Page 45 of Romeo

Ma Belle: I’m hiding in the back until Sugar needs me.

I stared at the screen for a second.

Hiding.

Fiona didn’t complain much. Even when something bothered her, she usually buried it under a joke or acted like it wasn’t worth mentioning.

Me: Rough day?

Ma Belle: Strange day.

Me: More interesting.

Ma Belle: Not really. One of the customers keeps trying to talk to me.

I leaned back against the couch and read it again.

Yeah, I didn’t like the sound of that shit. A man flirted once, took his shot, got nowhere, and moved the fuck along. That was normal.

Coming back often enough for Fiona to feel like she had to hide?

That was something fucking else entirely.

Me: That’s generally how customers work.

Ma Belle: Very funny

Me: What makes this one strange?

Her answer took a little longer and I tried to tamp down the feeling I knew all too well.

Ma Belle: He asks too many questions.

My fingers tightened around the phone.

Me: Like whether the ice cream is dairy-free?

Ma Belle: Like whether I have a boyfriend and what time I leave.

That fucking changed things.

I stood and walked toward the other end of the common room before one of the brothers noticed my expression and decided to get curious. Some stranger wanted to know whether Fiona was available and when she left work.

It wasn’t nothing. It was exactly what the fuck it sounded like.

Me: Maybe he’s writing your biography.

Ma Belle: It won’t be very exciting.

Me: I disagree.

That part was easy. I could’ve spent hours listening to her talk about things she probably thought were boring. School. Granny. The Creamery. Some stupid argument she’d had with Georgie. Apparently, I’d become fascinated by the ordinary details of one woman’s life.

Ma Belle: He called me sweetheart six times.

My feet just... stopped. One moment I was walking; the next, my legs refused to carry me forward, like they’d decided on their own that this was far enough.

Me: Six?