Page 54 of The Mountain Man's Mail-Order Mafia Princess

“I wasn’t trying to.”

“You could’ve told me you never wanted him near you again.”

“I could’ve. That wouldn’t make it reasonable.”

“You’re still angry.”

“I’m furious.”

She turned toward me.

“Anger isn’t a court order, Jonah. I don’t get to sentence your friendship because Cade hurt me.”

I faced the empty road.

“He hurt both of us.”

“Yes, and you get to decide what you do about it.”

Inside, the cabin held the warm smell of closed rooms and yesterday’s garlic. Talia opened the windows while I carried in the cooler.

We made a simple dinner of leftover pasta, bread, and sliced fruit. Afterward, I spread the property notes and work receipts across the table to prepare the estimate.

Talia dried her hands and studied the papers.

“May I help?”

“With what?”

“Anything that doesn’t involve pretending I know the price of tree removal.”

I moved one stack toward her.

“These are completed jobs. Those are estimates I haven’t sent.”

She sat across from me and picked up the first page.

“You use paper for everything?”

“It works without service.”

“That’s annoyingly practical.”

“I’ve heard that before.”

Talia read the dates, checked which jobs had matching receipts, and placed a finger on one estimate.

“This customer requested the work before the others.”

“He also said it wasn’t urgent.”

“Then why did you write Friday beside it?”

“He called again.”

“Did the risk change?”

“No.”