Page 139 of Delicate Escape

I jolted out of my spiraling thoughts. “Sorry.” I shook my head and forced a smile. “Maybe you should bring the deputy there a cup of coffee and one of yourfamouscupcakes.”

Sutton choked on a laugh. “How did you just make acupcakesound dirty?”

I grinned back at her, shrugging. “It’s a gift.”

“I don’t have time forcupcakes,if you know what I mean. I barely have time for sleep.”

I glanced at my friend as I rounded the bakery case with my rag and a bottle of glass cleaner. We were almost done for the day, and while two customers still lingered, we were starting our cleanup routine. “Want me and Shep to babysit this week?”

Sutton’s eyes danced with warmth. “Practicing?”

A little flicker of something fluttered in my belly. Hope, maybe? “No. But a distraction wouldn’t hurt, and I love that kiddo of yours.”

She was quiet for a moment before speaking. “You and Shep would make pretty babies. And he would be such a good dad.”

There was longing in Sutton’s voice when she said the worddad. Something I didn’t miss. But my mind kept pulling back topretty babies. God, I wanted that.

That flicker of hope turned to an inferno, a need to see what Shep and I could come together to make. Would the child’s eyes be green? Amber? Or something else altogether? Would their hair beblond or light brown? Regardless, some part of me knew they’d have his kindness.

“Holy cannoli, you are agoner,” Sutton teased.

I tossed my rag at her. “You’re the one who told me I should go for it.”

She threw the towel back at me. “And I’m glad to see I was right. Just like I always am.”

I laughed as I sprayed the bakery case and swiped my rag across the surface. But a flicker of movement caught my attention out the window.

A familiar hulking figure stood there glaring at me. There was such hatred in Russ Wheeler’s eyes. A healthy dose of disgust, too.

A few months ago, I would’ve let that send me tumbling into a fear spiral. But I wasn’t the same person now. Shep had helped me grab hold of the strength I’d always had and own it.

So, I didn’t look away from Russ. I met his hateful stare and did something that was very un-Thea. I flipped him off.

The surprise that flashed in his dark brown eyes almost had me laughing, but the look was quickly replaced by an intensifying fury.

“What in the world?” Sutton looked at me and then followed my line of sight toward Russ. “That piece of work?—”

But her words cut off as Deputy Allen stalked down the sidewalk toward Russ. We couldn’t hear what the officer said, but I could make out just enough by reading his lips to get the gist.“You need to move along.”

Russ said something colorful back but stalked off down the block.

“You okay?” Sutton asked.

I straightened, continuing my work on the case. “Better than. That felt damn good.”

“Flipping off a douchebag always does.”

We dissolved into laughter as we continued our cleaning duties. As the next hour passed, we swept and packed up day-old bakery goodies. Sutton always passed them along to a shelter in the next town over. As the two remaining patrons left, she flipped the sign toClosed.

“You can go. All I have left is the mopping.”

I shook my head. “It’ll go faster if we do it together.”

I started lifting chairs on top of the tables as Sutton grabbed a bucket of soapy water. We worked in tandem, the country music bleeding out through the speakers. It only took us another hour to finish everything.

“Time to get Luca?” I asked.

Sutton glanced at her watch. “Not for another hour. He went to the ice rink with a friend after camp.”

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