All Hallows Airship: Seasons of Soldark, #3 by Liz Delton

Author:Liz Delton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tourmaline & Quartz Publishing
Published: 2022-10-25T00:00:00+00:00

Nine

Caz’s jaw dropped. “But—what—what kind of proof did they find? They wouldn’t have taken her in without—”

Shaking his head sadly, Grimlee said, “I don’t know, miss.”

“They’ll have to release her, right?” Caz felt her eyes tearing up.

Grimlee pressed his lips together. Instead of answering her question, he said, “I better get back to Daguerre in case I need to take a message, or Elmira calls for a ride. Mr. Harrington brought me over to his office to pick up the auto.”

Caz bobbed her head, biting the inside of her lip. She waved farewell to Grimlee, dumbstruck, and crossed the empty street back to the bakery.

Suddenly a well of emotion gushed up inside her chest, and it took all her strength to quash it down and keep from crying. This was all her fault. If only she hadn’t gone to the airfield, arousing suspicions.

Still holding the plate with her croissant on it, she stood next to her bicycle for a minute, collecting her thoughts, and just trying to breathe.

The black cat rubbed at her ankles, and it made her chuckle a little. She broke off the end of the chocolate-filled croissant and offered it to him. “Shall I call you Ganache?” Caz said idly as the cat all but inhaled the piece of pastry, getting more of the chocolate on his whiskers.

A chiming bell awoke Caz from her reverie and she looked up in surprise to see Hanson there, carefully holding a porcelain cup of coffee out in front of him. Her heart leaped at the sight of him. Her encounter with Grimlee had all but chased her conversation with Hanson out of her head, and the memory of touching his warm hand...

“I didn’t know if you were coming back in,” he said, lifting the coffee. “Figured you’d want this.”

It felt good to smile, and she accepted the cup, but now her hands were full of porcelain.

The cat had finished with his piece of croissant and was now rearing up on his hind legs to paw at her dress for more. Hands full, she shrugged and said, “I can’t help you, Ganache.”

Unamused, the cat continued to paw at her. “Argh,” she muttered, looking for somewhere to put something down.

“Here,” Hanson said, holding out a hand to take the coffee back. “I didn’t realize you had your hands full out here.”

She tore off a piece of the croissant for the cat and tossed it into her bicycle basket. “There, that should keep him occupied. Why don’t we—” she nodded toward the bakery door, and they returned to their table inside.

With a content sigh, she set down her plate and he returned her coffee. When she took a sip, it felt as if she sunk further into the cushioned chair in relief.

“So, is everything all right?” Hanson inquired, his eyes darting to look back out on the street.

“Oh, yes,” she said. “Well, no actually. My aunt’s at the constabulary now.”

Hanson’s mouth popped open in surprise. At that, something inside Caz’s chest snapped and she blurted, “This is all my fault!”

“What?” he exclaimed.

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