to accept her offer?” Waverly asked after taking a minute to think all that she’d heard through.
“I don’t even know if it was an offer. It was more of an assumption really…” she trailed off.
“I didn’t even know you were looking for a business partner.”
“That’s the thing! Nobody did. It was just something I was thinking about and then, this!” Wynonna gestured at Brigitte who looked up and smiled at Wynonna beneath the veil.
“Coincidence?” Waverly said, her voice raising at the end to make it sound like more of a question.
“Pretty big coincidence.”
“Fair.”
Brigitte sidled up to the counter then and looked at Wynonna full in the face who, to her own surprise, felt a blush creep up her face. “Hot?” she asked, noticing the blush and Wynonna nodded dumbly.
Waverly also noticed the blush and started to walk away smirking. It had been a while since she’d seen that look in Wynonna’s eyes.
“I gotta go,” she said, nearly laughing at the way her sister’s head snapped away from Brigitte to look at her. “Gus’ll be wondering where I got to. See you at home?”
“Waves-” Wynonna whined.
“You didn’t think too much about what I said yesterday, did you?” Brigitte said, seeming to drop the sing-song quality in her voice, replacing it with a not unpleasant husky one.
Wynonna shifted on her feet not knowing what to say. The woman smiled at her, showing off brilliantly white teeth even beneath the veil.
“I understand,” she said. “I didn’t explain myself at all. Can we meet at Shorty’s later and I’ll-”
“I can’t – um – I mean, I don’t go there.” Wynonna interrupted. Unfazed by this the woman carried on, suggesting the diner instead.
“Seven o’clock then,” Brigitte said in her usual voice, briefly laying her hand upon Wynonna’s before walking – dancing – out of the door.
“That’s a fine business partner you’ve got yourself there Ms. Earp,” said Mr Jett. “She really knew her stuff about the kinds of animal endemic to our area.”
“Great,” Wynonna said, staring at her hand which had tickled when Brigitte touched it. “That’s new,” she whispered to herself.
***
It was just before seven when Wynonna arrived at the diner with Waverly and Nicole’s laughter still ringing in her ears. She had argued that her showing up early (“for once,” Nicole had teased) was a mark of professionalism since it was a business meeting (“tell that to your lucky bra!” Waverly giggled). She sat in her favourite booth and sipped her coffee while googling the legalities of going into business with someone when she heard a familiar voice.
“Well, if it ain’t Wynonna Earp!”
She looked up to see the ever friendly face of her former boss and old friend Shorty, who grabbed her and pulled her from her seat and into a tight hug.
“It’s been too long, woman,” he said when he released and they both sat down. “How’ve you been? When are you coming back to see me at the bar? We fixed that bull you know.”
“I don’t… you know I can’t go back there yet, Shorty.”
“S’okay sweetheart. You take your time. John Henry was a good man and I’m just so sorr-”
“So! How have you been? What are you doing here during, what, the third hour of happy hour?” she said, changing the subject with a forced smile.
“Waves has it covered. Listen, Wynonna, you need to talk about it eventually you know.”
Wynonna just glared at him. Any warmth she had felt for the man when they first sat down was starting to disappear. “Don’t push it. Or me.” She whispered.
The sudden appearance of a fresh cup of coffee and a donut broke the tense moment between the two friends. Wynonna looked up to see Brigitte standing there in a white blazer and black skinny jeans combo. The brunette became aware of how much she was blinking when she caught the hint of a smirk on a face no longer heavily made up or hidden by a veil.
“We can’t discuss business on an empty stomach,” she said in the same husky voice as earlier.
Shorty stood up and said goodbye, wishing the ladies a good evening and giving Wynonna an apologetic smile and a wave goodbye.
“I see you’ve dropped the bridal look,” Wynonna said by way of a greeting when Brigitte took his place.
“I only wear that during the workday,” she said. “I run the bridal boutique out on the back road and I find that it… helps to model my own creations.”
“Yeah?”
“Free advertising, baby,” she said with a wink.
“And the ethereal voice and the dancing?”
“Ethereal huh?” Wynonna blushed at her choice of word but carried on looking at her waiting for an answer. “Leaves an impression,” Brigitte finally said with a shrug.
***
It was after ten by the time Wynonna returned to her apartment, and her mind was strangely at peace. Though she and Brigitte had talked a lot that night, most of which Wynonna wasn’t entirely sure she understood, she felt good knowing that she would no longer be running a failing business alone any more. Brigitte had a lot of ideas about how to improve things and, hell, if the previous two days of business were anything to by before she and Brigitte were even formal partners, she couldn’t wait to see what changes she had in mind.
Feeling sure that it would only be a matter of days before her business began to boom, she started getting ready for bed. Pulling on another of John Henry’s old shirts and sliding under her covers she let her mind wander from wondering what perfume Brigitte wore to her old friend and their tense conversation earlier. She lay there a while, a nervous knot in her stomach before hearing her sisters key in the lock and then grimaced when she heard that Nicole was with her. She moved her pillow away from the adjoining wall and willed herself to fall asleep before any noise could start up.
***
“Two visits in as many nights, well now I am flattered,” John Henry said smiling cockily.
They were on his old bed together already, laying facing one another.
“Hey,” Wynonna playfully punched his arm. “You know I can’t control this.”
“But if you could?”
“I’d never leave,” she sighed sadly.
“My love…”
“I know.”
“It’s been a long time now, darlin’.”
“I know that too.”
“You want to lay here a while longer?” he whispered in her ear.
“I do.”
“First things first though, Wynonna.”
“Hm? No! Wait no-!”
“First you’ve got to wake up.”
Wynonna opened her eyes and groaned into her pillow. “For fuck’s sake, Doc!” she shouted out into the early morning.