Page 114 of Delicate Escape

“I’m trying to,” I gritted out as we stepped out into the sunshine.

“Don’t shoot the messenger,” Anson shot back.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in. If it isn’t Box Baby and Murder Boy.”

I looked up to see Russ striding toward us, his dad, Bob, at his side. The nickname had always gotten under my skin—the cruel reminder of a painful truth. But when it hit me this time, it didn’t land like it usually did. It didn’t sting or burn. It had another effect altogether. Gratitude.

And it was then that I realized something had shifted.

It wasn’t like suddenly seeing the world in color, but it was a slight alteration, like the tuning of an instrument. Still, that tiny adjustment changed how you heard everything.

Because Russ’s barb just reminded me of where that abandonment had brought me. To the most incredible family I could’ve asked for. To discovering a purpose in what I did. To finding a true home. And I could see more clearly than ever that those bonds didn’t have to be earned. Not by beinggood enoughorperfect. They were given simply because I was chosen family.

So, instead of being annoyed, I grinned. It didn’t hurt that Russ was still rocking a bandage across his nose and some bruising under one eye. “Russ, see you’re just as charming as ever.”

Bob bristled at that. “Don’t you talk to my boy. You think because the Colsons took you in that your shit don’t stink. But you’re nothing. Just a bastard, through and through.”

I saw this clearer now, too. How Russ had come to be the cruel prick he was. He hadn’t been born that way. It had been learned.

I met Bob’s angry gaze. “You don’t want yourboyto run into trouble, then maybe you should’ve taught him not to put his hands on a woman who doesn’t want them there. But I’m guessing he learned that bullshit at home.”

Bob’s face turned the shade of a tomato as he charged forward. “Don’t you talk to me that way, you little shit. I?—”

“Think that’s enough,” Anson cut in, shoving Bob back. “Thereare cameras on that building right there. And any action you take, I’ll make sure a report lands on Trace’s desk.”

Bob blustered and fumed, but Russ didn’t move an inch. His gaze stayed locked on me, furious. “Those cameras won’t always be watching, Box Baby. Watch your back.”

43

THEA

The bell jingledas the door to the bakery opened, and I braced. We had been slammed for the past three days from open to close, but today around lunchtime, things had finally slowed. If the bell chiming meant a fresh wave, I wasn’t sure I could handle it.

But the moment my gaze connected with the figure in the doorway, everything in me relaxed, and a laugh bubbled out of me. Lolli was standing there, her silver hair piled into two buns on either side of her head, wearing what looked like workout gear. She had tie-dyed leggings on with bright red sneakers, and her T-shirt readPlant Managerwith a massive marijuana leaf on it.

“Lolli, you look amazing,” I said, grinning at her.

She did a spin, the bracelets on her wrist clinking together. “I gave one of these shirts to Rho. Told her to show them to Duncan at the nursery. They’d make the perfect uniform.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing again. “What’d he say?”

Lolli frowned. “He doesn’t have my vision.”

I bet. Duncan was a pretty chill boss, but I didn’t see him changing his family’s generations-old nursery into a pot farm. “His loss.”

“Is the love of my life out there?” Walter called as he walked out of the kitchen.

“Don’t you start with me, you old goat,” Lolli shot back.

Walter’s eyes twinkled as he smiled at her. “I may be old, but you make me feel like a randy teenager.”

Pink hit Lolli’s cheeks. “Don’t you try to sweet-talk me.”

Walter clutched his chest as if he’d been wounded. “I only speak the truth when it comes to you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Lolli waved him off as she headed for the bakery case. “I’m too tired to deal with your marriage proposals today. I’ve been pumping iron with my new trainer, and now I need my reward.”

Walter was not deterred. “If you said yes to me, you wouldn’t need a trainer. I’d give you plenty of workouts right at home.”

---