So I guess I was glad. But knowing all she said about me was that I made candles somehow sat badly in my stomach.
“She have any favorites?” I said idly. “I always asked her, and she refused to answer, saidI love them all.”
“That jerk. She wouldn’t let me get away withoh, I’m happy with anythingabout breakfast this morning. This… noon. I slept in late.” She laughed awkwardly. “She really liked the sea salt one.”
“Well, guess I’ll keep it in mind if she ever asks me for another candle,” I said. She strained a smile.
“I… don’t want to get involved in things I shouldn’t be involved in, but… can I ask what happened? I heard about it from Daniela and Linda, but I feel like I should hear both sides of the story…”
I pursed my lips. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. “Not my place to say,” I said. “I don’t want to be involved in causing problems between you and Daniela.”
“That’s not your responsibility to consider.”
“Well…” I looked away. “You should ask Cat. She’s the one who was actually affected.”
“I figured, but that’s why I thought it might be uncomfortable for her to talk about…”
Maybe… maybe she wasn’t too bad. That did make sense. Considerate.
I sighed.
“Long and short of it is,” I said finally, “Drew wanted her to do a ton of unpaid work. And when she tried to push back, he said a lot of horrible things to her.”
She looked at me incredulously. “Drew did?”
Seemed like she’d been won over by his charm too. “Yep,” I said, the bitterness coming through on the edges of my voice. “Well, Cat says he did. Up to you if you believe her or not. Think I’m the only one in town who does.”
“Oh… that’s awful.” She wrinkled her nose, and I got a rush of antsy nerves.
“Don’t go around trying to argue with people about it,” I said. “We don’t need the topic relitigating.”
“Well, it’s just—”
“I mean it. Cat’s trying to find a way to move forward as it is.” My voice came out harsher than I meant it to, but that wasn’t the part she focused on—she furrowed her brow, looking at me in confusion.
“But you’re not?”
“Well—” I frowned. She folded her hands on the table.
“Are you just planning on… not talking to anyone ever again?”
“How is it any of your business?” I snapped, and she flinched—I regretted it the instant I’d said it, but she didn’t pull away this time, an intense gaze in her soft blue eyes that made me feel strangely exposed, like she could see right through me.
“I guess it’s not,” she said. “But… if you want to talk to somebody, I’m the best person, aren’t I?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Are you?”
“I mean, I think so. I’m only here while I search for a job. Clean slate before long.”
Oh… now that she mentioned it. Maybe she wasn’t wrong.
But I didn’t get a chance to respond before Cat got back to the table, a hand on my shoulder, an iced coffee in hand, grinning ear to ear and dropping, “What are we talking about? I heard you gossiping about me.”
“You heard—wait, what?” Alyssa furrowed her brow.
“She just likes to say that to get reactions from people,” I said, and I moved from my seat, sliding around the table to sit next to Alyssa. She sat taller, stiffening nervously, and she tried to move away from me, but I put a hand up to stop her. “Easy. Try not to bolt. Cat can’t follow a conversation if she has to look in two different directions to see us.”
“Oh—right. I didn’t even think about that.” She laughed a little too quickly, settling slowly back into her seat, holding her drink in both hands. Weird thing to think about, but she smellednice… I’d always been keenly attuned to scents, and something about Alyssa smelled ever so faintly like the ocean. Like sea breezes and pink sands. Maybe a haircare product, but whatever it was, it was subtle enough I didn’t notice until we were sitting right next to each other.
