Page 191 of The Reason I Married Him
“Uh, what did I just walk in on?”
“Aubree feeding Wyatt her tongue,” Hattie says as she lifts up from her chair and lets Hayes take a seat. He then pulls her onto his lap and hands her, her smoothie. Hattie thanks him with a soft kiss and sips her drink.
Is this a thing? Where women sit on their men’s laps?
Apparently, because Hayes holds Hattie tightly, just like Wyatt holds me. The only difference is that they’re madly in love, and we’re just mad.
“Having an afternoon delight?” Hayes asks. “In public nonetheless.”
“My girl gets what my girl wants,” Wyatt says with such cockiness in his voice that I truly wonder how he can be so good at acting. He’s an author, not an actor. Maybe it’s the multiple personalities he has in his head.
“Smart man,” Hayes says before sipping on his green smoothie.
“So what do you want to tell me?” Hattie asks, bringing the conversation back—thankfully.
Enough of this afternoon delight stuff. I’m embarrassed as it is and fretting the private conversation I’ll have to have with Wyatt about how I accidentally got out of control.
“I haven’t said anything because, well, I didn’t want to worry you, but the numbers have been off with income when compared to what we’re selling in units.” Hattie’s expression morphs from joyful to concerned.
“What do you mean?”
“We’re okay, but I was struggling to make sense of why we weren’t bringing in as much as we should have. Well, I just figured it out with Wyatt. We’ve been selling the almond extract on the website for two dollars, not twelve.”
“What?” Hattie nearly shouts, pulling the attention from around the restaurant. She waves and smiles at some patrons and then leans forward. “What do you mean we’ve been selling it for two dollars?”
“I’m assuming when Cassidy created the website while she was sick, she accidentally entered the wrong number, forgetting the one in front of the two. And I know the website has been the last thing on our minds, just some passive income while we’ve focused on the store, the farm, and Mac. It just slipped right by us.”
“How much have we lost?” she asks.
“Not sure, but I can speak with Esther when we get back to the farm and explain what’s been going on.”
Hattie presses her hand to her chest. “She’s going to be so upset that she missed that.”
“I’ll take the blame,” I say. “Tell her it’s something I should have noticed before passing the website over. I’ll get it fixed. Thankfully, we caught it before the holiday season.”
“True.” Hattie leans against Hayes. “God, Cassidy would have been so mad at herself.”
“She wasn’t doing well then. I should have double-checked her work.”
“We all should have,” Hattie says. “An expensive lesson to learn, but I guess we know what to do moving forward.”
I nod. “I’m just relieved I figured it out.” I swallow hard. “I hate feeling like I’m failing.”
The table grows quiet because I know it’s rare that I share such thoughts or feelings I experience.
“You’re not even close to failing,” Hattie says as she reaches across the table and takes my hand. “You’re the glue of this entire operation, Aubree. Without you, we’d be drowning. Ryland would be struggling without the support you offer him daily. I probably wouldn’t be with Hayes because you’re the one who stepped in and helped us. You’re the one who ran the store and the farm at the same time, keeping it afloat. We’ve relied on you heavily. If it weren’t for you, we would all be in over our heads. You’re not failing. You’re helping us thrive.”
I don’t know if it’s her words of affirmation or if it’s the relief I’m feeling, but my emotions climb up my throat, growing tight as my eyes water.
Don’t cry, Aubree.
Don’t freaking cry.
But it’s useless. I blink, and a single tear rolls down my cheek. I quickly wipe it away, humiliated that I showed such weakness. I half expect Hattie to gawk at me, but when I glance up at her, she offers me a soft smile and a squeeze of my hand.
“We’ll let you two finish your lunch.”
She gets it.
