Chapter
Fourteen
EVIE
“So, how is it going with your three Boy Fridays?” Posy asked as she poured Evie a much-needed glass of wine and unpacked takeout for them both since she somehow knew Evie didn’t have the energy to cook.
Evie took a grateful sip of wine, letting the rich flavor wash over her tongue. She eyed Posy suspiciously. "How did you know I needed this tonight?"
“Hey, I’m a teacher of small children, I know everything!”
Evie laughed and let herself relax. She hadn’t realized just how much strain she was holding in her shoulders until now. As much help as Shepherd, Asher, and Gabe undoubtedly were, the vaguely suggestive messages rolling off all of them were making her equally stressed.
“I would have thought you’d be spending the evening with Mike.”
“Nah, he’s having a Christmas drink with the guys from work. So… Shepherd, Gabriel and Asher… how’s it going?”
Evie shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without them. It’s really opened my eyes to how I need next year tobe more organized. I’m relying far too much on the generosity of friends. Sometimes I think I didn’t put enough thought into buying the bakery.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over that, Evie,” Posy replied earnestly. “You had a tough choice to make with Edith deciding to retire. We both know you’d probably be out of a job if she’d sold to someone else.”
“Yeah, but I live at home with my parents, so it’s not like I couldn’t have just taken that hit and found something with less antisocial hours. Then I would be here for my son.”
Posy scoffed. “Like what? You have a diploma in catering; that pretty much guarantees antisocial hours, whether it be working at the bakery, or in a diner, waitressing or tending bar. None of those are nine-to-five jobs, Evie.”
She’s not wrong. And she’s not finished.
“Besides, all you would have achieved is a minimum wage job relying on tips, and then you’d be fretting about how you were imposing on your parents for even longer because you couldn’t afford a place of your own.”
“How do you know me so well?”
“Well, it could have something to do with the fact that we’ve been joined at the hip since we could walk,” Posy snickered as she piled tagliatelle carbonara on two plates before unwrapping the foil-covered deliciousness that was the local Italian restaurant’s signature garlic bread baguette.
Evie inhaled the herby, buttery fragrance and rubbed her stomach in anticipation.
Yum!
They ate in comfortable silence until they’d taken off the edge of their hunger.
“So, have the guys redeemed themselves?” Posy asked, taking a sip of her own wine.
There was something in the way she said it that made Evie frown.
“What do you mean? Why would they need to redeem themselves?”
“They upset you,” Posy replied with a scowl. “And after Mom said she, Aunt Iris and Bee had a word…”
Evie nearly choked on her mouthful of food. “What are you talking about?"
Posy's eyes widened, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Umm - nothing, I shouldn’t have said anything! Forget I mentioned it."
But Evie's mind was working overtime, and most of her conclusions were not good. She set down her glass with a thunk. "Posy Caldwell, you tell me what's going on right this minute."
Posy squirmed in her seat. "It's just... well, Mom and the others might have encouraged the guys to help you out.”
Evie felt her heart sink. So that’s what it was all about. They hadn’t been interested in her before, and they weren’t interested in her now. They’d just been embarrassed into helping her out because she was such a pitiful figure now her husband had left her, and she wasn’t able to cope on her own.
Poor, pathetic Evie. Got to give her a pat on the head and make her feel better about herself and her sad situation.
