AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She might leave me. And I can't take that,” I said tightly.
“One day, you’ll wake up and wonder how you got this old. Make sure when you open your eyes, there’s someone beside you who loves you no matter what.” She tossed back her drink. “Stop kidding yourself.”
She stood, kissed the top of Dad’s head, and then kissed mine. “If I didn’t care about you, I’d keep my mouth shut.” She kissed me again before leaving Dad and me staring after her.
“She’s right.”
“I know. But it doesn’t matter.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Baker
The orderfor lip gloss came at the best possible time.
It kept me busy enough that I didn’t have time to mope around on the sofa. So I moped and made lip gloss at the same time.See? Multi-tasking.
The ache from Holt’s absence was my constant companion. I’d even spent the night at the shelter a few times just so I wouldn’t have to go home to an empty apartment.
But I’d just delivered the remaining lip gloss to Juniper. Four days early. What was I going to do with all the extra time on my hands?
I wandered from the boutique to Trish’s food truck. The line was down the block, so I caught her attention through the window. She unlocked the back door for me.
“Need some help?”
“How’d it go?”
We spoke at the same time and laughed.
“She didn’t order more,” I said. I shrugged like it was no big deal, but I was disappointed.
“Did you ask?”
“No?”
Was I supposed to?
“Then you can do it tomorrow. Call and make sure everything is okay with the shipment. Then ask if she needs more.” Trish was so business savvy. I was lucky to have her.
“Okay,” I said, brightening. “Hey, Cricket.”
She gave a little wave of acknowledgement from where she boxed up an order.
“The new logo is getting rave reviews,” I said.
“That’s good,” she mumbled without looking up.
I clapped my hands and exchanged a look with Trish. “What can I do?”
“Fill drinks,” she said as she went back to the window.
“You got it.”
A couple of hours later,the three of us walked into Paths. Cricket hadn’t said more than a few words the entire time. The girl was an expert at being invisible. But when Trish and I sat down at one of the tables in the dining room, she joined us.
“Have you heard from him?” Trish slid a container of the day’s leftover mac and cheese toward me.
I went to grab some silverware from the cart near the wall.
