“Nothin’ to listen to,” he threw back curtly. “Like I said, this is done. Have a good life, Dani.”
With that, he spun around and stomped the two steps to the door. He flung it open and slammed it closed behind him so hard that it rattled the pictures on the wall.
I stood there frozen for what felt like an eternity as I tried to understand what had just happened. His cruel words bounced around inside my skull until they were all I could hear.
I wasn’t sure how I managed on such shaky legs, but I somehow made it back to my room without collapsing on the floor. I climbed into my bed, curled into a fetal position, gripping my knees tight against the pain in my chest.
Then I cried so long and so hard, I wore myself out, the salty tears drying on my cheeks once I’d cried myself to sleep.
Chapter Eighteen
Danika
It just so happened that my days off coincided with Leo gutting me. So for two days I hadn’t accomplished much of anything besides moving from lying in my bed to lying on my couch in the living room, watching mindless TV—even The Office couldn’t cheer me up, and I’d put it on my favorite episode where Michael and Jan hosted the dinner party from hell—and ordering a large pizza topped with pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olives, which I ate every piece of in one sitting.
In those two days, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what he said no matter how hard I tried. If I was awake, I heard “I wanted to wait until I was sure what we had would stay good. Now I know it won’t.”
When I finally managed to drift off, I dreamed, “Are your deep-seeded issues about being a nerd in high school so damn bad, you had to go tell everyone you finally hooked up with the quarterback of the football team?”
I couldn’t understand what had happened. I hadn’t said a word to anyone. I’d made him a promise that I hadn’t gone back on, so none of what he’d said made any sense to me.
After those two days, I was well and sick of my own miserable company. I thought I’d feel good, going back to work and staying busy.
A lot of coffee shops outsourced their baked goods, but at Muffin Top, everything was baked from scratch from my own recipes. I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. My heart and soul were in my baking. It was who I was, and with each pastry I sold, I was giving a little piece of my happiness to every customer who came into my shop.
When I’d first started out, there had been countless breakdowns. I’d questioned my sanity at the beginning, when I was getting my shop off the ground. It was just me and Martin helping to make a go of things. The hours were long and the work was grueling. Most days the stress was almost more than I could handle, and I nearly pulled the plug.
Fortunately, I had people in town who believed in me, and before I knew it, I had a staff of seven and a thriving business.
The happiest place on earth for me was my shop. It was my sanctuary, my escape, my happy place. It didn’t matter if I was having a bad day, if I was stressed or depressed, as soon as I stepped foot inside Muffin Top, everything else melted away.
Until now.
Nothing felt good after Leo had ripped my heart out and proceeded to stomp it to dust.
“Dani?”
At the sound of my name, I was pulled from my unhappy thoughts and back to reality. I blinked my vision clear and looked up at Ms. McClintock. I’d been so wrapped up in my own head that I’d completely forgotten where I was—behind the register at Muffin Top—and what I was doing—ringing up Ms. M’s order.
“Huh?”
Ms. McClintock, known all around town as Ms. M, was a little slip of a thing in her eighties with blue-rinsed hair and tons of attitude. She was loved by pretty much everyone simply because her saltiness tended toward hilarious rather than offensive. But at that very moment, she was staring across the counter at me with concern etched into the weathered, papery skin on her face. “You okay, darlin’?”
I pasted on a tight smile. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Sorry. I just spaced there for a second. What was it you wanted to order?”
Her gaze turned shrewd as she tipped her head and studied me closer. “No offense, girl, but you don’t look fine. You look like you been on a bender that got the best of you and came into work either still drunk or with a hangover from hell. You not been sleepin’?”
See what I mean? Salty but hilarious.
My smile turned genuine as I let out a little giggle. “Not really, Ms. M. But I’ll be better tomorrow. Promise.”
She still looked skeptical. “That pitiful look on your face doesn’t have anything to do with that big hunka cop you been seein’ on the sly, does it? ’Cause I’ll take myself right on down to that station and beat him over the head if it does. I got a new hip and I been dyin’ to see how it holds up.”
A snort, part surprise, part humor, burst from my throat. “How did you—?” I gave my head a shake. “Never mind. This is Hope Valley, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m sure everyone already knows.”
“That nasty little piece of white trash that’s always walkin’ around like she’s got class when she doesn’t have a lick has been runnin’ her mouth all over town.”
“Sorry. I’m not following. Who’s been running their mouth?”
“You know, that woman he used to be married to. The one who thinks her shit don’t stink when we all know everyone’s shit stinks. Never liked the look of her. Even as a kid. But don’t you worry,” she quickly added when my eyes went wide. “Everyone here knows you, and they know how Whitney Brown’s always been, so no one’s payin’ a bit of attention to her callin’ you a homewrecker.”
I put my hands on the counter and leaned in, whisper-yelling, “She’s calling me a homewrecker?”
“Like I said, no one believes a word outta that woman’s mouth, so don’t you worry yourself one little bit. Now gimme the truth. What’s got your head so twisted up, child?”
“It’s nothing, Ms. M. Seriously.”
