“Hey,” Clara said when she finally stopped at the table. She shot a glance at Holden before shifting her gaze back to Aspen. “What are you guys doing here?”
Definitely not what she was supposed to be doing, which was pulling out of the reopening.
“We just tried the new coffee,” Holden said. “It’s good.”
Clara swallowed as her gaze returned to him. “Good. That’s good. We need a good coffee place here in town.” She looked back to Aspen. “And are you okay? After everything that happened last week at the station?”
Her chest tightened. She hated remembering that night. “I’m okay.”
Clara nodded. “Good. Remember, if you need any acupuncture to help your nervous system, don’t hesitate to come by.”
“Thank you.” She’d never been into acupuncture, but maybe she should give it a try. She certainly needed to givesomethinga try after all the stress.
Mrs. Gerald stopped beside Clara. “Here you go. One sweet tea.”
Clara took the drink. “Thank you.” Then she turned back to them…well, mostly to Aspen. She didn’t look at Holden again. “I’ll see you guys later.”
The second she was out of the café, Aspen cocked her head at Holden. “So…I’m not sure if we’re at the stage of this friendship where I can ask, but…do you and Clara have a history?”
“A history?”
“Have you ever dated?”
He turned his head to look outside, and she followed his gaze to where Clara was climbing into her convertible. “She’s my best friend’s little sister. That’s it.”
Nope. The romance writer in Aspen didn’t believe it. Hell, a nun wouldn’t believe it. Either something was going on between those two, or something wasgoingto go on.
CHAPTER 28
“He’s never going to allow you to go to the reopening.”
Aspen’s back straightened, her fingers around the phone tightening. “Allow? Callie, I am a fully grown, independent woman.Idecide what I do and don’t do.”
Her best friend scoffed. “Not when you’re with an uber-protective, knows-fifty-ways-to-kill-a-man guy who is aware that your psycho ex is in town.”
“Humph.” She dropped back onto the couch. “When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound great, but I’m going to that opening. I want to be there for Mrs. Gerald.”
She glanced at the door. Holden was out there doing a perimeter check. If it wasn’t for Callie on the phone, the house would feel entirely too quiet.
“She really means that much to you?”
Aspen fiddled with a loose thread on her jeans. “I see her every day. And she tells me about her grandson in Ohio. And her life in Manchester before The Tea House. And she always asks me about my life too. And when I speak, she listens. Not like those people who ask but their gaze is barely on you. She focuseson me and what I’m saying and, I don’t know, I just really like her and her shop.”
Callie was silent for a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice softened. “That town, and the people in it, have become your family.”
Huh. She hadn’t thought about it that way, but it was true. “Yeah.”
“I’m happy for you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Do I miss you? Like crazy. Do I selfishly wish my best friend still lived in Misty Peak? Absolutely. But I love you so much that your happiness comes first. And if Amber Ridge has become your home, then I just have to accept you’re not coming back.”
“But we’re still visiting each other, right?”
“Of course! If Mr. Overprotective would let me go there right now, we’d be having this conversation on Jesse’s couch.”
Nope. That was not happening, and not just because her best friend was pregnant.
