Page 85 of Shortcake
Shit.
I didn’t mean for all this to happen. I didn’t mean to worry them both to a near nervous breakdown… at least on Haylee’s part. Enzo had known me long enough to know that I disappeared when processing.
But my friendship with Haylee was newer.
And clearly more fragile.
I punched in a response as quickly as my thumbs possibly could.
It’s fine. I’m fine. I swear. We can talk later, I’m just busy working. Don’t come down to the bar.
Send.
I heard a ping in front of me… the sound of someone’s text coming through.
Then, Haylee’s voice said, “Too late.”
Before I could even say anything to greet her, she clamped her hands to her hips and said, “Is this about the sheriff? Did you two finally hook up?”
I froze. It had been almost three weeks since Conrad and I hooked up. And normally, I shared everything with my girlfriends. But for some reason, I couldn’t when it came to Conrad. And I wasn’t sure why.
Even three years ago, I hadn’t told Enzo.
For all of my bravado and sexual prowess, when it came to the guys Ireallyliked, I was tight-lipped. I think I was so humiliated after Dante, that I never wanted to jump the gun again.
And until Conrad, there wasn’t any guy really worth writing home about.
“Your silence says it all.” Even though I kept my eyes pinned to the counter, I could practically hear the gloating in Haylee’s voice.
“No,” I snapped quickly, feeling heat rush my cheeks. “I’m just tired. I was at the bar late last night and I didn’t sleep well—”
“You’re at the bar late literally every week and you’ve always managed to join us for brunch in the past and respond to our texts. So what’s really going on?”
I looked up to find her standing there in front of the bar, wringing her hands together. “Are you really fine? Or did you just say that to get us to stop texting and make sure we didn’t come down here?”
I sighed and started loading the dirty glasses into the dishwasher. “Haylee, I reallyambusy and working. I can’t just text all night if it’s Saturday Karaoke night, you know?”
Lips pressed together, she nodded. “Okay, I do know that. But you just seem… different this past week. Like maybe you’re mad at me? Is this about the family dinner last week and that I didn’t warn you we were coming? I swear I didn’t know… not until it was too late. So, if you are, just tell me so I can apologize and we can move on—”
“Haylee.” I slammed a pint glass down too hard onto the granite counter, causing the glass to break, sending shards scattering around us. “Shit,” I muttered. “Thisis what I’m talking about Haylee! I’m working. And I can’t talk about this right now because I get distracted and break shit.”
Carefully, I plucked the larger pieces of glass from the debris first and tossed them into the trash can while Haylee rushed behind the bar to where I kept the dustpan.
She scurried back beside me and began sweeping shards of glass off the counter.
“Haylee, let me.”
“No, it’s my fault. I’ll clean it up.”
“That’s ridiculous.I’mthe one who broke the glass.” I tried to take the dustpan from her, but she wrenched her hand away, sending a few shards that had been swept up, sliding back out onto the counter.
That’s when I heard it… her sniffle.
Slowly, I looked up just in time to catch Haylee wiping away a stray tear.
Oh, my God. I’m such an asshole. It’s like I have a self-destruct wish. I just can’t let myself be loved and have good people in my life. I implode it all, without even realizing what I’m doing.
But I couldn’t lose Haylee.