She squinted her eyes, not buying my lie for a second. “So you’re sayin’ he’s got nothin’ to do with you lookin’ like someone just kicked a whole litter of puppies right in front of your eyes?”
She wasn’t going to give up, I knew that much. If I didn’t give her the truth I had no doubt she’d stand right where she was the rest of the day, asking the same question over and over until I finally caved or ran screaming from the building.
I let out a heavy sigh and gave it to her straight. “We aren’t together anymore.”
“That’s it!” Ms. M slapped her hand against the counter. “I’m goin’ down there right after you get me my hazelnut latte with a big ol’ dollop of caramel sauce and one of those biscotti thing-a-ma-bobs, and I’m gonna give this new hip a test drive, I tell ya.”
“Please don’t do that, Ms. M,” I pleaded desperately. “We just didn’t work out, that’s all. He didn’t do anything wrong.” Except blame me for something I had nothing to do with. “I’m just sad it didn’t work is all.”
That seemed to appease her slightly. She still looked mad as a hornet, but at least she’d stopped threatening to go confront Leo. Thank God.
“All right, girl. I’ll let it go. But I still want that latte.”
“You got it. And the biscotti’s on the house, since you were willing to put your new hip in jeopardy for me.”
I finished ringing her up and went about making her coffee. She left shortly after, and I let out a sigh of relief, hoping that meant the drama was done.
Unfortunately, it was proven less than thirty minutes later that luck wasn’t looking down on me favorably, because that was all the reprieve I got before Nona came storming into the shop, her infant son in her arms, declaring loudly, “That’s it! As soon as I leave here, I’m hunting down Whitney Brown and ripping her over-processed hair out at the roots.”
Nona was only a few years older than I was, so she knew all about Whitney Brown and her reign of bitchiness from back when we were kids.
Thankfully, there was a lull in the crowd, so there weren’t
many people to overhear her.
I waved my hands and lifted my finger so my lips, hissing out, “Shh!” as she got close to the counter.
Baby Liam was currently nestled in his momma’s arms, sleeping like a log in spite of her shrill declaration.
I turned to Candance who’d been helping me behind the counter. “Candace, honey, you mind keeping an eye on things out here? I need to speak with Nona in the back. It won’t take but a few minutes.”
Candace gave me a bright smile and shifted in front of the register. “Sure thing, Dani. I got this. Take your time.”
With a jerk of my chin, I indicated to Nona to follow me and led her through the kitchen to my little office off in one corner, far enough away to not be intrusive, but close enough that, when forced to do paperwork, I could hear and see what was going on if I left the door open, making me feel like I was still a part of the action. Neither of us said a word until I had the door closed behind us.
Her mouth was opened, ready to start up again as soon as I spun around, but I beat her to the punch. I lifted my hand, palm up, to keep her silent. “Before you say anything, Ms. McClintock was in here earlier, and I already know what Whitney’s going around saying about me, and I don’t care. What I want to know is what the hell was said between you and Sage at your salon the other day.”
Her brows dipped low in confusion, her head canting to the side, sending all her gorgeous red hair sliding off her shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, were you and Sage talking about me and Leo making out in there?” I pointed behind me toward my kitchen.
Nona looked up in thought as she swayed side to side, soothing Liam who’d woken up and was beginning to fuss. “Sage came in to get her hair done the other day. She was telling me about it, but it wasn’t like we were gossiping. We were both really excited for you is all.”
“Shit,” I breathed out on a whisper, reaching up to drag my hands through my hair only to encounter the elastic holder I’d thrown it up in earlier that morning.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“How did she . . .?” I worked to swallow down the lump that had suddenly risen in my throat. “I didn’t say anything to her. How did she know?”
“She saw you,” Nona answered quietly, her pretty face shrouded with worry. “She saw your car parked out front after hours and noticed the lights were on, so she stopped in to say hey, saw you and Leo together, and tiptoed back out. She didn’t want to interrupt.”
I let out a caustic laugh before dropping my head and giving it a shake. It was either laugh or burst into tears, and I was sick and tired of crying. If there was one thing that had become perfectly clear over the past couple days, it was that Leo Drake didn’t deserve me crying over him.
Nona stepped close, placing her hand on my arm and giving it a squeeze. “Sweetie, what’s going on? Talk to me.”
I did just that. My mouth opened and every single thing that had happened came spilling out. How we were keeping our relationship quiet so he could figure out how to tell his kids. How it had been so amazing up until two days ago. I told her every mean word that had spilled from his lips as he accused me of something I didn’t do, and I told her, in depth, just how crushed I’d been as he said them.
By the time I finished recounting every single detail of that horrible conversation, I was a sniffling mess, and Nona looked like she was about to be sick.
“Oh God. Dani. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If Sage and I hadn’t been talking about—”
I waved her off. “Stop. It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. Every woman in the world knows that we share with our hairdressers. It’s like being a bartender. You guys are practically unlicensed therapists. Plus, you guys are my friends.”
“Still. I can’t believe Leo said those things to you. I’m so mad at him right now I can’t see straight.”
