Page 8 of Dead and a Best Friend
“I can’t but they were written across your face. I will not spy on the cops.” I huffed out a frustrated breath. “Besides, all I’ve heard so far is how much one of them wants to fuck me.”
“Tallulah!” He shouted, which had me taking a step back. “I think I need to have a word with Riley.”
“What?! No! You can’t do that. He’ll want to know how you know what he was thinking. Just leave it.” I shrugged. “At least I told you.”
“You didn’t tell me what’s been going on since you wrecked the car and got hit by lightning.”
“We weren’t exactly seeing eye to eye, were we?” I shrugged. “You told me you love me, and I love you. So, I didn’t want tokeep it to myself anymore. Plus, you can’t help me deal with it if you didn’t know.”
“For now, let me know if anything happens again.” He held my gaze. “Tallulah, you tell me.”
“I promise.”
Coffee Bean was busy,and I loved it. The smell of fresh ground coffee, and sticky buns coming out of the oven made my stomach grumble as I glanced around my business. I was proud of my café.
"Tallulah," Scott said, grabbing my attention. "How have you been?"
I was surprised to see him after not hearing from him in months. I wiped my hands on my apron. “Bernie didn’t mention you were home.”
"I have some things to take care of."
"That's nice," I muttered, brushing past him. He followed me into the kitchen and closed the door behind him.
“Tallulah, what happened wasn’t my fault. Surely you know that." He ran a hand down his face. “If I could turn back the clock and save Tate, I would.”
I huffed out a sad breath. "I'm sorry, Scott. I don't blame you for Tate's death. Trevor is responsible for that as, are Aiden and Tate. What irritates me is that you knew something was wrong. I've thought about it, and I know I'm right." I trailed off as I realized I spoke the truth.
I rubbed my eyes, tired of this whole situation. "You know what? I don't want to think about any of this anymore. I'm tired of it all." I stepped toward him, hastily making my way out of the room.
“Wait!” He called to me. I stopped but didn't turn around. “I don't like this discord between us."
My shoulders drooped as I turned to face him. "I don't like it either. I think we should just move forward the best we can." I offered him a small smile. The tension between us was palpable, but I knew we had to try to work through it, if only for Bernie's sake. I took a deep breath and extended my hand, hoping he would take it.
"Thank you." He shook my hand.
“Can I get you a cup of coffee and a slice of your mother’s peach cobbler?”
"I'd like that."
Scott followed me into the café, where I came to a screeching halt. The detectives were back. Part of me wanted to run and hide, but the inquisitive part of me wanted to stay and listen to what they had to say—or rather, to see if I could pick up on any more thoughts. It was extremely weird. It scared me, too. Why could I only pick up thoughts from the detective? Carlisle, Scott, Bernie, and the other café patrons were silent to me. Thank goodness.
It's not like I picked up anything about what they were working on.
"Tallulah," Scott whispered before sidestepping in front of me. "Why are you staring at the cops?"
I snapped out of it. "Do you know them?" I reached for a plate and started to get the cobbler together for him while he went to the customer side of things, watching me closely.
"I met them. They're in town to talk to Aiden about everything that went on.”
My eyes sparkled with questions, and Scott held up his hands. "I don't know anything else. That's all I heard before the door between us closed."
"Well, you're no good as a spy," I whispered, hissing across the counter.
"What are you two whispering about?" Bernie nudged me.
"Scott's lack of snooping skills." I shoved a bowl of peach cobbler at him.
But Bernie took it from me and headed to the small freezer in the back. "Ice cream, huh?"
