Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
If you had told me last week that I would willingly step into the crystal shop again, I would have called you crazy.
My day had started on the wrong foot. I had woken up late this morning. Waking up late meant I couldn’t go to Rachel’s house for my morning coffee. Not having my morning coffee set me back a few hours on my morning routine.
When I had my morning coffee, I was ready to face my day. It accelerated my defrost time so I could deal with my column and Ronnie.
I decided that since I was already going to get in trouble for being late, I should make the best of it. It was early, and the town square wasn’t busy. I didn’t care about parking violations when I parked my car in front of the crystal shop.
What was the worst they could do to me?
Okay, scratch that, towing me would be bad because that would equal the Kanes. They wouldn’t tow me, right? Shaking my head at those ridiculous thoughts, I marched inside the shop.
“Hello,” I greeted loud enough for the owner to hear me.
It took a few seconds, and then she came out from the back. I finished marching to the counter and pulled out the stupid crystal she had given me.
“You need to take this back,” I shouted at her. “This stupid stone got me in trouble!”
To her credit, the owner didn’t bat an eyelash. She smiled at me. Her teeth looked pearly white in contrast to her dark lipstick.
“Got you in trouble, how?” she asked as she leaned into the counter. If I wasn’t so annoyed at her, I would admire how wicked her tatts looked.
“How?” I spat in disbelief. “You know damn well it has aphrodisiac properties!”
She started to laugh at me.
“It’s not funny.” I pointed my finger at her.
“You’re right. I should not laugh at your naiveties. May I ask how you came to this conclusion?” she asked as she motioned to the pink rock I had grasped between two fingers.
“Google,” I replied like that was obvious.
Her lip twitched.
“Let me guess, you saw the words aphrodisiac and stopped reading the article?”
My silence was answer enough for her because she kept going.
“Pink tourmaline is known as the aphrodisiac stone, but that’s because it promotes self-love and self-healing. It helps you heal your heart.” She looked at me before continuing. “Whatever naughty things you did, that was all you, honey.”
I could see the humor in her eyes, and that enraged me.
“Forget this,” I said, putting the stone on the counter.
“Sorry, honey, no refunds.” The owner didn’t miss a beat.
“Augh.” I groaned. “You are not helpful.”
“Don’t forget your crystal,” she told me, pointing to the pink crystal of doom.
Tentatively, I picked it up and threw it in my purse while I glared at her.
“Is there anything you could do to me to keep the negative energies away?”
If you couldn’t beat them, you might as well join them.
At this point, I was willing to try anything if it meant it kept Tyler Kane far away from me.
I didn’t need to look at his dumb face or those stupid green eyes.
I didn’t need to be reminded of the way he looked at me while his hands were inside my pants.
Shit.
Why couldn’t I forget the way his fingers felt inside me?
I came so hard to the memory of him touching me—and I hated it.
The asshole gave me an amazing O to just the promise of him giving me an O.
If that was all it took, the real him would fucking kill me.
Would the newspaper report I had have the headline, “Death By Orgasm”?
Shaking my head, I looked back at the owner of the shop.
She was staring at me and cocked her head while she studied me. Hopefully, she was working out a juju plan to keep Tyler far away from me.
“Hmm,” she mumbled. She then pulled out a deck of cards and began to shuffle them.
“Hmm, what?” I asked as I took a step back.
Why was I still here?
“Let’s find out,” she told me.
She threw a card on the table, and it was a sun, and the card was facing me.
“The Sun reversed,” she told me.
Against my better judgment, I still asked what that meant.
“You need to let loose, honey. I think you’ve lost sight of the things that are important.”
Yeah, no way was I going to be taking her advice.
“Thank you,” I said, even though I didn’t mean it.
Let loose from what? Maybe I had lost sight of what was important. If I hadn’t, there would be no way Tyler would have had his hand in my cookie jar.
This time, when I ran out of the store, I didn’t dare look back. I was done getting roped into things I didn’t understand. And the one thing I didn’t understand was Tyler Kane.
“I imagined this a thousand times.”
