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Miles
The bakery was packed when I arrived early for my meeting with Grant and Liam, but I managed to find a small table in the back shortly after I placed my order for coffee and a dozen pastries. I watched Shannon as she moved around the bakery, dropping off orders as fast as Mara took them behind the counter, doing everything she could to make sure no one was left wanting. She was exhausted, it was evident in the signs of strain around her eyes and the way her mouth pinched tight, the tension that pulled her shoulders up to her ears. “Hey,” I stopped her when she brushed past me. “You okay?”
Shannon gave a distracted nod, not even bothering to look at me.
“Are you sure?” Something was definitely going on with her and the more she kept it to herself, the more my own brain conjured up every worst case scenario imaginable. “Tell me what’s wrong, Shannon.”
She turned to me, green eyes lit with frustrated anger. “I really wish you would just stop asking me that!” After her outburst, Shannon smacked both hands over her mouth and ran behind the counter, disappearing beyond the swinging door.
Mara looked at me with concern in her eyes, which only heightened my suspicion that something was wrong. “She okay?”
I shrugged as I approached the counter with a sigh. “I don’t think so, not that she’ll talk to me about it. Has she said anything to you?”
“Nope.” She was lying but I expected her to protect Shannon’s privacy over my need to know what the hell was up with her.
It should come from her anyway. “Mind if I go back?”
Mara shrugged. “It’s your funeral.”
I shrugged and stepped around the counter. “Tell the world I died being brave, then.”
She shrugged again and turned back to the next rush of customers and I made my way through the kitchen and down the hall to wait outside of the employee bathroom when Shannon came out.
“You can’t run from me forever, Shannon.”
Her feet froze mid-stride and she let out a long sigh before she turned to me. “Not running from you, just trying to avoid being sick all over the bakery. Some might consider that bad business etiquette.”
“Good, then now is the perfect time to talk.”
“I have to get back to work,” she insisted, suddenly afraid to have a conversation with me. Her supposed best friend.
“You will. Later. For now, take a seat and have some water. And tell me what’s going on with you.”
“Nothing,” she practically growled at me, annoyed that I wouldn’t let it go.
“Don’t lie to me, Shannon. Friends don’t lie to one another.”
She barked out a bitter sounding laugh. “That’s where you’re wrong, Miles. Friends lie to each other all the time. sometimes to protect someone’s feelings or just because they aren’t ready to share a part of their lives.” She sighed and dropped down into the seat behind her desk, her gaze looking at everything in the small room except me.
“Really? I’m learning more about friendship every day.” The sarcasm in my tone wasn’t lost on her but Shannon let it go and motioned for me to take the seat across from her. “Tell me, Shannon, which friend are you being right now?”
She blinked several times until those big green eyes filled with tears and started to fall down her cheeks. Shannon dropped her head and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.” Her tears were real, so was the emotion she couldn’t hide in the depths of her eyes, the dejected set of her shoulders.
Shannon really didn’t know and that’s when I knew.
I recognized the confused feeling in the pit of my gut because I’d had this feeling once before, years ago. I had just gotten back from my last tour with the SEALs, excited to see my woman who was acting like a stranger. A cold, distant stranger. I hadn’t’ known it at the time, couldn’t have known it back then, but that distance, that icy demeanor, it was Carly’s way of gathering her strength, her courage to tell me she’d fucked my brother. Logically, I knew that’s not what was going on with Shannon.
But I also knew that something was going on with her and whatever it was, Mara knew. Mara had gained her trust enough to learn her secret and I had not. For some reason she didn’t trust me with the truth and though it hurt like hell, I had to find a way to be all right with it.
But first, I had to make sure she was fine. I stood and walked slowly around the desk, turning the chair until me and Shannon faced each other. Her green eyes widened in fear as I dropped to my haunches and stared at her, grabbing her shoulders and slowly dragging my hands up until they cupped her cheeks. I would miss this face, the touch of her silky skin, but whatever was going on with her, I wasn’t helping. “When you figure it out, Shannon, you know where to find me.” I stared at her for a long moment, allowing her to see the truth of my words, of my heart, in my eyes. Then I brushed a whisper-soft kiss to her lips, stood up and walked away.
