In the Weeds (Lovelight #2)(27)

“Is this carrot cake?”

Layla plucks a muffin from the top and hands it to me. She pauses, considers, and then hands me another. I narrow my eyes at her. It’s not like her to willingly offer extras.

“What’s going on with you?” I ask, suspicious.

“What’s going on with you, Children of the Corn?” She fires right back.

I debate hiding it from them, but they’ll know soon enough. Especially since Evelyn’s car is currently parked in my driveway and farm gossip is more efficient than the town phone tree. I’m honestly surprised Stella doesn’t already know. I take a giant bite of carrot cake and kick my legs out. “Evelyn is here.”

I get two blank stares in response. Layla smoothes her hands down the bright red skirt she has on, thermal black tights beneath. “Care to repeat what you just said?”

I swallow and reach for the coffee Stella has waiting for me on the edge of the desk. “Evelyn is here.”

“In Inglewild?”

In my spare bed. Wrapped in sheets that have tiny roses on them. In less than half a second, my brain takes some creative liberties with that, imagining her stretched out naked beneath the blankets, one long leg kicked out. I clear my throat.

“At my house,” I say slowly. I drag each word out and watch as Stella’s eyes widen. She exchanges a look with Layla. Layla collapses back into her chair and raises both eyebrows. Stella’s nose twitches and her shoulder kicks up to her ear before it settles again.

“Cut that shit out,” I grumble, finishing the first muffin and moving on to the next. “I know you’re talking about me.”

“We didn’t say anything.”

“Might as well have.”

“Alright, let’s take a step back,” Stella steeples her hands in front of her face. With her behind her desk, and Layla and I in the two chairs in front of it, it feels like every single time I was ever called to the principal’s office. My phone buzzes on the arm of the chair. I glance at it and spot a text from Luka.

Luka: Hurricane Stella.

Luka: Is that carrot cake?

“Stop texting my boyfriend and pay attention.”

I breathe out slowly through my nose and try for a subject change. I glance at Layla.

“Didn’t you have dinner with Jacob last night?”

She makes a face. “I broke up with Jacob two weeks ago. I went on a date with a guy I met through an app.” She waves her hand between us and fixes me with a look that says she knows exactly what I’m doing. “Don’t try to distract me. I’m not letting the Evelyn thing go.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be going over this quarter’s numbers today?”

“Nice try,” Stella adds. “We can discuss this first and move on to reporting after. I also want to talk about why you have Jeremy Roughman doing manual labor out in the fields. But first, how did Evelyn get to your house?”

“She took a flight, I’d imagine. And then rented a car.”

Stella is not impressed. “Beckett.”

“I ran into her in town last night,” I explain. I leave out the part where I ran into her leaving the cafe, a box of contraband cookies tucked under my arm. I don’t know what Layla would do if she found out I’m sneaking baked goods from Ms. Beatrice on the side, but it probably wouldn’t be pretty. I like my face the way it is. “The bed and breakfast was full and she didn’t have anywhere else to stay.”

Layla gives me a critical look, one eyebrow notched high on her forehead. “So you invited her to stay with you?”

“I did.”

“For how long?”

I shrug and pick at the wrapper on my second muffin. They have chocolate chips in them, like Layla somehow knew I’d need the extra strength today. “I have no idea. She said something about this trip not being planned.” I leave out the part where she talked about Lovelight being the last place she was happy. That feels private, and I don’t want to share things that belong to her. “Jenny is ringing the phone tree today to find her someplace to stay longer term, I think.”

I ignore the thrum of discomfort that settles in my shoulders at that. It feels the same as when there’s too much noise around me, my teeth clenching down around it. I don’t like the idea of her anywhere else, and I’m well aware that makes me a fucking idiot. A glutton for punishment, probably. She made her intentions very clear as far as our relationship is concerned. I can’t imagine roommates with her one-night stand was in her plan when she decided to come out here.

She could have texted me, though. Given me a heads up. Did she think she wouldn’t have to see me? Is that what she was hoping for? I frown.

Stella and Layla busy themselves with another silent conversation while I focus on eating the rest of my breakfast. I drink my coffee and try to put everything back in order within myself. My brain keeps skipping back to Evelyn collapsing backwards into the bed in the spare room, one of the pillows tumbling down by her legs. Comet nudging under her chin with her nose. It’s been playing on repeat in my mind all morning and it leaves me feeling like I’ve been kicked down a hill in a barrel. That exposed wire thing again, my hair standing on end.

“Beck?” Stella’s looking at me, face etched with worry and her palms cupped gently around her mug. There’s a pine tree hanging from her desk light, and she knocks it with her elbow when she ducks her head to get a better look at me. “Are you okay?”