Page 17 of Trusting Mr. Sterling
Knox stared at her.
“Keep the change.” He dropped two twenties on the counter, picked up the box, and turned to leave.
“Wow. A whole two dollars,” Lucy called after him. “Don’t spend your generosity all in one place.”
Knox stopped and turned back. His gaze found hers and held it for a beat too long.
“Are you always like this?”
“Only with people who deserve it.”
“And you’ve decided I deserve it based on what, exactly? Thirty seconds of interaction?”
“I didn’t need thirty seconds.” Lucy crossed her arms. “I clocked you at the wedding. Expensive suit, expensive watch, looked at everyone like you were calculating their net worth.”
“You noticed what I was wearing at the wedding?”
Lucy’s cheeks flushed, just barely. “I notice things. It’s called being observant.”
“Observant of what, exactly?”
“Of the people my best friend was marrying into. You included.”
“And what did you decide about me?”
She didn’t answer and the silence stretched.
Knox shook his head, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “You’re incorrigible.”
“And yet here you are, still talking to me.”
He had no answer for that.
Knox turned and headed for the door without another word. The bell over the door chimed with more force than the bell had been designed for.
Lucy disappeared into the back of the bakery, muttering about impossible men and their attitudes.
Gabriel exhaled.
Tessa covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. “Lucy is in rare form.”
“She’s delightful.”
“She grows on you.”
“Like mold.”
“Give her time.”
Gabriel glanced toward the door where Knox had vanished, then back at Tessa. He wanted to stay. He wanted an excuse to linger in a bakery that smelled like butter and sugar. But Knox was waiting in the car with Devney’s danish, and they had a meeting in forty minutes.
“I should go.”
Tessa nodded. “Right.”
“Thursday’s event looks good. Devney forwarded the final menu.”
“Good.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll see you then.”
