Page 33 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“We’re ready for you,” the hotel worker said.

Carolyn turned to Hazel. “Have to go now. So nice running into you.”

“You, too.” Hazel touched her arm before Carolyn pushed the cart, following the hotel worker, probably to a conference room.

It took Hazel a few long seconds to start walking toward the elevator with Callum. She apparently had fallen into melancholic thought.

“Why do people always think it’s their fault when decisions they make result in others having a run of bad luck?” he asked.

That pulled her out of her reverie. “Wh-what?”

“You aren’t responsible for other people’s misfortunes.”

They stepped into the elevator, Evie holding Hazel’s hand, head tipped back as usual. Her curiosity made her listen intently to everything said by the adults around her.

“I created the recipes,” Hazel said.

“Which should have helped her.”

“It did, but you heard her. The chefs she hired after me couldn’t replicate them.”

He took a moment to marvel that she didn’t see what he did. “You’re an artist first, Hazel.”

She blinked a few times as though startled by what he brought to light.

“Your passion went into every one of those recipes, those meals you oversaw in the kitchen,” he said.

“But...they had the recipes and I wrote detailed instructions.”

“But they didn’t have the heart. Only you had that. You made Carolyn’s Kitchen.”

“No. Carolyn made Carolyn’s Kitchen,” Hazel argued. “She was an aggressive businesswoman. Driven. Smart. She hired me to help her make her dream a reality. She was a good person.”

“Then she should have gone to culinary school if she wanted t

o run a restaurant,” he said.

Hazel rubbed her forehead with two fingers.

The elevator doors opened and Evie tugged Hazel toward the exit. Callum wanted to say more, do more about this discussion. But he walked to their suite, mindful of the energetic Evie, and let them inside.

Evie bounded toward the television and Hazel set her up with an animated show. Then Hazel walked into the kitchen—and took out a pizza from the freezer. No gourmet meal for tonight.

Glad Evie’s overactive mind had something to keep her occupied, Callum joined Hazel behind the island, where Hazel had picked up a pen and hovered the point over a notepad.

He wasn’t fooled. She used idle tasks to help ease her tormented thoughts.

Putting his hands on her upper arms, he asked, “Did you leave on bad terms?”

She shook her head. “I gave her a lot of notice.”

“Then why are you beating yourself up over this?”

She put down the pen and ran her hand over the top of her hair. Facing the living room where Evie watched television, she stilled. Callum didn’t think she registered Evie’s presence all that much, so absorbed did she appear to be in her separation with Carolyn.

Finally, she turned to him. “I left for selfish reasons. I had Evie and...”

“You had to look out for your own.”

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