9. Ellie
ELLIE
“Word around town is that you went home with Ryder Lawson last night.”
I spun around and glared at Delaney, taking the coffee from her. “Rumors around here suck.”
Chuckling, she checked out the latest styles I hung up. “So, what really happened?”
Grabbing the clothing hangers from the rolling rack, I hung them on the hooks on the wall, adjusting them to make them presentable as I went through my ordeal with my friend.
“I went to meet a date last night at The Beaver and Boot.”
“You didn’t!” she gasped. “Good for you!”
“Well, he didn’t show up,” I grumbled, continuing my work. “At least, if he did, he didn’t make his presence known. So, I was sitting at the bar when Ryder sat down.”
“Wait, isn’t Ryder the one who picked on you all the time?”
“Yes, but I didn’t realize it was him. He’s so much bigger and…” Hotter.
“And?”
The door chimed and Josie rushed inside, nearly slipping in her heels as she vaulted toward us. “I’m here! I’m here! Don’t say a thing until I—”
“She went home with Ryder Lawson last night,” Delaney smirked.
“I did not go home with him!”
Josie’s jaw dropped. “You witch! You started without me?”
“She brought me coffee,” I argued.
“I would have brought you tea, but you’re on a coffee kick now.” Delaney grabbed the carrier and handed a drink to Josie, who guiltily took it from her.
“He still doesn’t know?” I smirked.
“No,” she sighed. “I’ll tell him.”
“It’s coffee,” I pointed out. “It’s not like you’re getting drunk.”
“I know, but—” She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re not getting out of it that easily. I want details, and I want them now.”
“I didn’t go home with him,” I nearly shouted.
Both of them started laughing at how upset I was getting, but they didn’t understand my hatred for the man. We all ran in different circles when we were kids.
“Look, I ran into him at the bar. We didn’t know who each other were, and we were talking about why date night isn’t the right night to meet someone—”
“Wait, it’s not?” Delaney interrupted. “Why?”
“According to him, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best nights for dates.”
“But that’s ridiculous,” Josie scoffed. “If you’re going to get to know someone, you don’t want to do it in the middle of the week.”
“Which is precisely why he said it was a good idea. That way, if it’s a bad date, you have the excuse of needing to work in the morning.”
“Do all men think this way?” Delaney asked.
I shrugged, getting back to work. “I have no idea. It’s just ridiculous to me.”
“I mean, he sort of has a point,” Josie said thoughtfully. “Let’s say you go on a really bad date with some guy. He gets drunk, and you need a quick exit. You can’t always have someone on the phone with an emergency appendectomy.”
“You could,” Delaney said. “If it’s a different date, he wouldn’t know if your friend had an emergency appendectomy before.”
“But why only Tuesday and Thursday?” Josie asked. “What about Mondays and Wednesdays?”
I thought about it a moment, trying to figure out his logic. “Maybe…Mondays are…” I couldn’t think of any reason. Whatever his thought process was, it escaped me. “I have no idea.”
“So, what happened? How did you figure out who he was?”
“It was actually him. When I introduced myself, he realized who I was, and then he said his name. It was…awkward. I might have yelled at him,” I winced.
“No!” Josie gasped.
I nodded, burning bright red as I remembered what a spectacle I made.
“And then I stormed out at the same time as him. So, it was like, really weird because we both wanted to escape, but we were headed in the same direction. And once we got to the parking lot, we were both parked at the back of the lot!”
“So, you just walked beside him angrily?” Delaney asked.
“Pretty much. And then my Jeep wouldn’t start. He just sat there waiting for me while I continued to tell him how much I hated him.”
Josie snorted out a laugh. “Did he eventually leave?”
“With me,” I sighed. “He made this big deal about waiting with me to make sure I wasn’t murdered. I could have gotten a ride with Wyatt, but then I felt weird about not taking him up on his offer to drive me home. It felt petty and childish.”
“Wow,” Josie laughed. “You’ve got the hots for your bully!”
“I do not!” I yelled, my cheeks flaming red.
“She’s right,” Delaney chuckled, sipping her coffee. “You so like him.”
“I do not like him! He was horrible to me. He called me names and told me I was fat!”
“And now he’s gorgeous and you hate that,” Josie said smugly.
I sighed, slumping down on the ground. She was right. I did think he was hot. And nice. “Fine. I’ll admit that he has pleasant features.”
