Chapter 8
Josette
“You are not yourself tonight. What’s up?”
Sighing, I knew Tilly was right. “Why would you say that?” I sat back, enjoying the jazz music and the liveliness of Bourbon Street. Why hadn’t I spent more time in the French Quarter since moving here?
We were sitting outside on a perfect evening. There was a light breeze allowing the wafting scents of jambalaya and other scrumptious creole specialties to keep my tummy grumbling.
With the stars in the sky mixing with thousands of sparkling festive lights covering almost every building, the atmosphere was perfect.
Even the wine tasted better, the cabernet rich in body, the bold flavors of raspberry and spices perfect for my mood.
Granted, I couldn’t lie to myself that I’d allowed one of my employees to close the bakery and coffee shop so I could have dinner with my best friend for two reasons.
One good. One bad.
Yet I’d done everything in my power to shove aside the anxiety that I’d felt for days.
Then my concerns had come to fruition. I was about to lose my business.
On top of that, some strange man had entered the coffee shop, ordering a small cup of black coffee and camping out at a table for over two hours.
Staring.
Watching.
Planning.
Or not.
That was what paranoia did to me. He hadn’t done anything wrong or overtly weird, yet I’d felt the same tingling sensations I had for almost two years after my rebirth.
As soon as I’d moved to New Orleans after finishing the two-year stint in culinary school, I’d been determined to leave my fear in a padlocked box.
Then the man in dark clothing had almost stripped away years of that success.
Almost. Now I was determined to take life by the balls.
Since I already had a sexy man.
At least I could bite my lower lip, swooning a little bit as I thought about Sin.
I’d almost asked the stranger to leave, but he’d been a paying customer. While he didn’t appear homeless, he did pay with cash, which was rare these days even for a three-dollar cup of coffee. I had to let it go. I had worse things to worry about.
I’d opened my snail mail. There it had been.
A crushing blow. Maybe the strange man dressed in all black had been sizing up my shop for whatever new project was coming to the strip mall.
Or maybe they were just planning on tearing it down completely.
I’d called zoning, but they wouldn’t tell me anything.
Not that it would matter. My shop was being ripped away.
What a shitty week it had been. Maybe that was real reason I’d needed to slink away for a few hours. At least Indiana was resting comfortably after enjoying a few hours spending time with his mommy dog inside the coffee shop.
And growling at the stranger, the low vibration that only I could hear giving me the creeps.
“Just thinking about the letter from the landlord.” I’d heard talk about them selling the building where the coffee shop was leased, but they assured me on day one that wouldn’t mean anything but sending my checks to another address.
Then I’d gotten a letter sent by courier that a sale was imminent.
And that I had ninety days to vacate. Ninety fucking days to try to find another location that was even close to within my budget. The single reason I’d kept the shop in the same dingy strip mall was because the price was right. It certainly wasn’t location or attention to detail.
I’d longed to move to a special spot in the French Quarter, but unless I found a sugar daddy, that wasn’t possible.
My best friend leaned over the small table, crowding my space when I didn’t immediately respond. Tilly Michaels knew me as well as anyone in my life. The day she’d applied for a job at Simply the Best, we’d hit it off. Within weeks, I’d considered her a friend.
Tilly squeezed my hand. “You have a rent to own situation. They can’t just break the lease. It’s crazy. You were promised nothing would change after new owners bought the place.”
“Yeah, well, promises are meant to be broken. They’ve hired some goon of an attorney to tell me otherwise.
Yes, I could fight it in court. With money I don’t have.
” I’d sunk at least fifty thousand into what I thought would be the down payment for the space.
There were loans that needed to be repaid.
Back when I’d believed the landlords were going to spend money to spruce up the location.
They’d lied. Like they had about everything else.
“I’m going to enlist people at the office to help find a new and much better location. You’ll see. This will end up being a godsend. Everything happens for a reason.”
“If only that were true. However, I didn’t agree to having dinner and drinks to dwell on the unpleasant.
” I smiled, even though just thinking about the situation with the business made me want to crawl in a hole.
At least when I was able to shift my thoughts to the sexy stranger, I tingled for a much more pleasant reason.
“Um, you basically told me we were going out tonight. You even brought a change of clothes, and you look amazing I might add. So… What gives? You need to confess or else.”
