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“TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH,” Amy said, grinning, when I walked in the door of the bakery.
I laughed. “Sorry. I’ve been a little bit busy.”
The grin dropped off her face, and she moved to one of the tables, pulling out a chair. “I’ve heard. Sit. I’ll get you coffee and a donut.”
“Two donuts,” I said. “And two coffees. You owe me your fifteen-minute break. I haven’t seen you in years.”
The smile came back to her face, and she nodded, then went behind the counter and started getting us our breakfast. Amy was my oldest friend and had been working at our bakery as long as I had. We’d cut our teeth on the bread and donuts here and first learned how to count money behind that counter. From what my mom said, she’d taken over running the place when I left, and my mom couldn’t be happier.
Being so close with the owners of the bakery also meant that she could take breaks whenever she wanted to. I’d been counting on that when I showed up hungry and badly in need of coffee.
Amy slid a large coffee in front of me, and I inhaled deeply, the scent bringing a million memories back to me. My dad in here baking bread. Amy and me learning how to ice the donuts. Sneaking in for midnight snacks when we were in high school. This coffee was the equivalent of the smell of home, and I hadn’t even realized how much I’d missed it.
“Remember that smell?” she asked quietly.
“Best coffee in the world,” I replied. “And I’ve been all over the country, trying coffees to prove it.”
She took a sip of her own coffee and closed her eyes. “I think you’re probably right. And I don’t even have to go out of the state to prove it. So what are you doing back? What happened? I mean, aside from the accident.”
I thought the accident was probably enough, but I gave her all the details. My mom’s injuries and the fact that she was going to be in a wheelchair for a while. All the updates I’d made to the house to make it safe and comfortable for her.
The neighbor who either liked me or hated me and who made my skin buzz every time he so much as looked at me.
I didn’t tell her about seeing him in the bathroom that night. Bad enough that I had seen him. I didn’t think he’d want the entire world knowing about it. And if I told Amy, the entire world would know in approximately two hours.
There was also the fact that I wanted to keep that particular story to myself.
And I didn’t tell her about my suspicions regarding my mom’s crash. I told her that Mom had been on the outskirts of town and had driven right into a ditch and then been lucky when someone passed the crash and called 911 quickly. I told her that we didn’t know how it had happened but that Mom was lucky to be alive, and that my aunt had come to sit with her until I could get home.
I didn’t say anything more than that because it was bad enough that I suspected the McCarthy men. I didn’t want to put it into Amy’s head. She’d always had a loose tongue, and I shuddered to think what would happen to her if she told the wrong people that she thought Tony or his dad had been behind my mom’s accident.
But I should have known that she would read it on my face. I’d known Amy my entire life. She knew everything about me—including how to see right through me.
“Do you think it was McCarthy?” she asked quietly.
Dammit.
“What? No. Why would I think that?”
“Because they’re the reason you left,” she replied. “And they threatened you and your mom then. Accident on a deserted road? I’ve met your mom, Lil. She’s a good driver. She wouldn’t have just driven off the road for no reason.”
I sealed my lips shut, determined not to give her any reason to think I believed the same thing. I’d already put my mom’s life in danger. I wasn’t going to endanger my best friend, too.
She just shook her head, though. “You don’t have to say anything. I can see it’s what you’re thinking. Are you going to do anything about it?”
Before I could answer her and say I definitely wasn’t going to do anything about it because we had no proof, someone opened the door to the bakery, and her eyes shot over my shoulder, then widened.
“Speak of the devil,” she whispered. “Don’t turn around. Don’t pass go. Get into the kitchen, and do it now.”
I froze at the ice in her words and then stood slowly, already knowing who was behind me.
After all, I’d left Oakville. Tony McCarthy hadn’t. And this bakery was his favorite place to come for breakfast, because the coffee was so good.
I started walking toward the kitchen, trying very hard to keep my steps natural and unhurried while making my strides as long as possible. I didn’t want a run-in with Tony, not only because I didn’t want to see him, but also because officially I was supposed to have left town. And not come back.
I didn’t make it far, though.
“Lily?” His voice was hushed and surprised, sounding almost like he was delighted—and unsure—about seeing me.
I froze again, trying to think of some way to get out of this situation. I could just ignore him and keep walking, right? If I wasn’t Lily, I wouldn’t respond to that name. I would just keep going wherever I was going.
Though I’d already stopped.
Shit.
Before I could think any further than that, a hand had grabbed my arm and spun me around, and I found myself facing the man I’d once been infatuated with, and who I’d come to hate and fear with so much heat that it had burned me.
“Lily!” he cried joyfully. “Oh my goodness, Lily! I didn’t know you were back in town. How long have you been here? How long are you staying? Where are you staying?”
