Stanley ignored Summer and kept going. “I need final confirmation on all your booths. You will need to set up on Friday.” He turned to Ivy as if knowing she was the easiest victim. “Ivy? Your booth this year?”
“Well, you see, it’s been really busy with the start of the school year…” Ivy trailed off at Stanley’s expectant expression.
“We’ll let you know later today what we’re doing,” Lucy cut in.
Stanley let out an aggrieved sigh. “Where is the enthusiasm, the passion, the town pride?”
“We will make sure to bring all our enthusiasm and passion on Saturday,” Lucy said sweetly.
Stanley grumbled before heading to the counter. Char saw himcoming and turned around, heading back to the kitchen even though she had been in the middle of taking a customer’s order.
“I guess we should decide on our booths,” Lucy said. “We give Stanley shit, but the festivals really are so fun. They’re actually one of my favorite things about living here, and Stanley is great at managing everything.”
“Manager, dictator, who can say?” Summer said.
I was about to tell them I had absolutely no ideas for a craft booth when my phone went off again.
“Okay, I really need to go.” I quickly shoved the last few bites of lunch into my mouth. “It looks like this is going to be a really bad storm so you all might want to get home, too.”
The girls all hugged me goodbye and I headed to the counter to pay. I pulled out my wallet and hesitated. Finn had given me their pack credit card last night andvery sternlytold me to use it or there would be consequences. The threat of punishment wasn’t quite the deterrent he thought it was, but I handed Char his credit card all the same.
A wave of fatigue washed over me as I pulled up my hood. This was going to be a long night and I needed something to keep me up. As I headed out of the diner, the rain pelting me hard, I turned to Beans ‘n Bliss instead of going back to my bike. I needed a hit of caffeine to keep myself going… and I might have been craving a pumpkin spice latte.
51
OLIVE
Marisol and Carmenwere ahead of me in line at Beans ‘n Bliss and immediately pulled me into their conversation. The sisters were wearing matching cherry-red rain jackets and glittery eyeshadow.
“Olive! It’s so good to see you, cariño. We’re hosting another dance night soon. You should bring all those hunky men of yours,” Carmen said with a wink.
“You and Easton were the stars of the evening,” Marisol added.
My cheeks heated at the reminder of what terrible dancers we were. “Um, thank you.”
Marisol leaned in and lowered her voice, although for her that just brought it down to a normal volume. “How is it going with them?”
I clutched my phone as if I could will them to respond to my message. “It’s good. They’re wonderful.”
Carmen nodded. “They’ve always been good boys. Poor Easton with that horrible mother of his. I think the whole town celebrated once she finally moved away.”
“And losing Carina and Fredrik was awful. The whole town attended their funeral,” Marisol said.
“I cried for days.” Carmen dabbed her eyes. “And I’m so glad Lars has finally gotten over that other omega.”
I froze as her words echoed in my head like some sort of horror movie soundtrack.
“Other omega?” I asked, keeping my tone as nonchalant as possible.
Marisol gasped. “Oh, I had completely forgotten about that. Years ago, Lars scented an omega and became absolutely obsessed with her. It’s one of the reasons he’s barely dated—he was waiting for her.”
“It was quite romantic,” Carmen said with a sigh. “But also unhealthy, I think, to be so fixated on someone. It’s much better he’s with you now.”
The line moved and it was Carmen and Marisol’s turn to order, saving me from answering. Not that I would have been able to form words right now. My heart was pounding, sweat was pouring down my armpits, and the room spun around me.
Lars had wanted another omega foryears?
He’d beenobsessedwith her?
