Page 17 of Rebel Secrets
“Hey, Erin.It’s Rebel.Just talked to Rowdy about the dance lessons.Just checking in to…” What?Why the fuck had I called in the first place?“Just thought we should touch base beforehand.Give me a call back.I’ve got a game tonight, but I’ll be around all day tomorrow.”
I hung up and started getting dressed for the game.
ChapterSix
Three weeks before the wedding
Erin
“Hey Erin,did we get that monster romance in for Mitzi?I can’t find it in the pile.”
The bookshop’s part-timer, Abigail Kantrell, called from the checkout counter in the front as I headed toward the area set aside for the book clubs.Since the romance book club generally drew pretty well, we’d added a few more chairs to the romance nook along the far side of the store.The table for the snacks and drinks had to be crammed into the corner between the bookshelves.
I’d just finished cleaning the kitchen after a busy day in the bakery, but I was running late and book club would start in less than an hour.
“Yeah, sorry, it came in yesterday, but I haven’t had time to unpack the boxes yet.”
“She said she’ll pick it up tonight.Here, let me help you with that.”
Taking one of the trays I had balanced precariously on top of the other, Abby shook light brown hair out of her eyes, dark-frame glasses perched on her nose.She was only a year younger than me, but she dressed like a ninety-year-old on her way to a church potluck.Baggy tops and sweaters and skirts that covered her from her waist to just above her ankles.
When we’d met at her interview for the job, I’d thought maybe she dressed that way because of her religion.It didn’t make any difference to me what she wore, just that she could do the job.Which she handled spectacularly well.She loved to talk books and read voraciously.
But then I’d met her husband, and I realized why Abby hid behind her clothing.Just thinking about Dale made me want to spike his daily coffee with castor oil.I always made sure to schedule Abby late on book club nights so she had an excuse to tell Dale she was staying.Otherwise, he’d have some reason for her to be home.
“Thanks.The bakery was a madhouse today.We were mobbed from open to close.Good thing I made the treats for book club yesterday.”
“Everything looks great, as always.”Abby put the tray on the table and took the other one out of my hands.“Ooh, you made the chocolate cake.I really shouldn’t have that, but I’m going to be bad tonight.”
It took everything in me to bite my tongue.I made that cake specifically for Abby.But for some reason she thought she shouldn’t eat sweets.And I knew exactly why.Because fucking Dale thought she “could stand to lose a few pounds.”He’d actually said those words when he’d come to pick her up one night after work.
Asshole.
And I’d thought of the perfect way to stick it to Dale.“You given any thought to coming to work for me full time?”
I really could use the help.Business had started to pick up at the bakery and I couldn’t spend as much time in the bookshop as I should.Why the hell had I thought it’d be a good idea to run two businesses?
In my defense, at the time, the bakery had been kind of slogging along, breaking even but only just.And when I’d opened the bookstore, it’d been a little slow, not even breaking even the first three months.
Granddad had warned me that the locals were slow to give their business to “out-of-towners.”And even though Granddad had lived here for more than ten years, and the townspeople finally, grudgingly, considered him local, I still wasn’t.
Which is why I went out of my way to kill everyone with kindness.But that was a boundary I needed to figure out another day.I did need someone full-time to help me run the store.And if Abby couldn’t, or wouldn’t, take the job, then I needed to find someone else.
“Actually,” Abby said, drawing my focus back to her, “I think…yes, I’d like to.”
I blinked, a little stunned.That was totally not the answer I’d been expecting.
“Really?Abby, that’d be great!”
Her round cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink, set off by the fringe of straight-brown hair around her face, and her wide smile made her face kind of extraordinary.Abby was shorter than me by a few inches and had curves I envied, though I knew she didn’t appreciate them.Probably because Asshole Dale thought she should “lose a few.”
I really don’t know how I’d managed to keep my mouth shut about that dick, considering I usually couldn’t keep my mouth shut about anything.
“Yeah, I think…I think I need this.Dale’s been, um, working a lot lately, and I keeping busy will be good for me.”
Okay, I was no psychologist, but I’m pretty sure there was something else going on behind the scenes with Dale and Abby.And while I would never say anything to Abby about her dickwad of a spouse—unless she said something to me first—I would not be sad to see Abby get rid of the deadweight.Which wasn’t exactly fair to Dale.The guy did have a decent job working on a local dairy farm but?—
He was still an asshole.
