Page 86 of Made For You
“Oh no,” I whined as I closed my eyes and leaned against Talon’s strong body. Maybe if we stayed right here, he could protect us from whatever was about to come our way.
When he asked what I was groaning about, I lifted my phone to show him the notification.
“Shit. Okay. I’m going to call my PR team and see what they think.”
“You have a PR team?” I asked.
“Well, we already had a team for the hotel, but I hired a personal team when I took over as interim CEO as well.”
“Oh. Okay.” I had no idea what they could do to deflate this rapidly growing news story. I just hoped something more interesting would catch their attention soon.
Talon’s hands slipped away, and I instantly missed his touch, his shelter, his quiet strength.
People started arriving at the market, and I felt like a circus act on display. The customers were probably minding theirownbusiness, but every time I looked up, it seemed like someone was staring at me. I was going nuts.
Finally, after thirty minutes, Talon reappeared, looking much more relaxed than I felt.
“What did they say?” I asked him immediately, hoping they offered some sort of immediate resolution.
He reached for my hand and intertwined our fingers. “Well, they said the best thing to do was to wait it out. We could make a statement, but that would just keep it in the news longer. They hinted at a huge scandal between government officials that will most likely take over the news coverage next week.”
“But for now, we’re the talk of the town.”
He nodded solemnly, his gaze drawn to our hands. His thumb circled my knuckles, and normally that would’ve had a calming effect, but not this time. “Literally,” he said as his eyes trained on the group of customers standing around and watching us.
“Okay… um… maybe it would be best if we went ahead and packed up,” I suggested, as it was clear no one was going to buy anything from our stand, even though it wasn’t like the fruit and vegetables were tainted or anything.
“This is all my fault, Aurora.”
I lifted one of the crates. “We’re equals, remember? I said the vows too.”
Silently, we started replacing the crates into the back of the truck, still full of all the produce from our small garden. From the corner of my eye, I watched the crowd grow, but it was only Mrs. Henson who stepped forward and inspected a few of the items at our booth.
I’d told Talon all about her crazy antics, and I prayed she would deliver today, because I was afraid if I didn’t laugh soon, I was going to cry.
“The squash look nice and plump,” she said as she held one of the larger butternut squashes.
“Mom made some soup with some the other night, and it was delicious.”
“Hm… I’ll take three please.”
“Of course, Mrs. Henson.” I rang her up and sniffled as I fought off the tears. Not even the crazy lady of Ashfield was acting like herself.
Once I bagged up her picks, I returned her sympathetic smile and went back to packing up our things. Talon seemed to pick up on my worsening mood, because I soon found myself tucked behind the other side of the truck, out of sight of the customers. He wrapped me in his arms, swaying back and forth in a soothing motion.
“I’m so sorry, Aurora.”
I couldn’t speak, too distraught and not even sure why. Not until this moment did I ever truly care what people thought of me.
“Rory!” I heard a familiar voice call out. I looked up at Talon, and he wiped away the tears on my cheeks with his thumbs.
“It will be okay. I promise you, Aurora.”
“You know… you’ve never called me by my nickname, even after all this time.”
“Because I like that I get to call you something different than everyone else,” he replied as he tucked my hair behind my ear. I mimicked his smile, and that was how Franny found me as she moved around the front of the truck.
“Aurora Grace Easterly, you better tell me that you haven’t been lying to me and that the article I just read was a bunch of made-up crap,” she hollered as she stomped toward me. Talon’s protective instincts were on high alert, as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me back against him.
