Page 151 of Sunshine

“Okay,” I held my hands up. “I’ll just pick up my order and get out of your hair.”

Talia frowned. “What order?”

A chill swept over me. “The bachelorette party. The mocktail cupcakes.”

“I never said I could do that,” Talia snapped, her mouth set in a thin line. “Honestly, I thought we were better friends than this.”

“What?” Shivery coldness rushed over me again, like I’d dropped into the ocean.

From the bond, Luca, Logan, and Julian all thrummed through with love. It was almost as good as having them next to me in person, giving me a hug.

It gave me strength. Peace. I took in a slow, shuddery breath.

Talia crossed her arms over her chest, tears brimming in her eyes. “You should have known when I canceled our plans for the third time. You dump an order on me and then rub it in my face that you got bonded before me.”

My brain felt stupid and slow. That was…not what happened. At all. I swore Talia said she’d do the cupcake order, no problem.

“Hang on just a second.” I pulled out my phone. My brain went staticky, and my hands felt clammy. What if she hadn’t actually said she could do it, I just assumed? It was hard to remember.

I scrolled through our text messages. “You said you were fine to do the cupcake order. At no point in time did you say you were hurting or upset.”

“I have to spell it out?” Talia sniffed. “Typical selfish Sunshine. Only focused on your problems. But that’s fine because you can whine to your family. Instead of forcing you to own up to your mistakes, they hire you an assistant.”

I blinked at the sudden change of subject. Arguing with Talia was always like trying to catch a fish in my hands.

Talia gestured around her. “Some of us aren’t lucky enough to have a family like that.”

“I am totally confused.” I tried to make any of this make sense. “You said you were fine to make the order. Right here, inthe text message, you said it was fine. And now you’re twisting everything around.”

“I thought you were a better friend,” Talia continued, looking like I’d just kicked her puppy. “I told you a hundred times I was busy. You didn’t offer to help, you didn’t sweep in with your family to “fix it”. You kept talking about your pack and rubbing it in my face.”

“How was I supposed to know you were that busy?” I hated how shrill and defensive I sounded. If I could have two seconds to figure out what the hell was going on maybe I could have a reasonable conversation.

“I told you,” Talia snapped. “Three times this week since you want to pull your phone out, like I’m a liar.”

I held my hands up. “You’re constantly complaining I don’t use your bakery enough, and when I do, it’s suddenly this big imposition.”

“Ha.” Talia shook her head. “Leave it to you to twist my words like that.”

I rubbed my temples. Talia was mad at me for…being bonded and asking her to make cupcakes? Usually, it was Becca and Talia that got into these sorts of fights.

Talia stalked over to the stainless-steel countertop, grabbing a mixing bowl. Aine and the other baker looked like they were praying for a hole in the ground to open up. Frankly I wasn’t sure I wasn’t praying for the same thing. “I thought we put everything behind us. I really thought we were trying to be better friends.”

“I thought that too,” I said desperately. “I asked you to make cupcakes, we hung out and got Thai, and I postponed several dates with the pack so we could spend time together.”

“But you’re holding the thing with Becca over my head.” She kept talking like I hadn’t said anything. “I have to rethink what sort of friend you actually are. You really hurt me.”

I went numb at that. She knew the soft places to twist the knife when she wanted to hurt me. All the insecurities I’d tried to fix, all my secret worries, and she wielded our friendship like a finely honed blade.

Instead of with love, like my pack. Like a fluffy pillow I could land on, a safe place to catch me when I fell.

I swallowed hard, my hands clammy with cold sweat. “If I’ve been ignoring you or making you feel bad, I’m sorry.”

Her shoulders relaxed. She was getting her way, I was apologizing. My phone buzzed in my purse.

I sucked in a breath. If I’d accidentally hurt my friend’s feelings, I didn’t mind apologizing, but I didn’t do anything wrong.Thatwas a hill I was willing to die on. I would own up when I made mistakes. Heavens knew, I made lots of them.

But I didn’t make this entire mess. Concern and love poured through the packbonds, momentarily disorienting me. It was a soft, but strong weight I could lean on. I could do this. I could stand up for myself.

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