Page 99 of Best Kind of Trouble
It’s happened before.
I can feel my mouth settling into a severe line, and even though my temples are aching, I want to hit the gym to release the awful feelings flooding me.
“Well, this was a lovely talk, my dear.” Dottie sips her tea as if she didn’t just throw me for a massive loop. She’s not done yet, though. She skewers me with a look and says, “But I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t tell you that your life will still feel too small unless you let more people into it.”
I almost tell her that Ihavelet other people in. I’ve buddied up with Mick, I like Travis well enough, Cormac wanted to get that drink, and I told the kid I’d give him boxing lessons. But even as I open my mouth to say the words, I remember that I quit Travis’s band, I still haven’t followed up on Cormac’sinvitation, and I haven’t asked the kid when he’s free. Given what she just told me, I doubt I will.
I don’t really believe Briar has any romantic interest in Otis, but if I had to watch him twirl her around and kiss her and run his fingers through her hair…
Well, I think I’d fucking die. It wouldn’t be a good death, either, the kind that goes down in history books. It would be a pathetic, wasting-away kind of death.
I go to pick up the teacup, and yep, there goes the handle, snapping under my grip like it’s a toothpick.
“Shit, sorry.”
She shrugs. “It’s been known to happen.”
“Not everyone needs a big life, you know.”
She gives me a sad smile. “Maybe not, my dear. Butyoudo. You deserve to take up every bit of space your body requires. Now, finish that tea.”
“So you can try to read the leaves? Hannah warned me about that.”
She winks at me. “I imagine she also warned you that it’s your quickest way out of here.”
I could just get up and leave. She’d be hard-pressed to stop me. But being rude to her would be different than being rude to my ex-boss or Briar’s horror-show parents. She’s a tough lady, a straight shooter, but she’s also good people.
So I lift the cup up, the jagged handle digging into my skin, and drain it.
Dottie smiles as she accepts the cup from me. She tips it over onto its saucer, rotates it a few times, and then turns it over.
“So what does fate have in store for me?” I ask after a moment.
She looks up at me, her eyes lively. “Oh, you mistake me, dear. I wasn’t looking at the leaves so I could tell you your future. I wanted guidance for my own path.”
“You’re seriously not going to tell me what you think is in there?” I ask, bemused.
“There’s no point in speaking the words if you’re not ready to listen to them.”
It’s as good as a dismissal, which I’ve been waiting for, but I don’t get up. Because there’s something else that’s been nagging at me.
“There’s this woman,” I say.
“I very much hope you’re not seeing other women,” Dottie says, a little tartly. “That would be foolish for?—”
“No. There’s no one else.”
The satisfied look on her face says I’ve finally given something away without intending to, but I don’t backtrack from the truth. “It’s someone who’s been giving Briar a hard time her whole life. I think she might cause some trouble for us.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
BRIAR
I’m self-conscious when I walk into the brewery on Saturday, worried that everyone will take one look at me and know there’s a delicious ache of soreness between my legs from what Liam and I did together. But no one seems to notice the change in me, and there’s no sign of Liam.
After the way he left me last night, pathetic and alone, I dreaded seeing him, so his absence should be good news. No Liam means I’ll have time to pull myself together. Instead, his absence sends me into a panic. Where is he? Is he coming back? Did I ruin everything by asking him to break our rules?
I finally break and ask Otis if he has any idea where Liam might be. He doesn’t. So I ask Dottie, who nods. “I had a lovely chat with him this morning.”
