Page 33 of Choose the Bears

“I’ve got to get ready for work,” she said finally, getting to her feet.

“So when do you finish?” Lucas and I looked at each other, snorting when we asked that at the exact same time.

“Five, but you don’t need to escort me home.” There was something lighter in Imogen, something brighter as she surveyed her apartment. “Mike was pissed, but he’s not the type to make a big deal of things. He had his hissy fit. He’ll be moving on with someone else before the weekends.” She shrugged. “And there’ll be plenty of girls lining up to take my place. And I’m going to let them. Thanks…” Her look was curiously shy as she stared at me. “For everything, but I should be fine.”

“We’ll be there to make sure of it,” I said. “Five P.M. We’ll be waiting out the front.”

Imogen didn’t argue, just smiling and shaking her head before going to get ready as we walked out the front door.

“So… what happened last night?”Lucas asked oh-so-casually, as we walked down the steps.

“How about you first, mate?” I shot him a dark look. “You weren’t exactly upfront about what happened the other night. That kiss…?”

“Fine, we’ll compare notes,” he replied, “then I’m going to see if I can hack the supermarket HR records. We need to know what shifts Imogen is scheduled for because I have a feeling that Mike isn’t going to be as accepting as she thinks.”

“Right there with you, brother.”

We got into the car and drove away, but I took one long look up, finding her apartment window with ease. I couldn’t see anything but reflected sky on the glass, but I could imagine. A future where we didn’t have to leave, where we didn’t have to hack a computer to find out where she was. Where Imogen shared everything with us gladly. I understood her look of hope then, because I felt the same way.

Of course, that ignored one thing.

That men like Mike, Phil Jackson, they couldn’t allow the women in their lives to feel that kind of happiness. It was a threat to their own, and so they had to extinguish it with everything they had. That’s what I should’ve been focussed on, not my pie-in-the-sky dreams.

Chapter 18

Imogen

Some days everything just fell into place.

Lots of my regular customers came through and we had a little chat as I rang up their orders. Sandy let me know her boys had won their soccer championships. Old Mrs. Shepherd updated me on the state of her cats, Ginger and Whiskers. Whiskey, as she affectionately called him, was getting old, and I feared the day when she’d have to take him to his last vet visit. The nice couple from the apartment block across the road announced their pregnancy with some of their purchases. I smiled and chattered away, scanning and packing groceries until finally the end of my day came.

“A lot less drama than the other day,” Jade said when I went to clock out.

“About that, I’m?—”

“Not at fault in anyway?” Her eyebrow rose as she smiled. “Your ex is an idiot for thinking he could treat you like that.”

“And I guess I’m the idiot for putting up with him.”

My eyes sank to the floor.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” There was a note in Jade’s voice that made me think she knew more than she was saying. “Plenty of good people stay in bad relationships longer than they should. ‘Just leave’ is good advice, but harder to put in place.” She shook her head and then met my gaze. “But anyway, thanks for staying back today. We were getting slammed. Catch you tomorrow?”

“You got it.”

I gathered up my bag and headed for the sliding doors, needing to use the emergency button to open them. The supermarket was dark now, shut down for the night, only the night fill people left in the building, ready to restock the shelves. I walked out into the darkness, heading for my car like I did every other time.

Except at no point before hadheemerged from behind it.

Not Mike. My gut instinct was right. He would’ve moved on with someone else, I’m sure of it. One little petulant display and he’d have decided I wasn’t worth it.

But Phil…

He stepped out from behind his truck, parked right next to my car with a grim look on his face.

“There you are.”

“What the…?” I stopped myself from saying anything more. There was no point. I didn’t want to hear his answers, somehow I knew.

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