They both burst out laughing at that.
“Okay, more than pleasant. Have you seen him?”
Delaney shook her head, waiting on tenterhooks for something more descriptive than “pleasant”.
“He’s…taller.”
“Taller,” she repeated. “That’s all you’ve got for me?”
I stuttered over my thoughts in frustration. I didn’t want to think about him or hot he was. It would only ruin my plan to stay as far away from him as possible. But she wasn’t having it.
“Fine, he’s…muscular. Like, really, really muscular.”
“Declan muscular?”
“Not that much. But it’s one of those things that you can see through his shirt.”
Delaney sighed dreamily. “I love it when you can see their shirts stretched across their biceps.”
“Not to brag, but I have one of those,” Josie grinned.
Delaney smacked her arm. “Hey, some of us can only dream for now.” Then she turned back to me. “Go on.”
“Um…well, he still has warm, chocolate eyes. And his hair is shorter than it used to be.”
“Can you still run your fingers through it?”
As soon as I thought about it, shivers raced down my spine. That was not good. “Yes.”
“Oh my God,” Josie whispered. “Did you hear that hitch in her voice?”
“I definitely did. Tell us more.”
“There was no hitch.”
“There was definitely a hitch. Which means it’s really good. Now spill!”
I couldn’t do this. Every time I thought about him, accompanying thoughts that were definitely not okay filled my mind. Didn’t they know what they were doing to me?
I grabbed a dress and marched over to the rack. “Defined cheekbones, intense eyes, and a fuckable body. That’s all you’re getting!”
“No wonder you don’t want to talk about him. You’ve already got it bad,” Delaney whispered.
“Well, I just can’t ever see him again, that’s all. From now on, I’ll make sure to avoid Ryder Lawson at every turn.”
“Yeah, and that’s so easy to do in a small town,” Delaney laughed.
“I work in my shop and go home every night to a glass of wine. It can’t be that hard to ignore the man. Besides, it’s not like he’s going to give me the time of day after I yelled at him.”
“And if what the rumors say are true, he’s hiding with his tail between his legs,” Josie nodded.
“What do the rumors say?” Delaney asked, her eyes wide with curiosity. “I haven’t heard this.”
“That he was fired from his job in New York. Apparently, he’s a massive failure, and he came home because he couldn’t hack it.”
That didn’t sit right with me, for some reason. He didn’t seem like a man who had failed. Then again, I only talked to him in a bar about the best nights to go on a date. It wasn’t like we had a deep and meaningful conversation.
I got back to work, refusing to stand around for another minute while images of Ryder Lawson flitted through my brain. Yes, he was good-looking, but that didn’t change the fact that he was nothing but a bully.
“Well, it doesn’t matter what happened to him or why he’s home. I won’t be seeing him again.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Josie laughed.
Our fun was interrupted by glass shattering at the front of the store. We all screamed, ducking and covering our heads as we cowered together.
When nothing else happened, I slowly sat up, peering to the front of the store.
“What the hell was that?” Delaney whispered.
“JR,” Josie whispered into her phone. “We need you at Ellie’s store. The window just shattered.”
I could hear him yelling into the phone for her to stay where she was. That was fine with me. I didn’t really want to go check it out.
“It doesn’t look like anyone’s out there,” I whispered.
“JR said to stay here,” Josie hissed.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I reassured her. “I’m just saying that whatever or whoever it was, it looks like we’re alone.”
“Maybe it was the cold air?” Delaney suggested.
“It’s summer. I hardly think cool morning air cracked the window.”
“Maybe the glass was just under pressure or something,” Josie said.
“Or someone was after you,” Delaney added. “Do you know of anyone who might want to scare the shit out of you?”
Only one thing came to mind, but I couldn’t imagine anyone would break my window because of what happened—what people assumed happened—between Liam and me.
“Josie!” JR shouted, yanking the door open to the store.
We all got to our feet, but JR only had eyes for my friend. Rushing back, he wrapped her in his arms and held her tight, his eyes squeezed tight.
“Are you alright?”
“We’re fine. We were back here. Nothing else happened.”
I hesitantly walked forward when I saw what appeared to be a rock on the ground. I could see something wrapped around it the closer I got. I bent over, reaching for it when Mav walked through the door.
“Don’t touch it.”
But I didn’t need to pick it up to see what was written on the paper.
Slut.
“Anyone threaten you recently?” Remi asked.
