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“No, Tanya. Like I said, I’m just being honest.”
“Well, I honestly think you’re a stuck-up bitch, Marley Stevenson.” Luke figured it was time to step in before the situation escalated.
“And on that note, we’re going to take off. Have a nice day,” Luke said.
Luke ushered Marley out onto the sidewalk, noting the pallor of her face. “Are you okay?”
Marley cleared her throat. “Sure. It’s not the first time I’ve been called that.”
“But I bet it doesn’t hurt any less,” he said kindly.
She wouldn’t agree with him, but he knew that was the case. Marley might be outspoken and honest, but he could tell that the people of Sweetheart genuinely liked her. The fact that someone she knew didn’t probably bothered her.
Not caring if she shrugged him off, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “What do you say we drown the memory of the worst cake in history with some tarts from your mom’s café? My treat?”
“My food is always free there.”
“Then I’ll pay double for mine. How’s that?”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks,” she mumbled.
Luke thought it was a good sign that she didn’t try to escape his embrace.
Chapter 12
Marley didn’t want to go into the café and be seen with Luke, mostly because she didn’t want it to get back to Kelly that they were spending time together. How could she explain that Sonora had thrown them together to be a jerk, and then because Marley hadn’t wanted to be alone, she continued to hang with him?
“Why don’t you go grab some food, and I’ll take you to one of my favorite spots?” she said.
He glanced from her to the front of the café and shrugged. “Sure, I’d love to know more about this town through your eyes.”
Marley blushed as he climbed out and shut the door. Leaning back in the front seat, she took a deep breath. She’d known Tanya Jenkins since they were kids, and they’d been friendly. She understood being defensive, but Tanya’s reaction to her had been downright hostile. Did she really come off as someone stuck-up? She didn’t mean to, especially to people she cared about.
But how could Tanya not taste what was wrong with that cake, unless she had no taste buds whatsoever? As it was, Marley’s stomach had roiled in protest after that last bite, and she was already afraid she’d be sick later. There was no way she was going to risk Betsey not getting back and Tanya giving food poisoning to four hundred guests.
Sometimes this part of her job really sucked and she wished like hell that Sonora had just rescheduled the cake tasting. If Tanya thought Marley was a bitch, she wondered what badge Sonora’s reaction to the cakes would have earned her?
Finally, Luke came out of the café with a large paper sack, and two drinks. She wondered what he’d ordered for them, until he opened up the door and the familiar aroma of her mom’s Heartache Healing Spinach and Artichoke Dip made her mouth water.
“So, I asked them for a bunch of your favorites because you were a friend of mine and they gave me—”
“Did you tell them I was in the car?”
Luke’s expression shuttered, and she wished she hadn’t sounded so panicked. “No, don’t worry. No one will know you’re slumming it.”
She scowled at him. “That is not why I don’t want people to know I am with you.”
“Yeah, I know, you don’t want to upset Sonora.”
Not when she’s my ticket out of here.
But she couldn’t tell him that without breaking her confidentiality agreement.
“I just don’t think that the whole town needs to know my business. Okay?”
Luke set the food on the floor in the back and then the drinks in the holders. “You’re the boss. Where are we headed?”
“I’ll show you.” Marley drove out of town and along the windy road. When she pulled off onto a dirt road and kept going about five miles out, Luke asked, “I would ask if this is where you kill me, but I’m hoping that I’m wrong.”
