Best Served Cold

“What happened?” Nora said, shuffling to the other side of her and looking at her foot. “Hooey,” she continued, removing her flip-flop. “That’s broken all right. I’ve seen black eyes whiter than your toe.” Leaning right in, she examined it. “Not a bad one. I’ll get the medical kit and tape it. Did you ice it?”

“Right after.” I nodded.

Rae sighed and leaned right back. “I hate you so much. So, so, much.”

“I know.” I stuffed my hands in my pockets and shrugged. “You’ve got an even longer list of reasons now.”

She glared at me. But still, there was something akin to amusement in her expression. She was definitely hiding how ridiculous this entire situation was. It was almost as if she was resigning herself to the idea that I would be the one to paint the store tomorrow.

“Here we go.” Nora came back in with a first aid box, a bottle of water, a small bottle of Tylenol. “Take two of those and drink that. Chase, explain.”

“It might be my fault,” I said slowly. “She was scraping the paper off the walls while Sophie steamed, and I didn’t exactly announce that I was there.”

“What he’s trying to say,” Rae said, pills in the palm of her hand. “Was that he butted in mid-sentence, scared the ever-loving crap out of me, and made me drop the scraper.”

“And it just happened to land on her foot.” I shrugged a little sheepishly. “That was an accident.”

Nora sighed as she taped Rae’s second and third toes together. “You know she’s skittish. Like a squirrel.”

Rae choked. “I’m not skittish! He scared me!”

“You are kind of skittish,” I agreed.

“You.” She pointed at me. “You’re so far up my shit list you are the shit list, so watch your mouth.”

Nora swatted her on the thigh. “You watch your mouth, young lady.” She tore the tape off and gently patted the end down. “There you go. Keep it elevated. I’ll bring you some ice soon.”

I watched as she left then looked down at Rae. She was pinching the bridge of her nose, clutching her water bottle so tight her knuckles were white.

“So. Tomorrow? Is it a yes or a no?”

She sighed, dropping her hand and looking at me with her big, brown eyes. “Fine. It’s your punishment and apology for doing this to me. Also, I don’t like painting walls.”

I laughed, a shiver making the hair on the back of my neck stand up when she fought another smile. “I’ll come to pick you up in the morning. What time do you usually go in?”

“Eight.” She reached up and ran her fingers through her hair. “You don’t have to do this.”

“You’re right. I don’t. But I want to.” I smiled, and the urge to step forward and kiss the top of her head was overwhelming.

It was how I’d always said goodbye to her.

But that was then.

Rae drew in a breath, her eyes flitting down to my feet for a second.

Instead, I stepped back. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Rae.”

She swallowed and nodded. “See you.”

CHAPTER SEVEN – RAELYNN

For a second there, I thought he was going to kiss me.

I thought he was going to walk over, cup my chin, and kiss the top of my head the way he always had before.

And, for a second, I wanted to feel his damn lips flit across my head.

This was why I’d ignored him before. Despite how I felt emotionally about it, despite how much I hated him for what he’d done, history was a hard thing to let go of.

I blew out a long breath and rested my head back over the cushion. My toe still throbbed, and more than that, I was frustrated. As much as I’d blamed Chase for it, it was an accident. Sure, he’d shocked me, but he couldn’t have known what would happen.

It was a fluke. An accident. And annoyingly timed one, but one all the same.

And maybe I’d been a little cruel when I’d made a half-assed insinuation that he’d done it deliberately.

In fact, after what Marnie hadn’t been allowed to say, I wasn’t entirely sure he’d done anything deliberately.

That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, though. And that didn’t mean I’d stop hating him anytime soon.

“So. Chase.” Grandma came back into the room with a mug of steaming tea and sat in the armchair.

“What about him?”

“He brought you home. He’s in your store. And a little birdie told me you had lunch together yesterday.”

I held up a hand. “We did not have lunch together. He took it upon himself to join me for lunch, then we fought, and I left. So he followed me, and we fought some more.”

“And today?”

“He saw me failing to use the steamer and offered his help. I took it, which was my first mistake.” I sipped my water. “The second was leaving the door open when Soph and I were steaming so he could scare the hell out of me. As my toe can attest to.”