Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
DANIKA
It just so happened that my days off coincided with Leo gutting me.
So for two days I hadn’t accomplished much of anything besides moving from lying in my bed to lying on my couch in the living room, watching mindless TV—even The Office couldn’t cheer me up, and I’d put it on my favorite episode where Michael and Jan hosted the dinner party from hell—and ordering a large pizza topped with pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olives, which I ate every piece of in one sitting.
In those two days, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what he said no matter how hard I tried. If I was awake, I heard “I wanted to wait until I was sure what we had would stay good. Now I know it won’t.”
When I finally managed to drift off, I dreamed, “Are your deep-seeded issues about being a nerd in high school so damn bad, you had to go tell everyone you finally hooked up with the quarterback of the football team?”
I couldn’t understand what had happened. I hadn’t said a word to anyone. I’d made him a promise that I hadn’t gone back on, so none of what he’d said made any sense to me.
After those two days, I was well and sick of my own miserable company. I thought I’d feel good, going back to work and staying busy.
A lot of coffee shops outsourced their baked goods, but at Muffin Top, everything was baked from scratch from my own recipes.
I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way.
My heart and soul were in my baking. It was who I was, and with each pastry I sold, I was giving a little piece of my happiness to every customer who came into my shop.
When I’d first started out, there had been countless breakdowns.
I’d questioned my sanity at the beginning, when I was getting my shop off the ground.
It was just me and Martin helping to make a go of things.
The hours were long and the work was grueling.
Most days the stress was almost more than I could handle, and I nearly pulled the plug.
Fortunately, I had people in town who believed in me, and before I knew it, I had a staff of seven and a thriving business.
The happiest place on earth for me was my shop. It was my sanctuary, my escape, my happy place. It didn’t matter if I was having a bad day, if I was stressed or depressed, as soon as I stepped foot inside Muffin Top, everything else melted away.
Until now.
Nothing felt good after Leo had ripped my heart out and proceeded to stomp it to dust.
“Dani?”
At the sound of my name, I was pulled from my unhappy thoughts and back to reality.
I blinked my vision clear and looked up at Ms. McClintock.
I’d been so wrapped up in my own head that I’d completely forgotten where I was—behind the register at Muffin Top—and what I was doing—ringing up Ms. M’s order.
“Huh?”
Ms. McClintock, known all around town as Ms. M, was a little slip of a thing in her eighties with blue-rinsed hair and tons of attitude.
She was loved by pretty much everyone simply because her saltiness tended toward hilarious rather than offensive.
But at that very moment, she was staring across the counter at me with concern etched into the weathered, papery skin on her face. “You okay, darlin’?”
I pasted on a tight smile. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Sorry. I just spaced there for a second. What was it you wanted to order?”
Her gaze turned shrewd as she tipped her head and studied me closer. “No offense, girl, but you don’t look fine. You look like you been on a bender that got the best of you and came into work either still drunk or with a hangover from hell. You not been sleepin’?”
See what I mean? Salty but hilarious.
My smile turned genuine as I let out a little giggle. “Not really, Ms. M. But I’ll be better tomorrow. Promise.”
She still looked skeptical. “That pitiful look on your face doesn’t have anything to do with that big hunka cop you been seein’ on the sly, does it? ’Cause I’ll take myself right on down to that station and beat him over the head if it does. I got a new hip and I been dyin’ to see how it holds up.”
A snort, part surprise, part humor, burst from my throat. “How did you—?” I gave my head a shake. “Never mind. This is Hope Valley, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m sure everyone already knows.”
“That nasty little piece of white trash that’s always walkin’ around like she’s got class when she doesn’t have a lick has been runnin’ her mouth all over town.”
“Sorry. I’m not following. Who’s been running their mouth?”
“You know, that woman he used to be married to. The one who thinks her shit don’t stink when we all know everyone’s shit stinks.
Never liked the look of her. Even as a kid.
But don’t you worry,” she quickly added when my eyes went wide.
“Everyone here knows you, and they know how Whitney Brown’s always been, so no one’s payin’ a bit of attention to her callin’ you a homewrecker. ”
I put my hands on the counter and leaned in, whisper-yelling, “She’s calling me a homewrecker?”
