A Deed Most Bitter (33rd Street Roastery Cozy Mysteries Book 4) by Summer Prescott

Author:Summer Prescott [Prescott, Summer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2022-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

11

Paige had sunk back into the pillowy cushions of the couch in the reading nook, where she stayed, observing the rest of the group that had gathered in Mallory’s apartment. Rosaline. James. Ricky. Derrick.

No one spoke much.

Paige didn’t speak much.

Rohan came and sat next to her, putting his hand on hers, and she knew immediately that speaking her mind would help her find at least a measure of peace and relieve some of her guilt over keeping things from him that were best shared.

As her eyes followed the sweeping patterns of snow outside the window, and her thumb touched the edge of his sweater’s sleeve, she found herself feeling oddly detached from her current circumstances. She had turned inward. Her conversations were taking place in her head when they needed to be taking place with Rohan. He deserved that.

“I had a therapy appointment today,” Paige confessed, still so rattled from the day’s events that she wasn’t even certain that the words had been released into the world.

Rohan nodded without speaking, as he was wont to do. She enjoyed that about him. He allowed her to proceed in her way, and in her time. There was never a rush, never impatience.

“It was going to be the first one in a while,” she continued, feeling safe in his silence. “With a new doctor. I’m trying to work on me…my anxiety. I’m doing much better and feeling like a functional human, mostly, but you know how I can get about things.” She smiled wryly.

Rohan, again, only nodded.

“Do you know what scared me the most about it?” Paige asked.

“What would that be?” he finally spoke, his voice warm.

“Context.” Paige shook her head and chuckled softly. “Telling her the full story about the turn my life has taken. She’ll ask me what I do, and what am I supposed to tell her? I’m an overly-educated barista who helps solve mysteries.”

Rohan laughed, and Paige smiled, liking the sound of it.

“Yeah.” Paige grinned. “I’ll be diagnosed with more than anxiety if I tell them that.”

“So, I’m guessing that going into that room wasn’t exactly helpful in achieving your goals of being anxiety-free,” he replied.

“Not really,” Paige said. “But, even though this was hard for me to bring up, I wanted you to know. I’m working on understanding what makes me tick and how to deal with it.”

“Well, something must be working out for you, because I find you delightful,” Rohan confessed, a tinge of pink rising in his cheeks.

“Delightful. Not the word that I would’ve used, but I’ll take it. Thank you for listening and for being so cool about things.” Paige looked up into his eyes and almost immediately dropped her gaze, unable to quite process the depth of feeling that she’d seen there.

Perceptive Rohan came to her rescue. He seemed to do that quite a bit.

“That’s me, Mr. Cool.” He sat up straight and dramatically ran a hand through his glossy hair.

His theatrics had their intended impact. Paige laughed.

“Okay, Mr. Cool, back to the matter at hand.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.