AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The music in the background tells me she’s still at the boutique. She typically doesn’t leave until dark during the summer, and every Monday, she has a mystery sale to move old inventory. “Shit, babe. I’m sorry. If you give me like ten to fifteen minutes, I’ll be home. And don’t worry, Tyler’s busy so he won’t be there.”
Just the sound of his name has my heart thumping harder, and while I want to know what he’s doing, it’s not my business nor should I want to ask.
“Okay, deal,” I tell her and take the backroads to give her time to get home. Considering Robert lives on the outskirts of town, I arrive well after Everleigh. She opens the door before I can even knock and immediately wraps me in a hug.
“Come in. I gotta let Sassy out real quick.” I watch as the dog follows her to the back door, and Everleigh lets her out. Moments later, they both return, and we walk to the kitchen.
“I picked up margarita mix because they’re your favorite.”
“You’re the best.” I grin, taking a seat at the breakfast bar. “Make mine a double.”
“Already on it.” She winks and begins mixing it all together.
Once they’re finished, she sits down on the stool next to me. “You hungry?”
I shake my head. “Robert cooked before our big blowout.”
“Alright, well since I don’t have to offer you a gourmet meal, I’m eating a sandwich quickly before the alcohol goes right to my head.”
I giggle, knowing how true that is. Everleigh isn’t a lightweight, but she doesn’t tend to eat a lot when she’s busy at work all day. The booze would most definitely get her drunk faster on an empty stomach. Everleigh grabs the ingredients, then lays it all out on a plate in front of me. I stare in disgust as she piles pickles, olives, and mustard on top of the turkey.
“Don’t judge me.” She points at me with the butter knife and chuckles. “So tell me what happened. From the beginning.”
“Well, there was the awkward double date from hell, he apologized yesterday, then he invited me over for dinner tonight. Something felt off, but I wasn’t sure what it was until he just unleashed on me out of the blue.”
“What’d he say?”
“That I needed to quit my job and how Tyler is bad news, so he doesn’t want me around him.”
Everleigh nearly drops her sandwich on the floor as her eyes widen in shock. Sassy’s eagerly waiting at her feet for any spare crumbs. Everleigh sets it on the plate and stares at me. “What the fuck?”
“Exactly! Completely pulled the rug out from under me. I’ve never seen Robert this mad before. There was no reasoning with him, so I just got the hell out of there.”
She huffs. “What’s wrong with him?”
I look down at the two-carat diamond ring on my finger. Right now, it feels more like a symbol of prison than love. It’s not supposed to be like this.
“He said Tyler is a criminal and that he no longer respects my dad for hiring him.” I force my eyes closed as the anger builds again.
“Fuck him,” she snaps. “My brother may have gone to prison, but he’s not acriminal. It’s jackasses like Robert who believe all those dumbass rumors instead of his side of the story. That’s a part of the reason Tyler didn’t want to come home in the first place. I’ve seen the way people look at him. It’s ridiculous.”
“I know.” My voice is nearly a whisper. “I’m sorry.”
“What’re you gonna do?” Everleigh picks up her sandwich, and Sassy walks away, defeated.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you gonna quit? Robert doesn’t seem like the type who’s just going to let you go to work if he doesn’t agree.”
I grit my teeth. “I’mnotquitting. He acts like I’m just supposed to blindly agree with whatever he says, but I’m putting my foot down on this. Then he bitched me out for standing up for Tyler at the bar when Robert was commenting on why he went to prison.”
She lifts an eyebrow. “Sounds like he’s jealous and threatened, maybe even worried that Tyler’s going to steal you away from him.” An evil grin spreads across her face.
“That’s dumb.” I sip my margarita that’s so strong it tastes like pure tequila.
“Is it, though?” she questions.
Considering where Tyler and I stand at the moment, it seems like a non-issue. Has everyone lost their minds? “Yeah, it is. So was Robert asking me if I’m sleeping with Tyler behind his back.”