“Like I said, no one believes a word outta that woman’s mouth, so don’t you worry yourself one little bit. Now gimme the truth. What’s got your head so twisted up, child?”
“It’s nothing, Ms. M. Seriously.”
She squinted her eyes, not buying my lie for a second. “So you’re sayin’ he’s got nothin’ to do with you lookin’ like someone just kicked a whole litter of puppies right in front of your eyes?”
She wasn’t going to give up, I knew that much. If I didn’t give her the truth I had no doubt she’d stand right where she was the rest of the day, asking the same question over and over until I finally caved or ran screaming from the building.
I let out a heavy sigh and gave it to her straight. “We aren’t together anymore.”
“That’s it!” Ms. M slapped her hand against the counter. “I’m goin’ down there right after you get me my hazelnut latte with a big ol’ dollop of caramel sauce and one of those biscotti thing-a-ma-bobs, and I’m gonna give this new hip a test drive, I tell ya.”
“Please don’t do that, Ms. M,” I pleaded desperately. “We just didn’t work out, that’s all. He didn’t do anything wrong.” Except blame me for something I had nothing to do with. “I’m just sad it didn’t work is all.”
That seemed to appease her slightly. She still looked mad as a hornet, but at least she’d stopped threatening to go confront Leo. Thank God.
“All right, girl. I’ll let it go. But I still want that latte.”
“You got it. And the biscotti’s on the house, since you were willing to put your new hip in jeopardy for me.”
I finished ringing her up and went about making her coffee. She left shortly after, and I let out a sigh of relief, hoping that meant the drama was done.
Unfortunately, it was proven less than thirty minutes later that luck wasn’t looking down on me favorably, because that was all the reprieve I got before Nona came storming into the shop, her infant son in her arms, declaring loudly, “That’s it!
As soon as I leave here, I’m hunting down Whitney Brown and ripping her over-processed hair out at the roots. ”
Nona was only a few years older than I was, so she knew all about Whitney Brown and her reign of bitchiness from back when we were kids.
Thankfully, there was a lull in the crowd, so there weren’t many people to overhear her.
I waved my hands and lifted my finger so my lips, hissing out, “Shh!” as she got close to the counter.
Baby Liam was currently nestled in his momma’s arms, sleeping like a log in spite of her shrill declaration.
I turned to Candance who’d been helping me behind the counter. “Candace, honey, you mind keeping an eye on things out here? I need to speak with Nona in the back. It won’t take but a few minutes.”
Candace gave me a bright smile and shifted in front of the register. “Sure thing, Dani. I got this. Take your time.”
With a jerk of my chin, I indicated to Nona to follow me and led her through the kitchen to my little office off in one corner, far enough away to not be intrusive, but close enough that, when forced to do paperwork, I could hear and see what was going on if I left the door open, making me feel like I was still a part of the action.
Neither of us said a word until I had the door closed behind us.
Her mouth was opened, ready to start up again as soon as I spun around, but I beat her to the punch.
I lifted my hand, palm up, to keep her silent.
“Before you say anything, Ms. McClintock was in here earlier, and I already know what Whitney’s going around saying about me, and I don’t care.
What I want to know is what the hell was said between you and Sage at your salon the other day. ”
Her brows dipped low in confusion, her head canting to the side, sending all her gorgeous red hair sliding off her shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, were you and Sage talking about me and Leo making out in there?” I pointed behind me toward my kitchen.
Nona looked up in thought as she swayed side to side, soothing Liam who’d woken up and was beginning to fuss. “Sage came in to get her hair done the other day. She was telling me about it, but it wasn’t like we were gossiping. We were both really excited for you is all.”
“Shit,” I breathed out on a whisper, reaching up to drag my hands through my hair only to encounter the elastic holder I’d thrown it up in earlier that morning.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“How did she . . .?” I worked to swallow down the lump that had suddenly risen in my throat. “I didn’t say anything to her. How did she know?”
“She saw you,” Nona answered quietly, her pretty face shrouded with worry. “She saw your car parked out front after hours and noticed the lights were on, so she stopped in to say hey, saw you and Leo together, and tiptoed back out. She didn’t want to interrupt.”