Page 9 of Delicate Escape

“The construction zone will be there, buddy. There’s no rush,” I assured him.

Luca let out a tiny huff, as though the weight of the world were on his shoulders. “Ice today, building tomorrow.”

I held out a hand for a high five. “Good choice, my man.”

Sutton sent me an exhausted smile. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” I assured her.

As she hurried toward the door, a flicker of movement caught my attention, right before a different sort of guilt flooded me. I forced a smile. “Hey, Mara. How are you?”

Her return grin was so bright it had that guilt digging in deeper. “Pretty good. You?”

“Doing well. Just grabbing some breakfast,” I said, glancing toward Thea as I pulled out my wallet.

Thea’s gaze quickly darted away from my face. “I told you. On the house. For the whole…” She made some nonsensical gesture with her hand that had me fighting a smile. “Icing thing.”

Mara looked back and forth between Thea and me. “Icing thing?”

“Just a little early morning mishap,” I said, pulling two twenties out of my wallet and stuffing them into the tip jar.

“Shep,” Thea chastised quietly.

I dipped my head to meet her gaze. “It’s your choice whether or not to charge, but how much to tip is mine. Sorry about the assholery.”

Her plump, pink lips pressed into a hard line before popping apart again. “All good.”

It wasn’t, though. Thea’s behavior was all wrong. The kind thatsaid she’d been hurt before. And that had anger stirring somewhere deep, with a completely unwarranted heat behind it.

I didn’t know Thea. Not really. I’d been coming into the bakery since it opened months ago, taken in by her striking beauty. But she hadn’t shared anything with me that let me truly get to know her.

All I’d gotten were minuscule snippets. Brief moments when she let her guard down. Usually, when she was teasing Luca or laughing with Sutton.

And I hadn’t learned much more from my sister, who worked with Thea at the local nursery. The most I could pull out of Rhodes was that she thought Thea was running from something. The question was…what?

“Shep,” Mara said, bringing my attention back to her.

More guilt sparked at the flicker of annoyance I felt at being forced away from Thea. I really was an ass.

Mara smiled tentatively. “Do you want to stick around? We could have breakfast together. I’ve got an hour before my shift starts at the hardware store.”

Hell.Mara and I had ended months ago. We’d dated for about six weeks before I realized we just weren’t a match. It wasn’t that she wasn’t a good person. She was. But that only made ending things harder. Telling someone you thought you were better as friends never went over well.

And now, it was like Mara thought she could convince me otherwise. She was never overly pushy about it, but there was a steady, uncomfortable pressure. She’d find a way to ask me to spend time with her every couple of weeks. I was running out of ideas for gentle letdowns.

I cleared my throat. “Meeting Anson at a new site.”

Mara’s expression fell, and my guilt dug in deeper. “Okay. Maybe another time.”

I tried to hide my wince as I avoided her suggestion. “Have a good day.”

I glanced over my shoulder as I started toward the door. “Stay away from the blue frosting for a while, Thorn.”

Thea instantly scowled at me, but the heat was back behind those dark eyes. Something a hell of a lot better than the flicker of fear I’d seen earlier.

I felt a tug to find out what had caused it and wipe it from the Earth. But that was wasted energy. Because I’d probably fail her, too.

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