I laughed and the pain of it almost put me on my knees. “That’s the kind of love she deserves, man.”
“I know it.” Gideon jerked his head toward the door back to the café side. “Give her some time, she needs to stew.”
“Got it.”
Thankful for the darkness, I blindly made my way to the café side. Then I took a seat at one of the tables farthest from the window to wait out the pain and the storm outside.
Even if the storm inside me had just begun.
NINE
“Great timing on going out to eat.” I leaned forward in my seat to rub against the condensation on my car windshield.
My kitchen was still in shambles and there was no way I could cook. I should have just gone over to Lonegan’s for a bite or to the diner down the street, but I wanted the perfect pancakes at the Rusty Spoon.
I didn’t know why, but they always tasted better than anywhere else. I’d gotten addicted to them when I’d been renovating Macy’s place and then reacquainted with them when I’d worked on The Haunt.
Mitch made the perfect bacon too.
My stomach grumbled at the idea of it.
Then the heavens opened up when I was halfway to Crescent Cove.
I kept trying the dials on my heater to help with my foggy window, but the air wasn’t strong enough to combat the rain and my own hot ass breath inside the car. “C’mon.” I finally hit Main Street and pulled off into the nearest parking spot to wait out the monsoon.
It wouldn’t last long—they rarely did in the summer. Okay, so it wasn’t quite summer, but it was close enough with the heat we were experiencing the first week of May.
“I just wanted pancakes,” I whined to myself as the windshield wipers squeaked and shuddered against the torrential rain.
I sighed. With nothing else to do, I pulled out my phone. I answered a few emails, then a thank you text from Amberly, who was excited to redo her bedroom to cheer herself up.
It was the least I could do.
At least my poor credit cards wouldn’t take another hit, or my meager savings, to pay for the damages to the apartments. I’d spent an hour talking to my renter’s insurance agent and I deserved the pancakes, dammit. I didn’t want to think about my new increased premiums, but that was a problem for future Dahlia.
Now I was rewarding myself for adulting with carbs.
And all the butter.
I glanced up from my phone to see a large, dark figure stumbling from the café. I rubbed the condensation from my window again. Nolan.
“No freaking way. Is he drunk?”
What? On coffee? Macy’s coffee was good, but obviously not as strong as alcohol. Okay, sometimes it was nearly that strong.
I turned off my car and kicked open my door and my heart stopped as he stepped down off the curb and lost his balance.
“Shit, shit, shit.” The rain was coming down in buckets, but I couldn’t let him stumble around like a drunk. Maybe his meeting with Macy hadn’t gone well. Did he have a flask on him or something?
Or worse.
I held my hands out at the cars coming. Luckily, everyone was driving slowly since it was a business zone and no one could see. Horns honked at me, but I had one focus.
Get to him.
“Nolan!”
His chin came up and instantly, he held his head.
Nope. That wasn’t drunk. I scurried across the street through umpteen puddles, as the sewers couldn’t quite combat this level of downpour. This man was going to owe me a whole new shoe collection.
At least this time I was wearing sneakers.
“Get out of my way.” He waved his arm at me.
“Nolan, it’s me.”
His eyes were blind and his long hair was stuck to his head and cheeks, showing off the paleness of his skin. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been quite tan and healthy. Now he was a shade away from gray.
He staggered into the road.
I grabbed his jacket. “You’re going to get yourself killed. Just stop.” He swung around and fell into me. I shoved my shoulder under his arm.
“I need to get to my truck.”
I looked around and couldn’t miss the massive silver truck with my handiwork still on the door. “Okay. It’s just over there. Don’t worry, I’ll get you there.”
