I’d longed to move to a special spot in the French Quarter, but unless I found a sugar daddy, that wasn’t possible.
My best friend leaned over the small table, crowding my space when I didn’t immediately respond. Tilly Michaels knew me as well as anyone in my life. The day she’d applied for a job atSimply the Best, we’d hit it off. Within weeks, I’d considered her a friend.
Tilly squeezed my hand. “You have a rent to own situation. They can’t just break the lease. It’s crazy. You were promised nothing would change after new owners bought the place.”
“Yeah, well, promises are meant to be broken. They’ve hired some goon of an attorney to tell me otherwise. Yes, I could fight it in court. With money I don’t have.” I’d sunk at least fifty thousand into what I thought would be the down payment for the space. There were loans that needed to be repaid. Back when I’d believed the landlords were going to spend money to spruce up the location. They’d lied. Like they had about everything else.
“I’m going to enlist people at the office to help find a new and much better location. You’ll see. This will end up being a godsend. Everything happens for a reason.”
“If only that were true. However, I didn’t agree to having dinner and drinks to dwell on the unpleasant.” I smiled, even though just thinking about the situation with the business made me want to crawl in a hole. At least when I was able to shift my thoughts to the sexy stranger, I tingled for a much more pleasant reason.
“Um, you basically told me we were going out tonight. You even brought a change of clothes, and you look amazing I might add. So… What gives? You need to confess or else.”
“I have nothing to confess.”
“Bullshit and you know exactly what I mean. How many times have I tried to get you out of the house or the shop for this very reason?”
“What? I’ve been busy. Nothing more.”
“And I have a bridge I can sell you. How about a cemetery?” Tilly cocked her pretty little head.
“Ha. Ha. It’s been a weird couple of days.”
“Which is why Indiana came with you to work today.”
“I didn’t want to leave him alone after what happened.”
Tilly sighed. “Which I understand. The poor boy. You’re very lucky. So was he.”
“I know.”
“I can’t imagine how you’d feel if you lost Indy. He’s been such a rock to you. He was exactly what you needed to pull you from the nightmares.”
She didn’t need to remind me of that. He’d come to me during an exceptionally low period of my life. If it hadn’t been for Tilly suggesting I get a dog to use as my emotional support animal, my business would have gone under, and I would have lost everything.
I took another sip of my wine. I’d only told her my pup had been hit by a car, leaving off the other details. Like that I’d lost part of my mind and had succumbed to the very physical needs she’d been chastising me about for months. So I didn’t like to date. So what?
“Did you press charges against that reckless goon?”
“No. It was an accident.”
She lifted her eyebrows first followed by narrowing her eyes immediately afterward. “Did the guy threaten you or something?”
I spit out a sip of wine, narrowly missing getting it all over her face. “No. Of course not. I was the one who berated him. Including with my fist.” When I showed her my powerful swing, we both burst into laughter.
“You did not.”
“Yes, I did. He deserved it. Although upon reflection, I know he didn’t mean to. Sin braked hard, narrowly avoiding a collision with a trash can.” As soon as I uttered his name, she grabbed it as if catching me in the act of sinful fornication.
“Sin? Hold on. Is that his name?”
The fact I shrugged instead of answering only forced her to push harder.
“You’re on a first-name basis. That’s interesting. And what the hell kind of name is Sin?” Tilly scoffed, her exclamation of disgust so like her. She was not only my friend but my champion against…well, anyone daring to be the wrong kind of person in my life.
She knew just enough about my past to be highly protective. Enough so my Christmas gifts the first year of our friendship had been a can of mace and a Swiss Army knife. The creativity of her presents had only expanded after that.
That’s why I adored her.
