Chapter 7: The Turn

Harper‘s POV

The phone rang while Bud's hand was still in the air.

It went off from his pants pocket, one note chasing the next, and pinned all three of us where we stood. Bud pulled his hand back, fished out the phone, glanced at the screen, then turned and looked at us. Josie's hand was still suspended mid-air; her eyes had already moved to mine. I gave a small shake of my head. I had no idea either.

"Yeah," he said, his gaze still drifting our way. "Yeah, I'm in the middle of something."

As the call stretched on, his spine straightened inch by inch, as if someone had reached around from behind and hauled him up by the collar. His eyes slid off my face and settled on the toes of his boots and stayed there. He switched the phone to his other ear, stepped around the beans scattered across the floor, and moved to the doorway, standing with his back to the shop. His voice dropped so low that only a few words made it back to me.

"Indefinite postponement?"

My heart lurched. I moved toward him without deciding to, close enough to hear more clearly.

"Why?"

"Who signed off on that."

"...Fine. Do it your way."

That last line came out slower than the other two.

After he hung up, he didn't turn around right away. He stood in the door frame, one shoulder propped against what was left of the door, flipping the phone face-down in his palm, like he was testing the weight of something that hadn't existed thirty seconds ago.

I held my breath and waited for things to go the way I needed them to go.

Bud turned back and stopped in front of me, maybe half an arm's length away, looking at me with the same expression he used when he was closing a deal.

"The lease," he said. "I think there's room to work something out. Keep the shop running for now."

He pulled a pen from his shirt pocket, flipped the lease agreement over on the counter, and scratched a date on the back in fast, careless handwriting. The pen paused, and then he added one more line.

"The writing on the wall. I'll send someone to paint over it."

My heart was hammering, but I made myself stay level. For all I knew, this was temporary. For all I knew, he'd reverse course again the same way he had a few days ago. I couldn't afford to pretend otherwise.

"Why," I said.

"Project's been postponed indefinitely." He pocketed the pen. "The compensation money probably isn't coming."

"Postponed why? There has to be a reason." Josie stepped up beside me and asked the question I hadn't gotten to yet.

Bud didn't look back. His voice was flat and final. "That your business? Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

Then he was gone, his boots grinding over the broken glass one step at a time, steady and unhurried.

His truck had barely turned the corner when the police cruiser pulled up.

Two officers came in — one older, one young. The older one laid his notebook open on the counter; the younger one started a slow circuit of the shop.

"Miss Hayes?" The older one flipped to a clean page. "You made the call."

"My friend did. It's my shop."

"When was it discovered."

"This morning. My employee got here before six. The door was already like this."

"Anything taken."

"The register was pried open. Not a dollar missing."

He wrote something down. The younger officer had stopped in front of the wall, head tilted back, reading the letters. The older one continued: "Any trouble with anyone on this street recently?"

"No."

"Any arguments with anyone. Doesn't have to be recent."

My tongue stalled for half a second. The image came without being invited — the gap under the changing room door, Liam's face, Blair's arms around his neck, and the piece of cake I'd pressed into his face.

Would they go that far? Probably not. Liam had never lost a minute of sleep over my coffee shop.

"There was an engagement party a couple of days ago," I said. "Does that count?" I watched the officer's face do the thing where it almost reacted and then didn't.

"Everything counts."

I let out a short laugh and looked down. This town. Just like Dolores always said — nothing stays private longer than it takes to reach the next person's ear.

The younger officer came back from the wall and said, "Doesn't look like a robbery." The older one closed his notebook and met my eyes, making the effort to look professional about delivering news that wasn't any good.

"We'll pull whatever street cameras we can, but there isn't much coverage in this area. You should be prepared to carry the losses yourself. I'll reach out if anything comes up."

And then they were gone. Ten minutes, start to finish. With the glass out of the door frame, the wind came straight through. I stood in it and listened to the voices from the sidewalk, the kind people lower specifically to be heard.

Has to be payback. The way that party went, Liam's whole promotion probably fell through. He's not going to just let that go.

I think so too. The police said the cash wasn't touched, right? So it wasn't about money. It's not like her shop was pulling in much anyway.

Could've been the landlord, though. I heard Bud's done this kind of thing before. Run people out.

Come on, it's his own property. He wouldn't.

Honestly, Harper brings some of this on herself. She's always been too hard to get along with. If she knew how to handle people, none of this would've happened.

True. If she'd been a little easier to deal with, the engagement wouldn't have blown up like that. Now Liam and Blair are actually together. And Harper's on her own.

Probably runs in the family, with how many times her mother's been divorced...

The words came in whether I wanted them or not. I was already moving toward the door, ready to tell every single one of them that the police didn't even know who did it, so what gave them the right — a hand closed around my forearm and stopped me.

I looked up. Clay.

"Leave it," he said. "Let's get the shop cleaned up."

Something in my chest went loose. I turned around and followed him back inside.

For the next hour and more, the three of us worked. We brought the shop back piece by piece.

We were nearly done. Clay and Josie were carrying things to the back kitchen; I was at the front counter, resetting the coffee bean jars, when the bell above the door rang. I didn't look up. "Sorry, we're closed today."

The voice that answered turned my stomach.

"Harper. Didn't expect you to fall apart this fast after we split. Guess leaving was the right call after all."

I turned around. Liam had Blair on his arm, the two of them walking in together, wearing matching smiles that made me want to put my hand through the wall.