Page 21 of Broken Daddy
“Oh, I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” she told the other woman.
It was kind of her to ask even if she wished that she hadn’t.
“Did something happen?” Donovan asked.
“I’ve got to go back to work,” she said hastily.
“Devi fell over. Smacked down hard onto her hands and knees. I’m surprised you didn’t bruise your knees, dear,” Sondra said.
“Nope. All good. I’ve really got to?—”
“Hayes rushed over and just picked her up. Very kind of him.”
Urgh, she really wished the other woman would stop talking.
“Hayes touched you?” Donovan sounded incredulous.
Was that so hard to believe? That Hayes might touch her? Why? She wasn’t gross or anything.
Oh God, was she?
“Um, yes,” she replied. “Why is that so surprising? He was just helping me up.”
“Helping you?”
Why was Donovan repeating her? And how come he sounded like he’d been sucking on a Carolina Reaper?
“Yes. Should he not have helped me?” she asked.
Even Sondra was giving Donovan a curious look.
“Uh, no, it’s just I haven’t really known him to help people. Or to even really take notice of other people unless he’s guarding them or they’re a threat. So it’s interesting that he noticed you. And helped you.”
“Yes, it is,” Sondra added.
“No, it’s really not,” Devi told them quickly. “I’m very noticeable. People notice me all the time.”
Dear. Lord.
What the heck was she saying? People noticed her all the time? She spent her life trying to remain unnoticed.
Her nickname was Mouse for God’s sake!
She was losing it, she really was.
“I have to go.” She rushed back to the counter, ignoring Aaron’s glares.
She guessed that she wasn’t getting a lunch break again today.
No lunch break. No food. No Mr. Tragic Eyes.
This really had turned out to be a crappy day.
Fuck this guy was annoying.
And boring.
He was jumpy.
