Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Oh, and then there was the voicemail from Auden saying he’d have to cancel our date.
No explanation. No ‘I’ll call and get back with you for a better time.’
Just a cancellation, and he hadn’t answered any of my texts since.
Then all the mishaps started happening.
My brand new, thirty-thousand-dollar oven stopped working.
Oh, and then my insurance adjuster let me know that they’d dropped my insurance but wouldn’t tell me why.
But, if I was being completely honest with myself, I was mostly angry because I’d had a really good day with Auden, and then nothing. He had texted and asked me out on a date, then promptly cancelled. It was like he’d written me off.
That was three days ago, and I was just done.
Even worse, I hadn’t seen a single Carter come into my place of business.
And I wasn’t the only one who noticed, either.
“What’s going on right now?”
I looked over at the third police officer to walk out the door today with a box full of goodies.
“What?” I grumbled, aggressively scrubbing down the counters.
“Why is every police officer in existence coming in here now except for the Carters, who always came regardless of who it would piss off?” Pepper questioned, looking confused at the back of the police officer who was now getting into his car.
“I wish I knew,” I admitted. “I think I might’ve done something wrong maybe? I don’t know.”
She looked over at me where I was perched on my seat.
“How’re the cramps today?” she asked.
Awful.
Really fucking awful.
Not only was I blessed with heavy periods that sucked. I was blessed with heavy periods that lasted a really long time.
I was on day seven of probably ten, and was eating iron supplements like they were candy, and I was about sick of eating red meat.
“Okay,” I lied.
She eyed me sitting in the chair, raised her brow, and I sighed. “Okay, so they’re still bad. But they’ll start to taper off soon.”
She sighed. “Back to the Carters. I haven’t seen them in here in three days. Why? You didn’t do anything wrong. I saw how he was looking at you when y’all left me to the Spanish Inquisition.”
I tossed her a smirk, which she ignored.
The door opened again, and an official looking lady came in with her eyes taking everything in as she moved toward us.
“Hello, welcome to Pie Hard. Can I help you?” I said sweetly.
The woman glanced at me, then at Pepper, before saying, “I’m Garnett Carter.”
I blinked. “Umm, hi.”
“I came to tell you something, but I don’t want you to take it out on my son because his father and brothers gave him dumbass advice.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
I tilted my head at her and said, “And what would that be?”
“Can I have a muffin first?” She looked at the display case. “I’ve been staunchly against this place since the beginning because my kids prefer your food over mine.”
I burst out laughing. “And you’re eating one of my muffins? Which kind do you want?”
“I hate to admit this, but they’re right. Your baked goods are preferable over mine. Which, in the end, I guess works out well because now I don’t have to cook as much.” She pointed at the peach muffins. “That one.”
I pulled one out of the display case and handed it over.
“These are delicious,” she gestured toward a table. “You want to come have a seat?”
Pepper patted me on the shoulder and said, “Go.”
I went, taking a seat at the table with Auden’s mother moments after skirting around the counter.
My place wasn’t the biggest, but there were four large tables in the front that allowed for people to eat a quick bite if they felt so inclined.
I leaned forward in the seat across from Garnett, I raised a brow at her, waiting.
She shot me a wink before digging into her muffin, but she did talk in between bites.
“So my husband came home complaining about your father three days past.” She paused. “Well, that’s not quite true. He’s been complaining about your father since Chief Austin took the chief position, and that’s understating it. But this thing he was complaining about three days ago was new for him.”
“What was it?” I asked, having a feeling I wasn’t going to like what I was about to hear.
She took another bite of her muffin, chewed, and said, “So good.”
I smiled despite the nerves that were taking flight in my belly.
“What I understand is that Auden was at your place when he got the SWAT call out, right?” she asked.
“Yes,” I drawled.
“Well, after he left that, he had to go to a SWAT training meeting. At that meeting, your brother confronted him before it started. Then, when the meeting was dismissed, your father cornered him and told him that he needed to stop seeing you or else.” She came out and said it.