Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
“I just graduated.”
“College?” I press. “Any plans?”
She shakes her head, the matted locks swinging over her shoulders.
How does Mace know this girl? They’re opposites in every way.
I look at her, trying to catch her eyes. “Do you have another job?”
Again with the headshaking, and I end it there. She doesn’t want to talk.
I clear my throat, stepping away and touching the tip jar. “Can you split up the tips?” I ask her.
But before she can answer, Hailey grabs it. “I got it.”
I glance at the redhead, assuming she’s just being nice, but I see the glare she shoots Codi’s back as the kid still wipes off the rings.
Hailey looks as if she doesn’t trust her.
I inhale a deep breath. Weston versus the Falls. Things haven’t changed. The people here still think Weston is all drug dealers and thieves.
But...I noticed last night that Farrow had that tattoo, and I know it’s not a social club he belongs to. Mace has it, as well.
And Codi was with her. She might not be a criminal, but she knows some.
Everyone gets busy grabbing their backpacks and jackets, and I see Codi slide a brownie off the tray in the kitchen, quickly wrapping it in parchment before hiding it in her sweatshirt pocket. As if she’s stealing something when I already offered it.
I should’ve made her eat today.
Hailey splits the cash, and everyone starts to leave.
“Codi?” I call before she disappears through the door.
She stops and turns, her eyes lifting to mine and then down again.
“Are you by any chance free in the morning? I could use you for another shift, if you want?”
She swallows, her eyes wide, and then she nods again.
“Five a.m.?”
Another nod.
“Thanks,” I tell her. “Have a good night.”
She leaves, giving a half-hearted bob of her head, and I lock the door behind them. I shut down the lights in the front of the shop and turn on some music, getting busy with preparing for tomorrow.
After tying up the bag of towels and aprons for the laundry service, baking three batches of brownies, and preparing dough for morning pastries, it’s well after nine, and I have three missed calls from Dylan.
I saw her call. I let them all go to voicemail, but she didn’t leave any.
I know what she wants. She’s got some free time at the camp and wants to gossip. And more than likely see if I’m going to the gym again tonight.
I’m not.
He’ll be there, though. If nothing else, just to chaperone me and cart me home afterward on my brothers’ orders. I don’t know how to explain it, but I don’t want to make it easy on him. If he wants to talk to me again, he can come find me.
As the minutes tick by, I stick to my guns no matter how desperate I am to see as much of him as possible. In twenty-four hours, he’ll be gone.
My stomach hollows out, and I lean into the counter, closing my eyes for a moment. He’ll leave, having seen me as a woman like I waited for him to and having talked to me as an adult. And that will be it. He’s not drawn to me.
I growl, pushing away the pain in my chest, and keep moving. I dig out some paperwork for Codi to fill out as I assume she’s open to being hired as a formal employee—at least for the summer—and then I finish up the last of the dishes. Turning off my Bluetooth speaker, I head to the front of the shop and switch off the battery-operated lanterns on the tables that Noel forgot.
The space behind me creeps up, and the hair on my neck rises. I jerk my head, feeling someone behind me.
But there’s nothing. The only thing there is, is my reflection in the mirror.
I let my gaze float to the left and right, a shiver coursing through me.
I was never scared of the dark, but I’m hyper-aware tonight. I shake it off and move to the bathroom, changing into my running clothes. For some reason, I feel safer out in the dark night than in here, and I hurry to dash outside and lock the door behind me before I jog out of the alley.
Sliding my phone into my pocket, I stick in my earbuds and start the playlist. One of my mom’s favorites, “Cradle of Love” plays.
I jog, taking a right down High Street and then another right, into the same neighborhood I ran through a couple nights ago. I pass the pool and Mr. Zellers’s yard, race up Fall Away Lane, and around the high school just as lightning flashes across the sky. I realize I’ve done a loop leading me back to Pine Street and Astrophysics. I don’t turn in there. I glance, trying in the barest of moments to not look like I’m looking for his car, but turn back away before I can tell if he’s there or not. He crossed a line this morning, and I’m not letting him get away with it like I do with my brothers.