I take a minute to package her apple strudel and get her coffee together. Turning back to the counter I see her shaking her head at me.
“I know you don’t want to hear it, but I’m going to say it anyway. I’m old and I know things,” she says shaking her index finger at me. I bite my tongue and sigh. I can’t be rude, even though I want to be.
“You need to get out of your head, dear. Just go for it. Ignore that little voice that feeds your insecurities,” She leans forward and speaks in a lower tone.
“Put that little bitch in her place, don’t let her ruin a good thing,” she says. In the span of 5 minutes I am stunned speechless. Mrs. Salter nods twice at me, takes her food, and leaves a $10.00 bill on the counter.
People are full of surprises today. I watch her walk out the door. Shrugging, I turn to look back at the brew station and think I could use a little normalcy and a few less surprises. Just when that thought crosses my mind, I hear a crash and glass shatters. Instinctively, I drop to the floor. I hear car tires squealing in the parking lot and then it is quiet.
I crouch up a bit to look over the counter and see a couple of my patrons standing up. I look over in the direction of the front door and see the big window shattered. As I stand up straight, I see Carter approach the front door and step through the area that just moments ago was a window. His eyes are on alert and he has a grim look on his face.
“Perfect timing,” is all that I can think to say. Carter’s blonde eyebrow raises. He is looking around. He crouches down, but doesn’t touch anything with his hands. I see him pull out his phone and know that he is calling Holt. I notice some of my customers packing up. Carter pulls the phone away from his ear.
“Everyone, if you could just stay where you are for a few minutes that would be helpful. We need to get witness statements,” he explains. I’m shocked when everyone just sits down and follows his orders.
“Coffee and pastries on me while you wait,” I say as I come around with a carafe and start refilling cups. I know I’m in shock, but I don’t know what to do about it. I am just going through the motions. I go back to the counter and grab a tray with some pastries. Putting a stack of plates on the tray I walk back over to the tables.
When the tray is empty and everyone has been seen to, I turn around straight into a muscular chest. I almost drop the tray but Holt grabs it with one hand, and wraps his other arm around my waist.
“Sorry, I d-didn’t see you,” the words tumble out of my mouth. Holt is looking down at me intensely. His jaw is clenched. I put my hand on his chest and try to push back but his arm has me pinned into place. He keeps looking at my face, almost inspecting it.
“You okay,” he finally asks me. I nod at him. My mouth is dry. This seems like such an extreme reaction.
“I’m fine, which is more than I can say about my window and door,” I try to make light of the situation. I have this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, one that I am trying to ignore.
“Looks like it happened just before I pulled into the parking lot,” Carter says. I look over at Carter who has approached us.
“Did you see anything,” Holt asks Carter. His tone is serious. He sounds like he is on a job. Immediately going into problem solving mode.
“Nothing, man. I must have pulled in seconds after it happened. Piper was still crouched down behind the counter,” he explains. I’m still pinned to Holt, his arm keeping me in place. His jaw clenches.
“Damn it! Lets talk to everyone in here. See if they saw anything that will give us anything,” Holt directs. The frustration in his voice is barely contained.
“I called Sterling. He should be here in a minute. We will get through the customers and call the sheriff,” Carter says. Holt nods in response and guides me to the back room.
“Close it up for a bit,” Holt says as we are walking. I see Carter nod in response before we disappear into the back.
Chapter 14
Holt
I wasn’t gone for more than 30 minutes when Carter called me. I had barely made it to the office to grab some of our security cameras. The tone of Carter’s voice made me panic internally, and I had to hold it together. I grabbed a couple of boxes and tossed them into one of the SUVs that we keep on hand.
When I got back to Doe’s I saw the window panel on the front door smashed out. As I approached the front steps I looked around to see what could have caused it, but my need to check on Piper was too great to really look. I picked my way through the pieces of glass and just stepped through the area where the window once was. I saw Piper giving everyone food. She looked pale and a little shaky.
I walked quicker to get to her, she turned just as I approached. I used her momentum to pull her into me and grabbed the tray at the same time before it could crash into the floor. Looking down at her, I could see stress around her eyes. Other than that, she seemed physically fine.
After checking in with Carter, I guided her to the back office. I wanted her to sit down for a minute and I also wanted to ask her if she saw anything.
“Holt, I can’t just shut down the cafe for a couple of hours, customers will start coming in again soon,” she says.
“Sterling and Carter will get through the customers quickly, and then we can talk about next steps. Why don’t you sit down for a minute and take a break,” I gently suggest.
“I’m fine, Holt, really,” she tries to tell me as she sits down on the worn loveseat. I sit down next to her, only giving her an inch of space. I would pull her onto my lap, but I’m not sure she is ready for that.
“Can you tell me what happened,” I ask her, trying to keep a level tone. I don’t want her to think that I am angry.
“Honestly, I didn’t see much. I was behind the counter. A customer had just left about a minute before and thencrash!The loud noise made me drop behind the counter,” she explains. I nod, trying not to show my frustration. Ineedmore.
