Page 162 of The Puck Stops Here

But her gaze didn’t shift from Sissi. ‘I have to tell him the truth.’

‘Whattruth?’ he blurted.

She swept her tongue over her lips, her nerves putting him further on edge as her eyes finally came back to his.

‘Did you come here before you met us? Did you dish the dirt with the locals, meet Sienna and…’

His voice trailed off at the shake of her head.

‘Thenwhat?’

‘Hey Mastrangelo!’ The door to the diner across the way opened and a dude leaned out. ‘Hurry up and say goodbye to that friend of yours, I’ve got customers waiting to be served.’

The door swung closed and Astrid’s stricken gaze went back to Sissi.For crying out loud, he was the one needing answers.

‘It’s okay, Sissi, I’ve got this.’

‘Are you sure?’

He turned to look at the girl he hadn’t seen in years… not since the night he’d kept her company after he’d found her father drunk and messed up in this exact same spot. Taken him home and stayed with her until he could be sure she was safe because he didn’t trust dads at the best of times. Drunk dads even more so. But none of that explained why she was looking at Astrid like she would dive between them at any moment and separate them. With force if she had to.

‘I’m not going to hurt her if that’s what you’re thinking?’

Sienna met his gaze, her own glistening in the neon glow coming off the bar. ‘This isn’t her fault, okay. It’s mine. And I’m sorry you got caught up in it.’

How the hell could it be her fault? It was Astrid’s article. His story.

Then she looked back to Astrid. ‘You know where I am.’

Astrid nodded and with one last hesitant glance, Sienna dashed across the road, disappearing into the diner as the air fell silent once more, the music from the bar and the occasional vehicle the only sound. Until her teeth started to chatter and his nerves shattered with it. ‘Get in the truck.’

‘You can’t drive like this.’

‘I’m not suggesting driving anywhere. I want answers but not while we’re both freezing to death out here.’

He headed to the driver’s door and looked back at her unmoving form. ‘Or do you want to stay here?’

She moved without meeting his gaze, joining him inside the cabin as he started the engine and set the heaters to high.

‘Where did you get the truck?’ She was staring at the dash as she said it, her hands twisting in her lap.

‘A guy staying at the hotel loaned it to me.’

‘Really? That takes some trust.’

‘Money, more like.’

Her eyes shot to his.

‘What did you expect, Astrid? You leave me while I’m sleeping, the next thing I know V tells me you’re heading to Ashbury Falls and I knew it was to see him.Dad. I had no idea you knew anyone else here. So that either makes me naïve, or you dishonest, which one is it to be?’

‘You’re not naïve…’

‘Then why didn’t you say you’d been here before, that you’d met people?—’

‘I haven’t been here before.’

‘But you know Sienna?’

---