Page 16 of She’ll Steal Your Heart
“Ready?” Mia asked, looking over her shoulder at Lauren.
“Yes,” Lauren said breathlessly. She wasn’t. She would probably never be ready, but Mia had gone above and beyond to help her today, and the least Lauren could do was keep her emotions in check and get it done.
The sign over the door was dark. The placard in the window read “Closed,” but Mia tapped her knuckles against the door, and it opened moments later.
Lauren gulped as cold fear gripped her stomach, but it wasn’t Josie’s face she saw when she stepped into the doorway. Eve Marlow stood there, and the expression on her face was downright terrifying. Lauren had always found her somewhat intimidating with her brisk, no-nonsense attitude, but she’d also been decent and fair during Lauren’s time at the bar.
Today, she looked ready to wage war, and Lauren was the enemy.
“Eve, hi,” Mia said calmly. “Thanks for agreeing to this.”
“You have Josie to thank for that.” Eve’s brown eyes pierced Lauren like daggers. “If I’d had my way, we’d be having this discussion at the police station.”
“Lauren and I are headed there as soon as we’re finished here,” Mia said.
“Then she’d better start talking.” Eve crossed her arms over her chest as she continued to glare at Lauren.
“Eve, stop it. You’re scaring her.” Josie appeared in the doorway and rested a hand on her wife’s shoulder. She gave Lauren a hesitant smile, which was probably a friendlier reception than Lauren deserved. Josie had changed her hair since the last time Lauren saw her. Today, her blonde tresses were streaked with bright red.
“Hi,” Lauren managed, her throat painfully dry. Her palms, by contrast, were damp and clammy. “I, um, I’m so glad you agreed to see me so I could apologize in person.”
Josie nodded. She stepped back to invite them inside, gesturing toward a table behind her. “Water?” she asked.
Lauren nodded gratefully, keeping her head down as she took a seat at the table. Mia sat to her right while Eve followed Josie to the bar. She took glasses of water as Josie filled them and brought them to the table, then sat to Lauren’s left. Josie took the seat across from her, watching Lauren with an unreadable expression.
Lauren lifted the glass Eve had placed in front of her and sipped. “I don’t know how much Mia told you on the phone.”
“She said you wanted to apologize, and that I should hear you out.” Josie’s tone was even, but her posture was stiff, and while she wasn’t as outwardly hostile as her wife, she didn’t look very happy that Lauren was here either.
Lauren darted a glance at Mia, who gave her another reassuring smile, before returning her gaze to Josie. “First of all, I want to tell you that I’msosorry. You trusted me, and I betrayed that trust. I hurt you and your business, and it has haunted me every day since.”
Josie pursed her lips. “Thank you for the apology, but…why did you do it, Lauren?”
“I did it for my brother.” Lauren reached for her water to swallow over the lump in her throat. “He struggled with drug addiction his whole life, and he owed money to some really bad people. He came into the bar that night to ask for my help, and they…they had beaten the shit out of him. I panicked and made the really stupid decision to clear out your cash register so he could pay off his drug debts before they hurt him any worse.”
“So you gave the money to your brother?” Josie asked, her brow furrowed.
“I did.”
“And did it help him, at least?” Josie asked.
Lauren nodded, blinking back tears. “Yes. He never got in debt like that again.”
“You’re speaking about him in the past tense,” Josie said quietly.
“He overdosed last month,” Lauren said, her voice hoarse. She wiped away an errant tear. “He was my only family, and I was so desperate to help him, but that doesn’t excuse what I did.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Josie said, her expression kind.
“Thank you, but I’m not here for your sympathy or your forgiveness. You don’t owe me anything, but I owe you a lot.” Lauren reached into her bag. “And I’m here to pay you back.”
Josie’s eyes widened as Lauren slid the envelope across the table to her. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Sorry it took me so long,” Lauren told her. “And if that’s not enough, please let me know. I gave it all to Craig, so I wasn’t sure how much I actually took.”
Josie opened the envelope and took out the check, turning it so Eve could see it too. “To be honest, I don’t remember the figure the insurance company calculated, but I think this is more than enough.”
“It was just over twenty-eight hundred,” Eve said, sounding gentler now.
