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“Hey,” I hear a voice squeak out. My head snaps and I find Daphne hesitantly approaching my desk from the front door.
I pull in a breath to calm myself, then I offer my friend a smile. “Hi Daphne.”
Her eyes bounce to my brother and then back to me. “When Felix stopped by the ice cream shop a little while ago, he mentioned that you were having a bad day. I figured I’d pop in and check on you now that I’m on my break.”
“I am having a bad day,” I tell her. “I need to vent. Take a walk with me?”
Daphne nods dutifully. “Sure.”
I crouch down to grab my purse out of the bottom drawer. When Felix thinks I’m not looking, he gives my friend’s shoulder a squeeze and mouthsThanks, Daphne,before grabbing his lunch container and stalking off.
Poor Daphne is absolutely struggling to catch her breath as she watches the arrogant bastard stroll down the hallway. She probably thinks nobody notices. But I do. She pats her flaming cheeks like she’s trying to extinguish a fire. The girl really doesn’t do well with male attention.
“You okay?” I ask her, trying not to smirk.
“Me? Who, me? I’m great!” She quickly drops her eyes to my reception counter and scoops up aFor Rentflyer just to give herself something to do.
I shake my head as I toe off my inside sneakers and stick my feet into my outside shoes. It’s so annoying that everybody thinks my brothers are so damn great when they’re really, really big assholes. At least to me.
I sling my purse over my shoulder and Daphne is still reading over the flyer.
“You ready to go?” I ask her.
My friend forces her expression to return to neutral. “Whenever you are.” She folds up the piece of paper, sticking it into the back pocket of her high-waisted jeans.
“You thinking about opening a business?” I ask her, referring to the flyer.
She laughs wryly. “A girl can dream, right?” She puts an arm around my waist. She grins at me. “Come on, babe. Let’s go talk shit about your brother.”
I breathe out. “Let’s go.”
As we leave, I grab the damn butterscotch sundae. I’m mad as hell at Felix. But there’s no way I’m letting that creamy goodness go to waste.
The men in my life are complete assholes. So I’m especially grateful to have my girls who actually listen to me instead of trying to live my life for me.
Today’s another busy day at the farmer’s market. Daphne and I stroll past the various booths and I empty my heart out to her, explaining the entire situation with Felix and Mason. I devour my sundae, scraping every last drop from the bottom of my plastic cup. When I see a vendor selling chocolate pies, I buy some of that, too. But it isn’t half as good as Mrs. Westbrook’s and it only leaves me feeling miserable and bloated and missing Mason.
When I head for the food trucks to buy a stack of pancakes, Daphne intervenes, steering me in the direction of Rainbow’s veggie stand. “Come, hun. Let’s get you some cucumber slices or something. Before you overdose on sugar and drop dead in the middle of the farmer’s market.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works,” I whine to Daphne. But I don’t really fight her. She’s right and I know it. The last thing I need is an upset stomach on top of my aching heart.
Rainbow is busy at her table. When she sees Daphne and me, she eagerly waves us over. “Hi, girls.”
“Hey Aunt Rainbow.” Daphne sits me down on a wooden crate of zucchini and takes a seat beside me.
As we sit, I devour veggie samples from the platter on the table and follow along with the latest tarot card readings Rainbow is performing on her patrons. I’m growing slightly concerned by how many death cards she’s been flipping over today.
When there’s a lull in business, the older woman looks at me with alarm in her eyes. “My goodness, Karli. Are you okay?”
“I…I’m okay…” I try to lie.
“You can’t be okay,” Rainbow insists, “Not with your energy field all chaotic like that! Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.” I pout like a child. “I just want to bury my feelings under sugar and hide from reality.”And pretend like I didn’t let the man I love slip through my fingers.“But Daphne won’t let me go to the pancake truck.” I frown at my friend.
“Forget about sugar,” Rainbow says. “Spill your heart out.”
My eyes bounce between Daphne and her eccentric aunt. I hesitate some more.