“It is what it is,” I said with a defeated shrug. “I guess it’s only a matter of time before word spreads that Leo and I aren’t together, and with Whitney running around calling me a homewrecker, people will start to speculate even more than they already are.”
“No one’s speculating anything,” Nona said fiercely. “Here.” She extended her arms, holding baby Liam out to me. “Give him a nuzzle. Auntie Dani’s sad, and he makes everything better.”
I didn’t hesitate to reach out and snatch up that adorable, chubby little bundle and pull him tight against my chest, bending my neck so I could sniff his downy head. There was just something about a baby’s smell that made everything better.
“You’ve lived here your whole life, doll,” Nona continued once she saw her son was working his magic. “These people know you, they know you’d never in a million years do something like that. They also know that Leo and Whitney’s marriage was over long before you ever came into the picture. The only one listening to any of that shit is Whitney’s band of bitches, and most of the people in town can’t stand those women anyway.”
I didn’t care if it made me petty, I smiled at Nona, knowing she was right and grateful for it. All those women were alike—ugly on the inside in spite of their outward beauty.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“You’re damn right I’m right,” she insisted. “Now, because you’re going through something, it’s my job, as a member of your tribe, to look out for you. That means calling up the rest of the girls and instigating a ladies’ night.”
“Babe, you don’t have to—”
“Oh, I certainly do. It’ll help you get your mind off things, but I’ll admit, I have ulterior motives. I missed the last one, and, while I love my husband and the family we’ve made together with every breath in my body, if I don’t get a little time for myself, and soon, I can’t be held responsible for what I’m gonna do to them. It’ll be temporary insanity.”
I arched a brow and fought back a grin. “I’m not an expert or anything, but I’m pretty sure everything you just said is the very definition of premeditation.”
She waved her hand like it was nothing. “You say premeditation, I call it a slow descent into madness.”
With a giggle, I looked at Liam, his huge blue-gray eyes staring up at me in wonder. “Your mommy’s lost her marbles,” I baby talked. “Yes she has. Yes she has.”
He gave me a gummy smile, complete with drool and slammed his fist against my cheek, which I took as baby speak for “I totally agree. She’s nuttier than a fruitcake.”
“Whatever.” Nona rolled her eyes and grabbed Liam back. “So, are you in?”
“In for what?”
“Ladies’ night,” she cried. “Come on, Dani. Get your head in the game.”
Whether I was feeling up to it or not, it was clear Nona hadn’t been kidding. She really did need a night out, so I found myself nodding. “I’m in.”
“Great! I’ll initiate the phone tree when I get home and call you with the where and when of it all. Now, I’m off. The kids are at school, Trick’s at work, and it’s almost this little guy’s nap time. I am not missing out on the blessed silence I have coming my way.” She leaned in, squeezing me in a tight hug before stepping back and extracting Liam’s fingers from the hair that had fallen out of my haphazard bun. “Talk soon, doll. And in the meantime, keep your chin up. Just remember, your tribe’s got your back.”
“All right, babe. Talk to you later.”
With that, she left, and for the first time in two days, I was thankful to have something to look forward to.
Chapter Nineteen
Leo
It had been five days since the shit hit the fan, and each day had been worse than the last for a multitude of reasons. The strongest reason being I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d been way out of line the last time I spoke to Danika.
I’d been so out of my head with anger when I confronted her I hadn’t thought about a single thing I was saying before the words spewed from my mouth. Thanks to my disastrous marriage, I had a hair-trigger temper. It was a hu
ge character flaw and, while I tried my best to keep it in check, sometimes I lost control. After that call with my son, dealing with his attitude and how badly he was hurting, not to mention all the shit I’d learned about what Whitney had been saying to our kids, the trigger had been pulled, and I acted without any forethought, taking everything I’d been feeling out on Danika.
Then there was the fact that I was picking up my kids later today for my week with them, and Hardin still wasn’t speaking to me. I’d have given anything and everything to get us back to where we’d once been. It was bad enough I only got my kids every other week, but even when I had Hardin, he still wasn’t with me, and I didn’t have a fucking clue how to make things better.
“Not sure what you’re hopin’ to accomplish, but starin’ at your computer like it owes you money isn’t gonna make it magically start typin’ all on its own.”
I blinked, bringing my vision into focus and turning to look across the desks at my partner. “If I stare at you like that, would it get you to shut the hell up?”
He shook his head on a chuckle. “Christ, you’ve been a moody son of a bitch lately.”
“Maybe it’s his time of the month.”
I whipped around and skewered Hayes with a killing look as Micah and Trick busted out laughing.
“How about the three of you fuck right the hell off?”
I turned my glare back to my computer as Trick mock-whispered, “I think we hurt his feelings, guys.”
“I don’t see any of you fuckin’ off yet,” I grumbled, stabbing at my mouse with my index finger harder than necessary.
Before they could give me any more shit, Trick’s wife came traipsing up the stairs into the bullpen with their infant son in her arms. Even after giving birth only a few months back, the beautiful redhead was still all long legs and pronounced curves. Add to that the fact that the woman was also sweet as pie, and it wasn’t any wonder why Trick was so sprung for his woman.
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