Page 65 of Romeo

Probably more serious than she needed to know.

Me: How was work?

Ma Belle: Quiet.

Me: Quiet good or quiet boring?

Ma Belle: Good. That strange customer hasn’t been back.

My smile faded. I knew exactly why, and the satisfaction that came with knowing the bastard had listened probably said something ugly about me. I didn’t give a shit. Fiona had been uncomfortable. Now she wasn’t.

Me: Good.

Ma Belle: I’m starting to think he finally got the hint.

Me: Maybe he decided the coffee wasn’t worth it.

Ma Belle: Our coffee is good

A grin tugged at my mouth. Of course that was the part she chose to defend. Some asshole could make her uncomfortable for a week, but apparently insulting the Creamery’s coffee crossed a line.

Me: You’ve told me that.

Ma Belle: Because it’s true

Me: Best in Rosewood?

Ma Belle: Obviously.

I could practically hear the certainty in her voice, and something about knowing these stupid little pieces of her life made fifteen hundred miles feel a little less fucking far.

Me: I trust your judgment.

Ma Belle: That seems reckless

Me: I trust you with more important things than coffee.

Ma Belle: Like what?

I looked around my room.

My life had changed completely since Fiona. I used to spend my time wherever the night took me. At the clubhouse, drinking with the brothers, working late, sometimes waking up the next morning with a woman whose name took entirely too much thought to remember.

Now I spent every minute with a phone in my hand.

Me: My evenings.

Her answer took a second.

Ma Belle: You spend most of those irritating me

Me: And yet you keep answering.

Ma Belle: Someone has to keep your ego under control

Me: That sounds like a permanent position.

I watched the dots appear.