Lib Novel Page 16
I kept hesitating. Should I say something about our date? Let it go? She’d said it had been for the best. Why? Now that she saw me in person, she wasn’t interested?
Ouch.
“And I’m sorry about last night. Work got in the way.”
“It’s fine. Like I said, for the best. I’m not really in a place where dating makes sense for me right now.”
That eased the tension in my shoulders a little. At least she hadn’t met someone else.
Or she was lying.
She didn’t seem like she was lying.
I needed to go. I’d blown past awkward and was barreling straight toward mortifying.
“Thanks again.”
I went back to the front of the store where Owen waited right where I’d left him. He cast a longing glance at the cookies on the counter and shouldered his backpack.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Bye Owen,” Harper called as we left. “I’ll see you Saturday.”
The door shut behind us and the fresh spring air replaced the decadent smells of the bakery.
“What did she mean, she’ll see me Saturday?” he asked as we walked to my car.
“You stole from her. She can’t recoup the cost of what you took and you don’t have money to pay her back. So you’re going to work it off.”
“What?”
“You heard me. You’re going to go to the bakery this weekend to help Harper until you’ve worked off your debt.”
He sighed, his eyes downcast. “Okay.”
“And no bike until I feel I can trust you again. I’ll drive you to school and you’ll go to Grandma and Grandpa’s in the afternoon until I’m off work.”
“I’m grounded from my bike?”
“Hey man, you’re the one who broke trust. You have to earn it back. Maybe next time you’re tempted to steal something, you’ll think twice.”
He nodded and opened the passenger door.
I got in and checked my messages. No new texts, and nothing from work either. That was a small miracle.
“What was wrong with you in there?” Owen asked.
“Nothing. What are you talking about?”
“You forgot my name.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.”
I slipped on my aviators and turned on the ignition. “It was just a momentary blip.”