Page 91 of Tessa's Trust

She did not stay cool. She instantly turned in the booth, her eyes lighting up, only to see Bobbo and Kelsey Walker moving toward us. Louise paled until she matched the clouds outside.

Bobbo faltered, wearing deep green overalls and a crisp white shirt today. His boots had to be a good size sixteen and were well-worn. Kelsey looked petite and wary at his side as she took in Louise. She instantly slid her arm through Bobbo’s and leaned against his side, not coming close to reaching his shoulder.

“Hi, Louise,” Bobbo said.

“Hi, Bobbo.” Louise flicked a glance at Kelsey and then looked up at Bobbo’s face, her eyes wide. “Thanks again for bailing me out.”

Bobbo blanched and scratched his beard.

Kelsey frowned and slowly withdrew her arm. “You paid her bail?”

I took two steps away from the table because, honestly, if this thing went south, I was just getting out of the way.

Louise smiled, her eyes sparkling. “Of course, he paid my bail. No matter what happens, we’ll always be there for each other. Right, Bobbo?”

Bobbo scratched his head and looked down at Kelsey. “I couldn’t just leave her in jail. I’m sure she didn’t mean to shoot those fish.”

“I didn’t hit any fish,” Louise protested.

Kelsey looked at me and then at Louise before crossing her arms. “You should have told me you paid her bail. She went in and shot at my friend.”

Well, it was nice that Kelsey considered us friends.

“Do you want to get back together with Louise? Because if you do, I need to know right now,” Kelsey finished.

I liked that she called Bobbo out and laid it all on the line. “Good for you,” I said.

“Thanks.” She smiled.

Bobbo vehemently shook his head. “Absolutely not. Louise and I are never getting back together.”

Louise’s expression fell. A couple of ladies at the far end of my section waved at me, and I gave them the hand signal that I’d be right there.

At the moment, I was trying to keep everybody from detonating. “Okay, so I don’t know what’s happening here, but we need to keep things calm. Smiley is in the hospital, and I can’t have word about a fight reaching him,” I said quietly, hoping they’d all work with me.

Bobbo’s eyes widened. “No one’s going to get into a fight.”

“Yeah.” Louise’s shoulders hunched. “Believe me, taking out that aquarium was the most dangerous thing I’ll ever do. I’ll never get in a fight.”

Kelsey bit her lip, looking young and adorable with her blond hair up in a ponytail and a bright red scarf around her neck. Her puffer jacket had snow on it, adding to her look of fragility. She lifted her chin. “I’m not going to play second fiddle to anybody. So, if something is going on with you two, have at it.”

I wanted to clap for her, but I also wanted to at least appear neutral.

Bobbo flopped his beefy arm over her shoulders. “Kelsey, I just helped Louise out for old times’ sake. We are never getting back together.”

“You don’t know that.” Louise reared up. “We were meant to be together, Bobbo. So I spent a little bit of your money. So what? It was there to be spent.”

Bobbo’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? You spent nearly twenty-five thousand dollars in a week.”

Even I gasped. That was crazy.

“Wow.” Kelsey looked at Bobbo again. “How did that happen?”

He shook his head. “Don’t ask. It involved credit cards, fancy furniture, and a little too much trust.”

Once again, Kelsey slid her arm through his, looking way up at his face. “I don’t want your money, Bobbo. I like you. I like your lifestyle, and I really like your alpacas. If you just want to be friends, that’s fine with me, but I’m not going to do this back-and-forth game any longer.”

Man, I was really starting to like Kelsey Walker.

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