His confession made it all worse, because I remembered the feelings when they first came to me. How much I played them over in my head wishing I could have done something about it.
I also remember crying as soon as I got home after he told me about his first girlfriend. I had to blink back tears in that moment and control my breathing before he could hear me break down.
I was his best friend, and that was it. Tyler Kane didn’t want me—not like that.
“ Fuck,” I hissed as I bumped into someone.
I immediately straightened and looked to see who I had bumped into. The first thing I noticed was the cow scrubs, followed by dark hair and reddish highlights.
“Watch where you’re going,” the girl spat at me as she bent to pick her stuff.
“Ohmigod, Luna, I’m so sorry,” I said once I recognized her.
She lifted her head, and then once she recognized me, she smiled at me. That was Luna for you. She was not one to take people’s shit which made her come off as a bit bitchy, but once you got to know her she was cool as hell.
“Astrid, long time no see,” she replied.
Luna was Lupe’s daughter. She had been a junior when I was a freshman. We had cooking class together, and she was a great partner. I didn’t know the first thing about cooking, but she did.
“How have you been? You left after high school. I didn’t think you’d be back,” I confessed.
“I had a scholarship at a small little school. I would’ve been a fool not to take it.”
“Nursing?” I asked based on her outfit.
“Noooo, I am not a people person,” she replied. “Vet technician.”
“Oh, that’s cool. Do you work at the clinic with Mr. Piers?”
“Yes, he has me running all over the nearby counties. Spring season is exhausting.”
“No wonder I haven’t seen you at the bakery,” I told her.
Luna sighed.
“I help my mom twice a month, or else she’d never get a break.”
She used to work at the bakery after school.
I could tell she wasn’t happy about it. I imagined a lot of kids whose parents owned mom-and-pop shops were probably in the same boat.
Ty had his brothers lend a hand, and Luna was alone.
The shop did okay, but that was because they didn’t have to pay a full staff.
“Do you get a break?” I asked softly.
“I do,” she said with a small smile. “Do you want to get something? Mama said she made bolillos , so I was thinking about making myself a sandwich for work.”
What the hell? I was already late late. Maybe if I made one for Ronnie, he wouldn’t be as pissed.
“Sure,” I told her as I followed her next door.
She put her stuff on the counter and then turned to me.
“Did you like the hot chocolate?” she asked.
Confusion must have been written all over my face because she kept going.
“Tyler practically begged me to make him some a few weeks back…”
“Oh,” I managed to say at her admission. “It was really good. Thank you.”
I recovered quickly, but her words shook me. I didn’t want to think about him, but it was hard not to when I was being reminded of him every five minutes.
“I take it you two finally got together?” she went on as she grabbed some tongs and a pan to put the fresh bread in.
My cheeks instantly flamed. “No.”
My reply was so hasty that she raised her brow at me. Before she could comment further on it, the door opened. Both Luna and I turned around to see Sam there.
I could have groaned.
Just when it seemed my morning was getting better, it instantly worsened.
Samantha looked at Luna and then at me and glared at us.
“This is why I don’t like coming in here. They let anyone in,” she muttered loud enough so we could hear her. Ignoring me, she walked to the counter and looked at Luna. “Get me a small strawberry yogurt with a dash of honey, no nuts.”
“She’s not working. You’re going to have to wait for Lupe,” I snapped at Sam.
“No one is talking to you,” she bit out. “I’m a paying customer. It’s people like me that allow Maria here to live out her American dream.”
My jaw hit the floor at her comment. What a fucking bitch. I was ready to catch a case if it meant I could mop the floor with Sam’s hair.
“Get. Out,” Luna bit out.
Samantha seemed surprised at this.
“You don’t want to do that. I’ll never come back here and let everyone know how rude you are to your customers. And trust me, you don’t need that.”
“Good, saves me from having to serve your racist asses.” Luna crossed her arms and stared defiantly at Sam. Luna’s dark eyes were full of anger, and if Samantha felt comfortable enough to do this, I assumed this wasn’t the first time.
Sam looked offended.
“I’m not racist. If I were, I wouldn’t even shop here.”
Luna scoffed.
