Tilly’s jaw dropped. “They serve fried ice cream here?”
“Yep! It’s my favorite.”
She grinned at the girl. “Mine too.”
Over the next hour, the group talked and ate and drank. Kayden was more relaxed than she’d ever seen him, while shewas not. How was she supposed to relax when the man was so close that every time his arm moved, it grazed hers? Every time he passed her food, their fingers touched. And when he spoke to her, he leaned into her space, lowered his voice, and whispered so that his warm breath brushed her skin.
It was torture.
But he didn’t affect her appetite. She was well and truly full when her phone rang. She pulled it out, relieved for the distraction, only to frown at the private number. Was it the same person who’d called her at the market? Whoever it was, they’d called a couple of times in the last week, but she’d missed the other calls. Not once had they left a message.
“Who’s that?”
She jumped at Kayden’s voice. She’d been so caught up in the call, she hadn’t seen him angle closer to read the screen.
She lowered her phone to her lap. “I’m not sure. But if they have something to say, they can leave a message.”
Kayden was still watching her closely when the phone stopped ringing. She was just turning her attention back to the table when her phone vibrated.
They’d left a message.
Something kicked in her chest…a little bout of unease.
“I’ll be back in a sec,” she said to no one in particular, but she knew at least Kayden heard because he was still watching her.
After rising from the table, she waited until she was alone in the hall at the back of the restaurant before pressing the phone to her ear to listen to the message.
“Matilda, baby, it’s Dad.”
Every part of her froze—her muscles, her breath, even her gaze stilled on a small black dot on the wall.
That voice…it was like a bucket of ice water over her head. She hadn’t heard her father’s voice in over five years.
“I need to talk to you. Next time I call, please answer.”
The message ended, but for a moment, she didn’t move. She couldn’t. She felt stuck.
Why? Why was he calling her now? Did he want something from her? She wanted nothing fromhim. Absolutely nothing.
Eventually, she forced her legs to engage, but she was so deep in her own head that she didn’t see the waitress until it was too late. She crashed right into the woman, and the plate of food in the lady’s hand fell, half onto Tilly and half onto the man sitting at the table beside them.
“Oh my God,” Tilly gasped. “I’m so sorry!”
The man at the table shot to his feet, noodles falling off his white shirt, and the blood drained from Tilly’s face.
Harry…the electrician who’d towered over her that day at the visitors center. And sitting at the table with him were the two teenagers who’d egged her house.
Everyone was talking around Kayden,but his attention remained fixed on Tilly across the room. Her face was too pale as she left the hallway, her eyes glazed, almost like she wasn’t seeing what was in front of her.
Who the hell had left her that message?
He stood, clocking the potential disaster before it took place, but he was too far away to do anything.
He cursed when the two women collided, and the food tipped on both Tilly and the man sitting at the table. Not just any man. Harry. He’d seen the electrician at the back of the restaurant but had been hoping the two of them wouldn’t cross paths.
Shit.
He hurried as Harry loomed over her.
