Brady stood and interrupted my freak out. “I’ll give him a hand,” he said, kissing Haylee’s cheek and throwing me a death glare of disappointment.
He strode away, and Haylee clucked her tongue. “Well, that was an effective way to clear a room.”
I tossed up my hands and then clasped them behind my neck. “Why is Brady always going after me lately?” I asked angrily. “He’s always jumping on me before I can finish my thought.”
“He’s worried about you and doesn’t know how to help, but he knows you need it. He’s always been like that. I’ll tell him to back off and give you some space.”
I nodded and motioned at the dock where the men were standing like dark sentries. “Bishop can’t tell me what to do. He’s not my real husband.”
Hay-Hay shook her head back and forth slowly. “Which you so tactfully reminded him. For the record, he wasn’t telling you what to do. He was concerned you were going to risk the improvement you’ve managed to eke out of that leg if you went back to work. You’re still working. What the fuck does it matter where you do it? Honestly, sometimes, for someone so smart, you sure are stupid.”
“Great, now my best friend is going to verbally attack me, too. I think it’s time to go to bed.” I wanted to get inside the house and downstairs before the storm hit. Then again, maybe I should just walk next door and hide out there. I shook my head as I searched for my crutches. No, I would stay here. All of my stuff was here now, and it would take too long to get what I need and try to get over to the apartment.
Hay-Hay held out her hands. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. I was trying to say that sometimes you dig your heels in when it’s unnecessary. He loves you, and you’re going to end up pushing him away if you aren’t careful. Is that what you want?”
I shrugged, my shoulder going up as a tear fell. “I don’t know what I want, Hay. I think that’s the problem. I know that I want to come back to work. I feel like I’m letting everyone down.”
She helped me stand and then encapsulated me in her arms. “You’re not. The work you’re doing is far more skilled and beneficial to the business than if you were working the counter. The customers are being taken care of, the product is going out, and you’re putting into order the business we’ve been neglecting. In reality, that’s your strong suit, Amber. Your skills are wasted standing up front all day. And if your leg heals a little bit just because you’re not on it for hours on end, then that’s an added benefit, right?”
“It is, but I can work at a desk in the bakery the same way I can work at one here,” I said adamantly. “It’s like he thinks I’m Athena or something.”
“No,” she said, hooking her arm in mine to keep me upright. “It’s like he thinks you’re his wife and he doesn’t want to see you in pain or something. I know you don’t love him, but if you look at it from his point of view, the point of view of love, he just wants what’s best for you.”
“The truth is, Hay-Hay, I think I do love him. I think that’s why I want my life to go back to the way it was before.”
She tipped her head, but there was a broad smile on her face. “Because your life the way it was before was safe? You didn’t have to worry about someone breaking your heart or walking away when you needed them?”
I wiped my eyes again and sighed. “You sound like you know all the excuses I can come up with off the top of my head.”
Her laughter filled the night, and she nodded, her eyes smiling, too. “I ran through them all for years. At least you came to a conclusion much sooner than I did. You have to make this right with him,” she said, a brow down. “He meant well.”
I opened my mouth to speak when a rumble of thunder filled the sky. My heart started ticking away, and I froze, unable to move.
She grabbed my crutches and handed them to me, helping me up the ramps and sliding open the patio doors. “Go. Get yourself downstairs where you’ll be safe. Do you need help?”
I shook my head, unable to talk. She knew exactly why and didn’t question it.
“I’ll clean up the patio and tell Bishop where you are. It sounds like you have about twenty minutes before the storms get here. Be careful going down the stairs. I love you,” she said, hugging me for a moment and then pointing toward the house.”
“I love you, too,” I was finally able to say as I crutched away, my heartbreaking that I would be sitting this one out alone.
Fifteen
A crack of thunder louder than the devil’s damnation roared overhead, and I curled into a smaller ball, the blankets over me. I had my earplugs in, but even that wasn’t helping tonight. I rocked under the blankets, counting the seconds before the next boom. It took longer this time, which meant it was moving away. Relief flooded my adrenaline-filled heart, and I sighed.
Bishop had been right. Storms were coming, and not just the ones that were raging outside. The doom sat heavily on my chest. Then again, maybe that was regret. I regretted the way I treated him, and I regretted the turn my life had taken. I didn’t want to drag him into this, yet here I was, cowering in his basement under the covers of his guest bed.
I had come down here immediately, guilt filling