“Oh, Tony,” I said, trying to look as innocent as possible. Trying to look like I wasn’t the girl who’d come back to town despite the fact that his dad had paid me $100,000 to stay away. “Hi. I’ve been in town for about a week. My mom had an accident, and I—”
“And you didn’t call me?” he asked, his voice turning a bit aggressive. “How was I not the first person you called when you got here?”
Because the last time I saw you, you were trying to kill me, I didn’t say. Because the last time I was in town, your father was threatening me. Because when I left, you didn’t even try to stop me, and if you had, I would have run even farther away.
I wanted to be furious. I wanted to rage at him about what he’d done to me. I’d dreamt so many times of this exact situation and what I’d say to him.
And now that it was here, all I could remember was the feel of his hands on me as he hit my head against the cupboard and screamed at me. I could hear the sound of his rage, feel the fear and shock burning through me. And it was like I was right back there again, that girl who hadn’t known how to get away from him.
Nothing I’d done in the years since then had changed the fact that my body knew this was a man to fear.
“I’ve been sort of busy,” I said, trying to smile. “You know, taking care of my mom.”
This time, he reached out and grabbed me again. “Too busy to use the phone?”
His voice was more of a snarl now, and I felt goosebumps race over my skin. I jerked my arm away, though, and took several steps back. “Too busy for much of anything,” I told him coldly, finally finding the rage I’d been working to build for the last five years. “This is the first time I’ve even been back to the bakery.”
“Is it? Or have you been here and I’ve just been missing you?”
He took a step toward me, and I took three steps backward. I didn’t want him close to me. I didn’t want him to be able to reach me.
“This is the first time I’ve been here since I got back,” I repeated, narrowing my eyes.
“That’s the truth,” Amy said, stepping up next to me. “I knew she was in town, but she’s been so busy at her mom’s house—”
“At least you knew she was in town,” Tony interrupted her. “Though I suppose you have known her longer than me, haven’t you?” When he spoke again, he’d at least tried to put another smile on. “So how about dinner, then, Lil? Do some catching up?”
What?
Was this guy serious right now?
“Oh, that’s okay,” I told him. “I’ve got my hands full at the house, and my mom is moving home this week. I’m going to need to—”
“First you don’t call, and then you turn down dinner? Be careful, Lil, or I’ll start to think you don’t like me.”
I was going to hit him. I was actually going to hit him. How could he be so clueless?
Of course I already knew. This was a man who’d always been given exactly what he wanted. He’d never been in a situation where he didn’t get what he’d asked for. The idea that someone might refuse him was so out of bounds that he couldn’t even fathom it.
And it made him angry.
I’d learned that a long time ago.
And right now, that might come in handy.
“Sorry, Tony, but it’s really not going to happen,” I told him firmly. I glanced at Amy. “I have to go. I’ll stop in again soon, okay? And come by for dinner tonight!”
I waited for her to nod, her eyes wide and terrified, and then turned and made for the door of the bakery, not bothering to say goodbye to Tony. He could go hang for all I cared. I never wanted to see the man again.
Unfortunately, he had other ideas.
I could hear his steps behind me and increased mine, knowing that it wasn’t going to matter. He was bigger than me and had longer legs. He could outpace me with no problem. But if I could just get to my van...
“Lily,” he said sharply. “Lily!”
When I didn’t respond, he grabbed at me again, though I evaded him and increased my pace. “I don’t want to have dinner with you, Tony. That’s the answer. Sorry.”
Instead of taking it as an answer, he swerved to get in front of me and block my way to the door. “And I’m getting very close to being finished with asking nicely,” he snarled. “I want to have dinner.”
I ducked around him and got out the door, where I found a cop standing on the sidewalk. One I knew from when I’d lived here before. “I don’t want to have dinner, Tony. Please leave me alone.” I made the biggest eyes I could make at the cop, begging him to hear what was going on and save me.
Tony grabbed at me again, and I pulled out of his grasp, moving closer to the cop.
Who looked once at Tony, gave him a slight nod, and then turned and walked away.
I ran for my van. I didn’t care how it made me look or what anyone thought of me. I didn’t care that Tony would no doubt make fun of me for it later. I wanted to get out of there, and the van was the only way I had of doing that. I grabbed the handle of the door and jerked it open, thanking the heavens that I hadn’t bothered to lock it when I got here. Seconds later, I was in my seat and starting the engine.
And then I was driving away, leaving Tony shouting at me from the street and making a fool of myself and wondering how the hell I’d gotten away without him getting ahold of me and pulling me back.
If I still lived with him, I’d be thinking that I was going to get in big trouble for that scene. He’d blame me rather than himself and take it out on me.
But not now. Now I was living with my mom and next to a man who’d helped me fix my van so I could get away from Tony, the way I’d just done.
I mean, not that that was why I’d been fixing it.
But even so.
Warren had helped me get away from Tony McCarthy, indirectly. And there was a part of me that definitely hoped that having Warren in the neighborhood would keep Tony from following me home and making trouble, too.
