Belle blinked. Once. Twice. “Not on the same day.”
“Well...” I wrapped my hands around the mug. “I guess I’m just lucky like that.”
She placed the coffee pot back on the warmer and turned back to me, hip cocked and arms crossed. And, if I wasn’t mistaken, the beginnings of an amused grin pulling at her lips. “You wanna tell me how we got from ‘thanks for the clothes’ to ‘flashing a guy you hate’ in less than twenty-four hours?”
I groaned and sat up a little, then told her everything. Not every little detail—God, no, I didn’t need to reliveallof it—but enough to paint the picture. Her expression didn’t change once as she just stood there and listened and nodded, calm as could be. When I finally ran out of steam, she placed a slice of pie in front of me.
“I know he’s your nephew,” I said, picking up my fork and breaking off a piece of the pie. “But I really can’t stand him.”
“Zane’s…complicated,” she said and placed the glass lid back on the cake stand holding the pie. “Always has been. He doesn’t talk about much and pretty much keeps to himself, especially here lately.”
“Yeah, he’s a real private guy,” I replied dryly. “Except for when he’s glaring at me, or judging me, or reminding me every ten minutes that I’m not welcome.”
A telltale smile lifted the corner of Belle’s mouth. “Funny, that’s not what I heard.”
I squinted at her and asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?” before popping the bite off my fork and fighting the urge to roll my eyes and groan because…yeah, it was that good.
She gave me an almost-innocent look. “Word around town is, when Gus got handsy last night, Zane came charging in like a bull seein’ red.”
I stared mid-chew. “How do you know about that?”
Belle just smirked and wiped up a non-existent spill on the counter with a towel. “Sweetheart, gossip in this town is as dependable as the sunrise and twice as fast.”
I looked away from her and down to my pie, pushing the crumbs around on the plate with the prongs of my fork. “I didn’t ask him to do that.”
“Yeah, but he stepped in anyway,” she said. “For what it’s worth, he’s not the kind of guy who sticks his neck out unless something really bothers him. And Gus messin’ with you must’vereallybothered him.”
I huffed a sarcastic laugh and stabbed another bite of pie. “Ireally bother him.”
Belle just gave me one of those slow, knowing looks. “Maybe,” she said. “Or maybe you rattle him. There’s a difference.”
“Please don’t make me try to understand him,” I said, dropping my fork to the plate and scrubbing my hands over my face. “If anything,he’sthe one that needs this little heart-to-heart about understanding people.” I brought my hands back down to the counter and sighed as I chewed on my bottom lip. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to come out like that. It’s just…” I paused, picking up my fork again and swirling the last bite of pie through the syrupy filling on the plate. “I left someone who made me feel small on purpose. A man who could twist anything into being my fault and made me feel like I was losing my mind half the time. I don’t know what Zane’s deal is, but I didn’t crawl out of one mess just to be shoved into another.”
Belle’s expression softened even more. “Sweetheart, I’m not trying to defend him. And I sure as hell ain’t blind to his flaws. All I’m saying is…don’t mistake a wounded man for a wicked one. Zane’s rough, sure, but he ain’t cruel.”
I gave her a tired look. “I appreciate you trying to help me see the bigger picture. I really do. But I’m still mad at him.”
“Oh, trust me, hon, I’m not too happy with him, either, after hearing all this,” she said with all seriousness as her eyes met mine. “The next time I see that boy I’m gonna knock him upside the back of his head.”
Belle winked, and I held back a smirk as the bell over the door clanged and Norah’s voice rang out, cheerful as ever. “Whose skull are we crackin’?”
Belle didn’t miss a beat. “Your brother’s.”
Norah let out an exasperated sigh and plopped down in the barstool next to me. “What’d Luke do now?”
“Wrong brother,” Belle said, already pouring Norah a cup of coffee.
Norah’s gaze landed on me. “Zane?”
I gave her a flat look. “The one and only.”
“He still being a broody baby?” she asked, blowing on her coffee.
“A broody baby with hearing issues,” I muttered dryly.
Norah’s eyebrows came together at that, silently questioning me as she brought the mug to her lips and took a careful sip.
“He walked in on me changing,” I said bluntly.
