“I didn't marry him.”
“I know. That's what I was saying. I should have done things better. That's all I know for certain.”
Somebody was behind him trying to buy something and she was actually starting to get embarrassed about it all. He was basically pouring his heart out to her over the counter and he was doing it in public.
“Do you really think that this is a sort of conversation that we should have here?”
That made him grin and she instantly knew why. She was giving him the excuse that he needed.
“That is the exact reason why I thought that this conversation should be done somewhere else, somewhere private.”
Mallory sighed loudly and finally told him that she would do as he asked. He wasn’t going to let it go, so she was going to have to give in a little bit, even if she didn’t want to.
“If I go out with you once, you’ll stop coming here, right?”
He said that he would, if that was what she wanted. It appeared that he did not believe that was what she would choose.
“Well, it is going to be what I want. I will go out with you for coffee after my shift, but I can’t stay long.”
“Why not? What do you have to do? It makes me realize that I don’t know anything about you.”
“You know enough, Vincent. I would say that you know me more than almost anyone else does.”
That made him grin, obvious where his mind was going and it made her blush. They were on the same page, but having very different reactions because of it. Mallory wanted to bury her head in the sand.
“I get off at two. I will see you outside of here.”
“You don’t want to get coffee here?”
She shook her head that she didn’t. “No, I don’t want people thinking that we’re together. When I clock out, I just want to leave.”
“Why are you working here?”
He looked so confused and she got snippy.
“We weren’t all born with a golden spoon in our mouths, Vincent.”
“You know that it wasn’t that way.”
She sighed and felt bad. He’d had anything but a happy childhood. She knew as much. “I didn't mean it like that, honest.”
He left and somehow she was the one that felt bad about it. Mallory knew about his family. She knew about Balthazar and what his family had done to Vincent. He might have been born into money, but he’d lost everything before most people even knew what pain was.
Mallory was unsure how she was supposed to feel about it all. She knew that something was going to come from the meeting. A part of her wanted to tell him the truth, all of it. Just come out with it, but it seemed impossible. How could she? How would he even respond?
Unsure what was going to become of the meeting, Mallory found herself looking at the clock more than ever. It was dragging by and then it wasn't. Then it was time, and her heart had dropped down into her stomach.
Mallory didn’t know if she was ready for what came next.
Chapter 17
Vincent was happy that he had finally gotten her to agree to go out with him. It had taken too long, but now she’d finally agreed. What would happen next, he had no idea. There was a tension between them that he hadn't noticed before. He’d hoped that it would be gone. It wasn’t. Something was definitely holding her back and he wanted to know what it was.
He went back to the bakery a few minutes before it was two. He was waiting patiently for her, even though he didn’t feel very patient. He felt like everything was moving too quickly, and though he’d looked for her, asked for her, now he didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do about it all.
Nathan had been no help. He usually had a lot to say, putting his two cents in everywhere, but not this time. When Vincent actually needed some advice, now all of a sudden, he didn’t have any to give.
Vincent hadn’t been happy with him, but he knew that it was just his nerves getting the best of him. He wanted everything to work out with Mallory, needed it to almost, but it was out of his hands. She had a reason to stand a few feet away, even if he didn’t like it. Vincent wished that he had treated her differently.
