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Trick-or-Treated

Page 110

by Three Silver Foxes

Del cuts me off, looking up from her phone. “Who hates you?”

I snort. “Take your pick. Garland Falls, the guys…”

“The guys don’t hate you. And Garland Falls doesn’t hate you. It’s just a handful of assholes.”

“And my mother,” I whisper.

Hazel freezes. “Shit. I was hoping she wasn’t on the internet.”

“No such luck.”

“Who even knows?”

“A delivery driver, probably,” I say glumly. “He kind of flirted with me and the guys were a little… possessive. I guess he put it together.”

“Are you really with all of them?” Ivy asks, brown eyes wide.

“I was.” I start to cry again. “Now I don’t know. My business is being attacked. Suzanne might kick me off the festival… and Marcus, Cole, and Gabe are upset with me.”

“We’ll figure this out,” Hazel assures me. “We close in an hour, and after that, we’ll…”

“We’ll what?” I ask, laughing darkly. “I can’t unfuck them.”

Hazel frowns. “None of this doom and gloom, Margo Reyes. You’re a strong woman, and you can do this.”

“I don’t know if I can.” It comes out in a broken whisper.

“Of course you can,” Del says, her face hard. “You built a business from the ground up when you were twenty years old. You can do anything.”

The home fries arrive and Hazel feeds me by hand until I start doing it myself. I’m so grateful for her, for all of them, that tears well in my eyes again.

“Give me your phone,” Hazel says firmly.

I hand it to her, feeling slightly better with something on my stomach. I’d forgotten to eat all day, too busy with the festival and then the guys.

She powers it on, and it starts buzzing in her hand. She winces.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, panicked.

“Your mom has called about thirty times.”

“Oh.” I deflate, slowly banging my head on the table. “I can’t talk to her right now.”

Hazel bites her lip. “You know she’s going to show up if you⁠—”

“I know!” I burst out, and then soften my voice. “I know. I just… I need some time.”

Hazel rubs circles on my back again.

“Take all the time you need.”

“I can’t go back there. To the vineyard,” I say miserably.

“You have to.”

I shake my head. “I can’t. I can’t face them.”

Because if I were stronger, this wouldn’t bother me so much.