Page 34 of Chasing Forever
“I’m really sorry, but we do not sell them,” Lottie says.
“Then why did we find them at a secondhand store?”
Shit. She’s not letting this go.
“Someone must not have wanted theirs.” There’s sadness in Lottie’s voice, but she’s quick to change her tone as if she heard it herself. “So sorry you made the trip.”
The woman stretches out her hand and places it on Lottie’s forearm. “Can you at least tell me who makes them? Maybe I could talk to them, and they would reconsider.”
Lottie shakes her head. “She won’t.”
The woman steps back from Lottie, and her shoulders sag. “But…”
It guts me to watch this. Lottie could sell them. Hell, she should sell them.
“Here.” I go over and pull one of The Harvest Depot business cards and a pen that looks like a flower off the counter. “Why don’t you leave your number or email, and if she changes her mind…”
The woman gives Lottie a pained expression, but Lottie doesn’t budge.
“Okay. I guess it’s better than nothing.” She writes down her info, eyes lingering on the mugs now out of reach. “Thank you.” She tips her head at me and walks out of the store.
I grab my coffee, no doubt cold now, and break the distance between us. I want to ask a hundred questions. But if I do, she’ll just shut down.
“What time are you picking me up Friday?” I ask.
She glances up with a look of relief on her face, and her mask slips back into place. “Be ready at five.”
“See you then.” I stroll out of the store, gripping my cold coffee, knowing this is something I’ll need to address with her at some point, but not today.
I have to remember that I’m in this for the long game.
Chapter Fifteen
Lottie
“You want to use my daughter tonight?” Bennett asks from across the table at breakfast in The Getaway Lodge’s dining room.
Mom’s sitting at the table, giving me the side-eye every few bites of her toast, but staying shockingly quiet.
“I’m not using her.” I raise my eyebrows, stabbing my fork into a perfectly ripe strawberry. I have no idea where my cousin Jensen gets the amazing produce he serves us. “I’m asking if I can take her to the fair in Hickory.”
“I was planning on taking her since I was gone last weekend.”
“If I take her, you can go on a date.”
He side-eyes me with a mouth full of Wren’s uneaten pancakes. Wren saw Briar in the hallway and bolted, and Bennett said he’d come get her from the yoga studio when it was time for her to leave for school.
“Do you really want to talk about our dating lives right now?” His gaze shifts to Mom at the end of the table, pretending she’s not listening. As if she uses her phone for anything other than sending us memes she finds funny.
“Come on, B, what do you want in exchange? Anything.”
He leans back in his chair, finishes chewing, and grabs his coffee. “Tell me the real reason why you want to take her to something you hate. Refresh my memory because you swore off fairs after you got stuck on the Zipper in eighth grade.”
I groan. “Is there anything you don’t remember?”
“It’s a pretty significant memory since you threw up on me afterward.”
Mom giggles, and when we both turn to her, she buries her head in her phone again. “I’m sending this to you two.” She taps her screen as if she’s launching a missile. A second later, both our phones vibrate.
