Page 8 of Back to Me
“Thank you for coming in today.”
“I’m sorry for the reason behind me coming in but I am glad I came in. Promise me if you have any more trouble from the others, you will let me know so I can sort it out.”
“I am not going to turn you against your family, Austin, I will deal with them. Yesterday was just a lot for me.”
“I know you can deal with them, but you shouldn’t have to. They are grown adults who need to learn their place. Beau and Belle have promised to keep out of it.”
“It’s the other two…”
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
“At least I know I have one person in my corner if I get arrested for threatening to put my foot up Cash’s ass again.”
“I’m sorry, what happened?”
“He was pissing me off with his high and mighty attitude. I said something about feeling like the worst person in the world and his reply was ‘if the shoe fits.’ I may or may not have threatened to fit the shoe up his ass if he wasn’t careful.” I was quiet while Ally spoke but as soon as she was done, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Good to see nothing has changed, Duchess, and that you are still the same little firecracker that you used to be.”
“Little?” She shoved me away with a huff and put her hands on her hips. Bringing up one of my hands, I mark her height against my chest.
“Yes, little.”
“I could still kick your ass.”
“I don’t doubt that. It’s the small ones who have the biggest temper.” She just glared at me, but I knew there was no anger behind it. For as long as I had known her, I had always made fun of her height. I knew without a doubt though, her size didn’t stop her from anything. Dallas, Tye, Ally, and I all took self-defense classes and I had seen her put a grown man on his ass. If Cash wasn’t careful, she would happily do it to him and I would be there in an instant to bail her out if she was arrested.
ChapterSix
Ally
Austinand I talked for a bit, joking around a little and poking fun at each other. It felt good not to be fighting with someone for a change. I had a few customers come in, so while I served them, Austin came to sit in the front of the shop so we could talk in between. With the exit of the last customer, I locked the door and turned off the open sign and sat back down with him.
“In all seriousness, are you okay?” With a sigh, I held out my hand in front of me and tipped it side to side.
“No, but I will be. There are so many things I wish I could do differently if I could. I feel like I am coming between your family and you and that is the last thing I want to do, and to be honest, I said some things to Savannah and Cash last night because I was upset at the time that I want to erase. I’m just a big mess of emotions right now. I don’t want to fight anymore. I know that isn’t possible because Dallas is a long way from forgiveness which I expected from both of you, but Cash and Savannah are acting like they are the ones I hurt. I just want to get on with things. I am home and not going anywhere.”
“I am in no way defending what they did to you, but my brothers and Savannah put up with a lot of shit from me over the last few years. I didn’t handle you leaving well and spiraled. They threatened me with rehab a couple of times but until I was ready to see what I was doing, all I did was push back. Tye almost beat the crap out of me after I came back from Paris after seeing you.”
“At the risk of upsetting the peace between us, yesterday it seemed like you hated me and now, here we are talking calmly like adults.” He sighed and closed his eyes.
“That would be the feelings and alcohol. Combine the two and I am a real asshole. I was hurt that everyone knew but me, I was angry with the world for throwing everything at me all at once, happy to see you but then angry at myself that I didn’t get out of the car that night and speak to you. It was too much for me to deal with rationally, so I drank until I felt numb. What was your plan?”
“I wanted to at least move into a house and open my shop, set up roots before I saw you. I was going to talk to your ma and have her invite you, Dallas, and Tye around for lunch or something and sit down with you all. Now that I think about it, it wasn’t a great plan.”
“Wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe you should have told my ma that when she came into the shop for Savannah and Cash’s wedding cake.”
“Oh my God, why the hell didn’t I think of that?!” I closed my eyes and pressed my palm against my head. “This could have saved so much trouble!” Austin just chuckled.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing.” Looking at his watch, he sighed. “I should go. I need to finish a design for a client I have in the morning and was almost done with it when Savannah and I got into an argument.” He slid out of the booth, and I nodded. Standing up, I took our coffee cups into the kitchen to wash up.
“Before you go, I made you something. I was going to drop it by the shop earlier, but I chickened out.” Taking a box from the cupboard, I walked over to one of the trays and put a cupcake in the box before closing it and handed it to him. “It’s one I always promised to make you.”
“No way! Not my apple pie one.”
“It sure is! Let me know if you want me to make you some more. No one has ever tried it, so you will have to tell me how it tastes.”
“Thank you, Ally, I appreciate it. I will be back to see you for more. Also, if you need to talk, you know where I am.”
