Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“I don’t—” Thomas stopped. “Oh, shit. Beth?”
She wrapped her arms around herself. “Don’t. I just—it’s fine.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, briefly squeezing his eyes shut, and his broad shoulders visibly tensed through his jumper. “I’ll move the boxes.”
I had no idea what was going on here, but clearly, there was a big family issue I wasn’t privy to. I didn’t want to be privy to such a thing either, but Beth looked so forlorn that the human part of me couldn’t let it go.
She clearly needed a friend right now.
“Hey,” I said to her. “I have to call my sister’s catering company in about half an hour, but if you don’t mind me doing that, why don’t you join me for lunch? You look like you could use a break.”
Thomas shot daggers my way, but I wasn’t going to entertain it.
Not only was he dense, but he was being dense and mean to her.
Beth glanced at him, then quickly nodded. “I was about to take lunch anyway.”
“Great. Let’s go.”
She skirted past Thomas into the back, quickly disappearing through a plastic curtain.
“What are you doing?” he hissed at me.
“Don’t you speak to me like that,” I shot back, pointing at him. “I’ll forgive your denseness because you aren’t a woman, but the look on her face said she needs a friend, and the look on yours said you have no intention of being it.”
“Don’t get involved in this.” His voice was low, and a dark flash of annoyance crossed his face.
“I’m not getting involved. I’m taking my friend for lunch. Not that you have any business telling me what to do,” I shot back right as Beth swept the plastic curtain aside.
She dipped her head. “Would you mind locking the door when you’ve moved the boxes?” she asked Thomas softly.
His nostrils flared. “Of course not.”
“Thank you.” She slipped around the counter and stepped in front of me, heading for the door.
I touched my hand to her back and gave Thomas one last monster glare as I followed her out of the front door of the shop.
His responding glare followed me as I passed the window, but I simply slipped my arm through Beth’s and carried on walking.
Idiot.
CHAPTER SIX – SYLVIE
“Thank you,” Beth said when I sat back down after making my phone call. “For getting me out of there so quickly.”
I waved a hand dismissively. “I had a feeling it was a conversation you didn’t want to have there and then, especially not with that dense prat.”
She shook her head, fiddling with the edge of a napkin. I still had a quarter of my sandwich left so I picked at it while she switched between toying with the napkin and the teaspoon she’d used to stir extra sugar into her tea.
She kept glancing at me. Little flicks of her gaze here and there that were full of uncertainty and hesitance.
“It’s none of my business,” I told her, dabbing at the corner of my mouth. “Truly. I just saw a way to get you out of an uncomfortable situation and did it. And you really did look as though you needed to get out of the shop for a bit.”
She smiled weakly. “Thank you. That was kind.”
“Not entirely. I knew it would piss off Thomas, and given a choice, I’ll always choose that option.” I grinned, sitting back in my chair. “Nothing pisses him off more than thinking I’m getting involved in his business.”
“Are you sure it’s not some kind of weird sexual tension between you?”
I shook my head. “Aside from one misguided crush in my teen years, absolutely not.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why don’t you get along?”
My lips quirked. “He threw a cricket ball at my head when I was nine, and I’m a pro at holding a grudge.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep. There’s a scar just above my eyebrow to prove it.” I tapped the scar close to my temple on my right. “I ended up in A&E and left with seven stitches in my face. By the point I’d gotten over it, our relationship existed solely on sarcasm and bickering, so I never bothered to tell him I’d forgiven him.”
Beth laughed, reaching up to re-do her ponytail. “That’s insane. Have you really never told him that you’re over it?”
“Nope. I moved away, and it seemed rather pointless after that.” I bit a slice of cucumber. “So, naturally, I think he still assumes I’ve never forgiven him and that I think he did it deliberately.”
“Did he do it deliberately?”
“Depends on who you ask.” I propped my chin up on my hand with a grin. “Once, I’d have said yes. With the benefit of hindsight, I think he just had dreadful judgement throwing a cricket ball for a casual game of catch and a terrible aim.”
“He still has a terrible aim.”
“That doesn’t surprise me at all. He couldn’t hit a skyscraper with a water gun in New York City.”