“I have nothing to confess.”
“Bullshit and you know exactly what I mean. How many times have I tried to get you out of the house or the shop for this very reason?”
“What? I’ve been busy. Nothing more.”
“And I have a bridge I can sell you. How about a cemetery?” Tilly cocked her pretty little head.
“Ha. Ha. It’s been a weird couple of days.”
“Which is why Indiana came with you to work today.”
“I didn’t want to leave him alone after what happened.”
Tilly sighed. “Which I understand. The poor boy. You’re very lucky. So was he.”
“I know.”
“I can’t imagine how you’d feel if you lost Indy. He’s been such a rock to you. He was exactly what you needed to pull you from the nightmares.”
She didn’t need to remind me of that. He’d come to me during an exceptionally low period of my life. If it hadn’t been for Tilly suggesting I get a dog to use as my emotional support animal, my business would have gone under, and I would have lost everything.
I took another sip of my wine. I’d only told her my pup had been hit by a car, leaving off the other details. Like that I’d lost part of my mind and had succumbed to the very physical needs she’d been chastising me about for months. So I didn’t like to date. So what?
“Did you press charges against that reckless goon?”
“No. It was an accident.”
She lifted her eyebrows first followed by narrowing her eyes immediately afterward. “Did the guy threaten you or something?”
I spit out a sip of wine, narrowly missing getting it all over her face. “No. Of course not. I was the one who berated him. Including with my fist.” When I showed her my powerful swing, we both burst into laughter.
“You did not.”
“Yes, I did. He deserved it. Although upon reflection, I know he didn’t mean to. Sin braked hard, narrowly avoiding a collision with a trash can.” As soon as I uttered his name, she grabbed it as if catching me in the act of sinful fornication.
“Sin? Hold on. Is that his name?”
The fact I shrugged instead of answering only forced her to push harder.
“You’re on a first-name basis. That’s interesting. And what the hell kind of name is Sin?” Tilly scoffed, her exclamation of disgust so like her. She was not only my friend but my champion against…well, anyone daring to be the wrong kind of person in my life.
She knew just enough about my past to be highly protective. Enough so my Christmas gifts the first year of our friendship had been a can of mace and a Swiss Army knife. The creativity of her presents had only expanded after that.
That’s why I adored her.
Eccentric with a capital E.
“A sexy name for a hot as sin man.” Why not throw her a cookie? Even in her acts of protectiveness, she’d tried very hard to fix me up with the right man. Too bad her tastes were just as eccentric as her quirky personality and taste in clothing.
“No way. It’s no fair when idiots are given the handsome gene.”
“Oh, stop,” I tossed out. “He did everything he could to make up for what happened. He paid for the veterinary bill.”
“Which he should have. Duh.”
“He took me to their office in his muscle car. At my insistence.”
“Good for you.” She was drumming her fingers on the table.
“He even brought me coffee the next morning, sitting with me on the floor until Indiana was released. Then he took us home since I didn’t have a car. Well, I don’t know if he brought me coffee, but he didn’t mind when I stole it from him.”
The way her eyes were narrowing again was a clear indication I’d said just enough to spark her overactive imagination. “Okay. What in the hell did he want, divine forgiveness?”
“Maybe. I was a little hard on him.” And boy, was he hard with me. I bit my lower lip to keep from smiling. The last thing I wanted to do was to have her continue picking. While I could lie with the best of them, she always knew when I was fibbing about any details.
One. Just one. She had a radar that was undeniable.
Likely a product of what she did in her real job.
Not that I hadn’t appreciated her playing barista after she’d received her certification as a paralegal, her promotion immediately following.
However, she’d used me as a sounding board, even terrifying me with details of horrific cases she’d worked on.
Not what I’d needed, but she was entertaining.
“Get this,” I said, trying to act as if it was no big deal. “I received a delivery this morning.”
“Flowers for forgiveness?”
“No,” I chastised. “A box of dog toys. Can you believe that? He easily spent a couple hundred bucks. You should have seen Indiana’s reaction. Just adorable.”
“Did he send a card?”
“Well, no, but I knew who they were from.”
“A return address?”
“Why are you grilling me? Yes, the incident was horrible, but he redeemed himself.” A trickle of white-hot heat ripped through me like a bolt of lightning.