“You two always in competition.”He chuckled then.“Thought you’d end up together somehow.”
Oh, for the love of—
“Hoped you would anyway,” he added as an afterthought.
My mouth turned dry.“You did?”
“You two seemed to fit.Welp, I better run.I’m having my annual summer barbecue next weekend.Y’all should come.”
Y’all—me and Owen.
“Oh, I—”
And then he was out the door before I could decline.
As soon as he was gone, I opened the cash drawer and picked up the tray.The scrap was still there.I hadn’t imagined it.I slid it out with shaking fingers and stared down at the familiar handwriting.
It was Alice’s.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Istaredatthescrap of paper, my heart in my throat, my hand shaking.
The page had been ripped in half—and ripped from something.The left edge was jagged, like it had been torn straight out of a book.
The words were faint pencil.Scrawled like an afterthought.
Or intention.
My first impulse was to run across the street to Owen.I didn’t—because Rylyn’s footsteps were already behind me.I shoved the paper into my pocket to examine later.
Then I did what I always did when my world tilted.
I worked.
Filling orders.Answering phones.Creating arrangements.
By late afternoon, Halle arrived on a breeze of vanilla and afternoon sunshine.
I stiffened.We were supposed to grab lunch, and between portals, grief, and the minor detail of my life exploding, it had slipped right past me.
Halle didn’t miss a beat.“I was hoping you’d be here.”
“You were?”
“I realized when I saw you the other day I didn’t give you my number.”She pushed her business card into my hand.
One glance down and I saw she was a real estate agent—specializing in historic homes in the area.Quite a niche.
“You can text me or call me anytime,” she said.
I reached for a pen and a scrap of paper and scribbled down my number.“Here’s mine.”
She smiled down at it, then asked, “What are you doing tonight?”
The unexpected question made my head pop up.“Why do you ask?”
Because my initial thought was, I’d be alone with Willow, a chatty Tani, the Red Queen, and too many worries to put away on a Friday night.
