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I could just ignore Diego. I had so far; it wouldn’t be that much of a nuisance.
“You have a beautiful store here,” I added lamely, wondering how bad it would look if I simply turned around and ran.
While Isobel nodded her greeting, Kaitlynn leaned toward the other woman—Camille—and explained to her, “Gabby lives with her dad and younger brother in the same building as me and your grandma.”
I glanced over, wondering who Camille’s grandmother was, just as Kaitlynn told me, “She’s Mabel Blanchette’s granddaughter.”
“Oh!” Oh, wow. “I love Mabel,” I told Camille. “She’s such a badass.”
I’d gone to Mabel’s apartment on Halloween night too, but she’d left a note on her door, saying she would be spending the evening at her granddaughter’s house and therefore wouldn’t be home to give anyone candy.
Maybe this was the granddaughter she’d meant.
Camille grinned over my compliment and agreed, “She is.”
Across the counter from us, Isobel listened to Shaw explain my situation. “…So she wants us to stop selling flowers to this guy who’s buying them from us because he’s stalking her with them and won’t stop giving her more bouquets.”
“Oh dear,” Isobel murmured before focusin
g on me. “I’m so sorry. Have you gone to the police about it?”
I rolled my eyes. “They don’t care. Not until he actually does something threatening, anyway.”
I tried to explain Diego as best I could, and Isobel seemed to understand.
“Next time he comes in,” she offered, nodding astutely, “Shaw will have a talk with him about respecting a woman’s prerogative.”
This was news to Shaw. His eyes widened as he blurted, “I will?” But one look from Isobel seemed to melt him, and he ended up agreeing with her without a fight.
Damn, it must be really good sex between them. The poor guy was mush around her.
Kaitlynn glanced my way as if to share a smile, letting me know she was having the same thought, but something behind me seemed to catch her attention. A second later, her eyes flared wide and she gasped, “Oh my God. Oh my God!” before she spun away, thrust the roses I’d given her at an unsuspecting Camille before she dove to the floor so she could half crawl, half hobble behind a bookcase to hide.
I blinked after her, glanced at Camille—who glanced right back with the same expression of perplexed surprise—and then we both turned to Shaw and Isobel, who looked similarly stumped.
In the next instant, the bell above the door rang.
The four of us still standing around the counter focused on the newcomer in unison, since he was obviously the reason Kaitlynn had freaked and hid.
My eyebrows lifted as a hot man in a three-piece suit entered.
Mmm. Nice.
Who was this? And why had he caused Kaitlynn to flee? Needing my curiosity appeased, I stuck around to learn as much as I could.
“Hey, man,” Shaw greeted hot suit guy as if they were old friends. “How’s it going?”
Mr. Suit sent him an irritated frown, which clearly translated as: it’s Monday. How the fuck do you think it’s going?
Then he turned to Isobel and lowered his voice to that personal pitch that meant he knew her well, and he said, “You have a minute to talk?”
“Uh.” Isobel darted a glance to the place where Kaitlynn was hiding before guiltily jerking her attention back to Mr. Suit. “Sure. In the back?”
He started to nod his approval and even waved a respectful farewell to Shaw until something on the countertop caught his attention, waylaying him.
I glanced down just as he pointed to the bundle of cookies that had been wrapped in a clear plastic bag with gold swirling designs on it.
“Wait. Where did you get those?” His voice was sharp, almost accusative.
