40 and (No Longer) Fighting It (Silver Foxes of Black Wolf's Bluff Book 2) by Ella Sheridan

Author:Ella Sheridan [Sheridan, Ella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-23T18:30:00+00:00

Fourteen

Claire was standing behind the counter later in the morning, a satisfied grin on her face as she finished ringing up another customer, when the little bell on the front door jingled, signaling the arrival of another addition to the tail end of the morning rush. A quick glance, and that smile died a fast death. The woman entering the shop held the hand of the first of three towheaded little boys, small stairsteps trailing in a line behind her. The roundness of her belly proclaimed loudly that another one was on the way.

And holding the door for the line was Jared, her ex-husband.

Thank God the crowd had cleared out finally. Her first instinct was to call for DeeDee, what she usually did if there was any warning whatsoever to avoid her ex, but Maria was out today, and besides, she couldn’t keep using DeeDee as a crutch. She needed her own employees.

All the more incentive to get to that hiring, right?

Just get this over with before Lincoln decides to come out from the kitchen.

“Claire.” Jared nodded in her direction, the same smirk she’d seen on his face the last three times he’d come into her store on proud display as he sauntered toward the register. Adding insult to injury, their little group never bought anything in her bakery. He just stopped by to rub her nose in things.

“Jared. What can I help y’all with?”

“Just dropping by.”

Of course you are.

Jared glanced around her store, his lip curled in a way that gave her the urge to come around the counter and smack the look off his face.

“How are things?” His gaze came back to hers, his opinion of her bakery clear. “Looks kind of quiet.”

She crossed her arms over her ribs, holding back the smug thought that at least her boobs were bigger than his new wife’s. She shouldn’t be that way, really, but damn it, they didn’t have to come into her store. Claire’s family never failed to keep her abreast of the latest addition to Jared’s brood anyway. And she didn’t know what to think about Sara—the woman had always seemed nice enough. Submissive, obviously. Jared wouldn’t have gone for anything else. Claire used to think the lights were on but nobody was home; now she just thought the woman was brainwashed into thinking she was living her best life. Maybe she was. If being under Jared’s thumb and only being loved if you were a willing baby-making machine was the best life, Claire certainly didn’t want it.

But a long time ago, she had. That was the only reason she didn’t hate Sara.

Jared was another story altogether. He knew exactly what he was doing every time he walked through the doors of the bakery, knew the pain he was digging out of its grave deep inside her. Hate was a mild word for what she felt for Jared.

“Can’t say the same for you,” Claire finally said, dropping her glance across Sara’s belly. At least the more children the woman had, the less she could stand directly in front of Claire, her pregnancy unavoidable.

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