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“How?”she asked, holding her cup in midair.
“Hendrix helped me.”
Immediately slamming her cup down, Talulah jumped back to her feet. “He didn’t!”
“He did. He was there with me for hours today.”
“Helpingyou, his competition.”
“Yes. He said it was his fault—what happened with Ben—and he was going to make sure I could get the well done.”
“What a great guy!”
Ellen gave her a rueful look. “He’s the one who caused the problem in the first place,” she pointed out.
“But he could’ve left it at that. He didn’t have to try to make it right.”
Good thing she hadn’t told Talulah about his apology for trying to steal Ben. That would’ve softened her heart even further. “I hate him,” she grumbled.
Talulah started laughing. “No, you don’t.”
“How doyouknow?”
“Because if there wasn’t something more going on, you would’ve called me the second he made the offer to help. But you weren’t planning to tell me, were you...”
Ellen scowled. “I’m telling you now.”
“Because you’re confused and don’t know what to make of it and you need my opinion!”
“I shouldn’t have said anything, after all,” she muttered, shoving another bite into her mouth, even though she couldn’t even taste it. She was so preoccupied with her misery.
Talulah didn’t seem remotely penitent for teasing her. “Does Jay know Hendrix helped you?”
“No one does. Except you—now.”
“This is exciting!”
“No, it’s not! I don’t know whether he’s my worst enemy or...”
“Or...” she prompted.
Ellen lowered her voice meaningfully. “The only man I’d like to sleep with in Coyote Canyon.”
A slow smile stretched across Talulah’s face.
“What?”Ellen snapped, too tortured to see the humor in what was happening.
“You’re going to be fine. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I’m pretty sure he feels the same. But oh, boy, is Lynn going to be mad.”
“No doubt. And I have no idea how much that will affect him.”
“You think she still has a strong hold on him?”
“I know she does! She took him in when he had nowhere else to go. And they’re in business together. His future is entwined with her and my father’s.”
“I say you give him a chance to work that stuff out, leave it up to him.”
“Just trust that he can do it? That would be risky,” Ellen said, immediately rejecting her advice. She had no doubt allowing herself to fall for Hendrix would backfire, and she’d be the one to get hurt in the end.