I sat at my counter, rubbing my forehead as I thought about the expense of fixing the window. The insurance would pay out, but I couldn’t wait for that to come through.
“No, no one’s said or done anything. I mean, they still shoot me dirty looks, but nothing—”
Remi sighed, taking a seat beside me. “Look, you should talk to Liam.”
My gaze snapped up to meet his. “That’s the last thing I need.”
“I know you did what you did to help him. Maybe—”
I scoffed at what I knew he was about to say. “People won’t believe him. They’re all team Liam and Bailey. If he says anything in my defense, it will only turn out badly for me.”
“In what way?”
“They’ll say I’m trying to break them up or something. Trust me, the last time Liam was seen talking to me, the whispering only got worse.”
“Then talk to Bailey?”
“She hates me,” I sighed. “Not that I blame her. I mean, I know what happened, which was pretty much nothing the public didn’t see. But she can’t see anything but me standing in his house in his shirt. She’s not ready to talk to me, let alone help me.”
“Alright,” Remi nodded. “Well, we’ll see if we can find out anything through cameras in the area, but…”
I already knew what he was going to say. Not many people had cameras up. We were a trusting town, and no one wanted to feel like they were spying on anyone. Security cameras were a big no-no around here.
“You might want to install your own.”
“And become the town pariah?”
“Better the town pariah than an easy target. Let me know. I can help you install them. Might save you some money.”
I appreciated the offer, but right now, I just couldn’t fathom the town’s reaction to feeling like they were being spied on.
“Thanks, Remi.”
“Hey, anytime.”
I followed him to the front of the store where Mav was talking to JR. As soon as I got closer, the conversation quickly wrapped up.
“I’ll get some plywood to cover up the window until you can get it fixed,” JR said.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. Let me know how much it is—”
“It’s fine,” he cut me off.
I appreciated all the help. Even though a lot of the town thought I was an evil bitch, some still stuck by me, including Mav and Remi. Though that didn’t say much as far as the town was concerned. They were supposed to serve and protect.
“Hey,” Delaney smiled, walking over. “I have to get back to the shop. I’ll bring some wine tonight.”
“That’s okay. I think I just want to clean up and then close early. I’m gonna go to bed early.”
“Ellie—”
“Seriously, I just want to forget this day ever happened.”
She gave me a hug and headed out. Not long after, everyone else left, too. Everyone else had to get back to work, which left me alone in the store with creepy vibes.
I hated that someone threw that rock and broke my window, defiling the sanctity of my store. But even more than that, I hated how much it rattled me. Who would go to such lengths just to make me feel like shit? To scare me?”
There were a hundred suspects, but I couldn’t see any of them actually acting on it. Everyone loved Bailey, which meant everyone was on her side. I wished I inspired that much loyalty out of the town.
Instead, I was the gossip, the heartbreaker, and the fat girl. Even though I didn’t gossip and never had.
“Whoa, what the hell happened?”
I spun around, nearly jumping out of my skin at the voice. Billie Bennet stepped into the shop, her eyes wide as she took in the damage.
“Somebody’s idea of a practical joke,” I said, not wanting to drag her into what was happening with her sister.
“That’s a shitty practical joke.”
I grabbed the broom and got to work cleaning up the mess.
“Is the store still open?”
“You want to shop?”
A huge smile took over her face as she waved her hands in a flourish around her body. “You are looking at the new high school history teacher, starting in August!”
“That’s amazing,” I grinned as hard as I could muster, hoping I was appropriately happy for her.
But there was some tiny part of me that was pissed. It wasn’t that I had anything against Billie or the Bennet family. In fact, at one point in my life, I considered them almost friends. But then I pretended to sleep with Liam, and my life blew up.
Now, as she stood in front of me, happy as could be, I couldn’t help but feel mad jealousy toward her that her life was turning out so freaking perfect while mine was going in the toilet. And all because I was trying to help her sister.
“So, I need a new wardrobe for school, and I thought I would do my shopping here.”
“Well, you’re welcome to look around while I clean up. If you need any help with anything, just let me know.”
“I will!” she squealed.
It was like she was totally clueless about the fact that my life was falling apart while she stood in the middle of the chaos. Still, if she bought something, it was at least a sale. And I was going to need all the money I could get to keep this store afloat if this kind of shit continued.
So, I put my head down and got to work. This store wasn’t going to clean itself.