Page 61 of The Damaged Hearts Bargain

“Could you ask the Guptas for time off?” he asked, leaning against the counter.

“They’re off to some trade show, so that won’t work,” Lucy said, propping her chin in her hand and thinking.

“Crap. Maybe I should just close the bakery and then deal with the book delivery alone.” George sighed.

“Yeah, except you wanted to prove to Pen and Ash that you’re up to the job and you’re afraid they’ll think you’re not if you have to close the bakery for a day,” said Lucy.

He glared at her. “You know, you can be very irritating at times. You don’t have to read everybody.”

“It’s a skill,” Lucy said. “It’ll rust if I don’t use it. I suppose we could ask someone else to run the bakery for a few hours. I mean, it’s not even all day. You just need someone to stand behind the counter and serve customers. Whoever it is can always come over to the bookshop and ask you if there are any problems.”

George sighed. “Yeah, I suppose. I’ll give it some thought.” He frowned at her. “And where are you going all dressed up to thenines?”

“I’m not dressed up to the nines,” said Lucy, looking down at her cotton summer dress and flats.

“You’re wearing lipstick,” George pointed out.

“Well spotted. I am wearing lipstick. And in answer to your question, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” he looked confused. Fabio, the bookshop cat strolled through the connecting door and jumped up on the bakery windowsill. George moved over to stroke him.

“It’s a surprise,” Lucy explained. “Cal told me to wait here and she’d pick me up, that’s all I know.”

“Mysterious. Hope she’s not taking you down a dark alley to murder you.”

“Hope you stop listening to those true crime podcasts soon,” Lucy said, sticking her tongue out at him.

“How’s it going then, I’m taking it that you’re all made up and back to being lovey-dovey.”

Lucy nodded. “Yeah, yeah we are. Billy was right about her. She looks strong but honestly, she’s hurting more than she’d ever let anyone see. These false accusations about her have really done a number on her. She can’t see past them, she can’t put them behind her, she just runs away and doesn’t deal with them.” She sighed. “I’m not really sure why she doesn’t defend herself better, try to find some answers or something.”

“Maybe because she did it,” said George, leaving Fabio alone and coming to sit at one of the tables. Lucy gave him a death-glare. “Just putting it out there,” he said. “That’s one reason why she might be weird about it.”

“She didn’t do it,” Lucy said with absolute certainty.

But there was still something going on. She could tell. And that something definitely involved the jade box that Deb had taken.

“Stop it,” George said.

“Stop what?”

“Put away your Miss Marple hat. Remember how it got you into trouble just this afternoon? Whatever you might think, Calobviously doesn’t want you digging around. Which, frankly, is suspicious.”

“It’s not suspicious. She’s just… sensitive about it. But you’re right.” Lucy sighed. “She just wants to be trusted, that’s all. I feel like she needs to prove to me, to herself, that she’s trustworthy.” She stopped and looked at George. “George…?”

“What?” George said. Then he saw the look on her face. “No. No, not a good plan.”

“Oh, come on. You need the help. Cal can spend a couple of hours here. It’ll show her that we trust her. It’ll be good for everyone.”

“It will be up until half the town comes in to spit on her and by extension all my sandwiches.”

“That won’t happen. Everyone’s getting used to her. And people here aren’t bad people, you know that, George.”

George patted her hand. “You think that because everyone here took you in, because we all love you. And you’re right that we’re a close community, that we care for each other. The problem is that once that trust gets broken, we’re also very focused on looking after our own. You can’t blame people for being angry with Cal. She broke their trust.”

“Except she didn’t.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. They think she broke their trust. Better?”

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