“You come in here because you think we are beneath you. Like giving me five dollars every other week is such a service to me and my family.”
Samantha scowled but didn’t bother to deny it.
“You’re a bitch,” I told her, and it felt good to get it out. The whole time she was with Tyler, I bit my tongue because I didn’t want people to think I was jealous.
In front of Ty, she was sweet and pretended to like me, but when he wasn’t around, her claws came out.
“And no one wants you here,” she snapped. “You ruined my relationship with Tyler because you couldn’t stand that he no longer cared about you.”
Luna started to laugh.
“If you would have cared about your relationship with Ty, you wouldn’t have fucked his brother or his other friends.”
I gasped.
Sam’s face turned red. Her eyes looked a bit manic.
“I’m never coming back here again. Wait until people know how you treat your customers.”
“Please, let everyone know how unwanted they are.” Luna scoffed, not backing down from Sam’s threats.
That clearly wasn’t what Sam had expected, since she glared at her before marching out of the shop. As soon as she was outside, I turned towards Luna.
“She slept with EZ and Adam?”
The disbelief was all over my tone, and I hated that I cared.
Luna was still staring daggers out the door, even though there wasn’t a trace of Sam left.
“Just Adam, about a year after graduation...In my opinion, it should have been a clear indication that nothing was ever too serious between her and Tyler. The Kane brothers don’t seem like the sharing type.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, luckily, I didn’t have to when Lupe called for her daughter.
“Luna Esperanza!” Lupe could be heard yelling from the back.
“Shit,” Luna cursed softly. “Mom’s going to get mad at me.”
“But why? Samantha was being a bitch.”
“I should have let it go,” she sighed. “Let me get the stuff for the sandwiches while I talk to my mom.”
Luna brought out some mayonnaise, ham, and a few containers that included lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and wedges of cheese.
Lastly, she grabbed two pieces of bolillo and added them to the counter.
Since Luna had given me the ingredients and was probably getting in an argument with her mother, I figured it would only be fair if I made our sandwiches—well, technically tortas .
By the time I finished, she was coming back.
“All good?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
I pushed her food toward her while I grabbed mine. I really needed to go now.
“Girl, you didn’t have to do mine.”
“I didn’t mind. Also, I don’t know if you know this, but I work for The Willow Grove Herald , and I would love to do a spotlight piece on your mom’s bakery. You think Lupe would be okay with that?”
Luna looked at me, dumbfounded.
“Are you serious?”
I nodded vigorously.
“Something like that would really help my mami out.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “I’ll talk it over with her. Thanks, Astrid.”
“You’re welcome,” I said. “How much do I owe you?”
Luna waved me off.
“That was on me,” she told me.
“Thanks,” I said as I began to walk away.
“Hey, Astrid,” Luna called back after me. When I looked up at her, she spoke again. “About what that bitch said?—”
“It’s okay.” I cut her off because I didn’t want to talk about that.
“I wasn’t here when that happened, but I know you did the right thing. Everyone is stupid if they’re still mad about that.”
“Thanks, Luna.”
I waved goodbye and ran to my car because I had already tempted fate by parking where I wasn’t supposed to. I spent the whole way to work without looking at my phone, too scared to get a message saying I was fired.
By the time I made it inside, I was out of breath. Without going to my desk, I went to Ronnie’s office to apologize for being tardy.
“Astrid,” he greeted me frostily when I knocked on his door.
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” I told him.
“Punctuality is important. I don’t care what you do in your off time, but at work, I expect professionalism.”
That struck me as odd, but I didn’t have it in me to question what had crawled up Ronnie’s ass.
“Sorry, I woke up late, but I did bring you lunch to make it up.”
I waved the sandwich I had made for him, and his expression instantly changed.
“You brought me lunch?”
“Technically, I made it. Nothing fancy,” I said as I handed him the paper bag.
“You made this for me,” he repeated.
“Mhmm,” I murmured. “Sorry for being late. It won’t happen again.”
I left his office before he could say anything else and made my way to my cubicle, only to stop dead when I saw a large bouquet of astrid flowers.