Page 27 of Shielding Serena

“Nice entrance,” she said under her breath so only he could hear.

His mouth tipped up in a half smile that made her pulse buck. “Glad you think so,” he murmured into his coffee as he took a sip. His gaze flicked back to hers and then past her shoulder as he cataloged the room. “Figured it’d have more of a punch if they saw me come downstairs, rather than simply being here when you opened the doors. Anything I should be worried about?”

She shook her head and regretfully returned herself to a world where it wasn’t just the two of them. “Regulars and looky-loos. I’m not getting a vibe from any of them.”

He hummed in response and she walked away, pretty sure he was watching her ass as she did. She hid a grin that Gena totally caught. The woman gave her a discreet thumbs up and they got back to it.

She and Gena worked through the morning pretty steadily and even sold and boxed up a few of the tchotchkes decorating the shelves and buffet tables surrounding the main room.

Walker mostly maintained his seat and spoke easily with patrons as they cycled through. At one point he even engaged Bobby, sitting down next to him at the long tall table that hugged one wall.

Apprehensive, she watched them interact. She trusted Walker with her life, sure, but she didn’t want him being a hardass to someone like Bobby, who seemed to be barely scraping by, but was always polite and paid for his coffee and pastry every morning with money that appeared hard-won.

The two men chatted for a few minutes, then Walker returned to his table and her attention was pulled away by another new customer.

At one-thirty, a half an hour before closing, Mr. Higgins made his appearance.

Serena would have thrown up her hands in dismay but restrained herself, because with everything going on, she’d forgotten about him. She and Gena had been running for hours and she didn’t feel like dealing with him right now, especially knowing he’d be back tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. She wanted to close the doors and take a load off.

He approached the counter, and she held up a hand as he did.

“Mr. Higgins, as you may have heard, we had a break-in the other night. I have not had a chance to look for your aunt’s piece of statuary.”

Walker was watching them interact with a heightened level of scrutiny.

She understood that, but this man was the most harmless guy on the planet.

Higgins looked at her with that sad gaze, but there was a sharpness there that hadn’t been present before. “That’s unfortunate, Ms. Blackstone. Very unfortunate. I’ll check back in tomorrow.”

He dipped his head in a short nod, then turned and walked out the door.

She sighed. Disappointing people was her biggest failure, according to her father, and here she was, doing it to a nice man who simply wanted a piece of his family heritage back. She thought she’d beaten back the need to please, to meet expectations, but apparently not.

Vowing she’d dive back into the storage unit tomorrow, she closed up not long after that, and as she clicked the lock in place and flipped the sign, she felt Walker’s presence at her elbow. She turned, and he was right there, so close she could smell his woodsy aftershave.

“I feel like I let him down,” she said. “I want to go back to the storage unit tomorrow and search until we find it, okay?”

Walker reached out and ran a hand along her arm in comfort. It did exactly the opposite and shot tingles through her body.

“Sounds good,” he said as he withdrew his hand. “Just make sure I’m here for when you hand it off to him, though.”

She snorted. “A, when are you not here? And B, I think I can handle Mr. Higgins.”

“I know you can,” Walker said. “But be careful.”

His expression was earnest, his tone warm. He really did believe she could take care of herself, but was still here, backing her up. The warmth she’d felt seconds ago had nothing on this new, blooming feeling inside her chest.

She knew they weren’t the teenagers from that perfect summer two decades ago. They’d both changed, he in ways she couldn’t truly comprehend. But the boy she’d loved with every ounce of her teenaged heart back then was still there, at the core of him.

She walked back into the kitchen, where Gena was finishing cleanup. “Well, that was a barnburner of a day.”

“It sure was,” Gena replied. “We’ve gotten a lot of business out of people with morbid curiosity.”

Serena barked out a laugh. “Indeed we did. We’ll have to see if it’s as good tomorrow. I certainly hope so.”

By the time they put the kitchen to rights and got everything set for the next day, it was getting close to four, and Serena’s stomach growled. Usually they had time for a quick bite during the day. If she won enough new customers out of this wave of attention, then she and Gena would have to start figuring out when the lull times were so they could take a lunch break. It was a happy thought.

As much as Madeline had set her up with this place, Serena was living off her savings and would really like to see The Menagerie turn a profit.