The Damaged Hearts Bargain (Tetherington Hearts #2)

Chapter Six

T he eyes looking back into hers were deep blue, the kind of blue that you saw on old china, and Cal’s heart was already beating so hard that it couldn’t beat any harder. She felt something trickle down the side of her cheek and moved to brush it off, but the woman was restraining her hands.

“Could you get off me?”

“I told you to stop, I shouted,” the woman said, her face a picture of confusion.

“You shouted sir,” said Cal, who had heard her but not registered it. “I didn’t think you were talking to me.”

“Given that you’re not a sir,” finished the woman, her breath coming fast. She was panting, she must have chased her the whole way down the block.

And then rugby tackled her.

“No,” Cal said. “No, I’m not.”

The woman swallowed, her face awfully close to Cal’s. “Uh, I’m sorry?”

Cal tried to move and couldn’t. “You could express that sorry a lot better by letting me get up.”

“I can’t do that.”

Whatever was trickling down the side of her face was warm and tickled her. “Why not?”

“You’re a shoplifter.”

“I absolutely am not. ”

“Yes, my boss—”

“Your boss what?” said Mr. Gupta, appearing unhurriedly. “Why are you pinning that woman to the ground, Lucy?”

Lucy looked up, looking even more confused than before. “Because you said to look out for the shoplifter,” she began.

“I said watch out she was a shoplifter,” said Mr. Gupta. He looked down at Cal. “Which I think we can both agree is true, is it not?”

Cal cleared her throat. It turned out that lying on the floor put you at a disadvantage in a serious conversation, and as much as she’d like to be indignant, she’d like more to be able to stand up. “Sort of.”

“Sort of?” Mr. Gupta said. “Sort of? Four packets of Monster Munch, a pack of Rollo’s, four penny chews and a copy of, let me see, Smash Hits, was it?”

“I was seven,” said Cal.

“Ah yes, but as they say, a leopard does not change its spots, isn’t that so?”

“Oh god,” said Lucy. She’d freed Cal’s arms but was still sitting astride her in a way that made Cal’s stomach feel tight and funny. “Oh god, I’ve… I’m so sorry. Oh god.”

“Again, that apology would appear far more genuine if you were to allow me to stand up,” Cal said dryly.

“Christ, yes, of course, yes.” She moved, climbing off Cal and standing up, holding out her hand.

Cal, not one to bear a grudge when it came to women with high cheekbones, took the hand and let herself be pulled to her feet.

“I’m so sorry,” Lucy said. “So, so sorry. I just… I’m sorry, really, I had no idea, I thought… Crap.”

“It’s alright,” said Cal, even though it really wasn’t alright.

“It’s not. It’s not at all. I’m really sorry. I must have misheard and then I tried to play the hero, and I really don’t know what I was thinking.” Lucy looked down at her with wide eyes. “And you’re bleeding.”

“Am I?” asked Cal, looking into those eyes and getting briefly lost in them.

“Yes,” Lucy said decisively.

“Huh.” Cal braved a smile.

Lucy smiled back. “Lucy,” she said, holding out a hand again. “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

“Cal,” said Cal, shaking her hand. “And I don’t live here. I grew up here, but… moved on. Just, um, visiting.” Probably best not to come out with the whole dead parent thing on the first meeting. Not that there’d be more meetings. Unless…

“So you’re staying?”

“For a few days,” Cal said.

Mr. Gupta rolled his eyes. “So, my employee was just doing due diligence, and we are not in America, so you cannot sue my shop for millions of dollars. I do not have millions of dollars. I apologize for Lucy’s over-zealousness and now, if you will forgive me, I must return to my business.”

He walked off and Cal watched him go.

“You weren’t going to sue, were you?”

Cal turned back to her. “That’d probably keep me in town for longer than I’d like.”

“Right,” said Lucy. “Um, listen, I really do apologize. It was all a misunderstanding.”

“I get it,” said Cal, who sort of didn’t. But she’d had such a morning already that a flying rugby tackle really was just par for the course at this point.

“Let me buy you a drink at the pub later, as a real apology,” said Lucy, a head taller than her and still looking down with those deep blue eyes.

And, much against her better judgment, Cal found herself nodding. “Yeah, yeah alright then.”

“Great, I’ll be there around seven,” said Lucy. “Um, better get back to it.” She turned and started to jog back to the newsagents and Cal watched her go.

MAYBE SHE WAS just putting off the moment when she had to open that blue front door. But Cal made her way back to the pub, ostensibly to clean up her face and change her shirt. Her nose had stopped bleeding, but it felt full and crackly, and her cheek stung when she touched it.

Lucy. Now she was new. There had been no Lucys in Tetherington when Cal lived in town. Lucy with her bright eyes and generous smile. Lucy who, under other circumstances, Cal would admit to being very attracted to.

Not here though. Not now. No, no. That would never do. No, Lucy was just a lifeline, the one friendly face Cal had met since coming back, just someone to sit with in the pub and someone to talk to. Someone so that she wasn’t so desperately alone.

She pushed through the pub door.

Everybody needed one friendly face, surely?

“Oh my god.” Rosalee dropped her bar towel and hurried around the bar. “Jesus wept. Just look at you.”

Cal, who hadn’t been expecting this kind of welcome, froze as Rosalee put an arm around her waist and began to lead her toward a chair.

“Just you come with me,” Rosalee said. “Jesus. I’d never have thought it, so I wouldn’t. Just you sit down, just right here. Give me one tick and I’ll be back.”

Cal let herself be pushed into a chair and then sat, bemused, as Rosalee disappeared behind the bar. What the hell was going on now? Rosalee had barely had a kind word to say to her when she’d actually lived in town, and was obviously far from thrilled that she was back. Yet here she was, acting like… Ah. Acting like Cal was the walking wounded.

“I’ve got the first aid kit,” Rosalee said, bustling back around the bar with a white case and laying it on the table. “Just you let me get this cleaned up.”

“It’s fine,” Cal said.

“It’s not fine. I’m not going to pretend that I’m happy you’re here,” Rosalee said as she opened up the case and pulled out disinfectant. “But I’m not going to stand for this kind of behavior either. Who did this? ”

“It’s not what you think.”

“Is it not?” asked Rosalee. “This is going to sting.” She held a disinfectant soaked bandage to Cal’s face.

Cal winced. “No, it’s not. This was an accident.”

“An accident. Like when Emily Grant used to accidentally walk into cupboard doors?” Rosalee pulled out another pad of cotton wool. “Her old fella’s in jail now, by the way.”

“No better than he deserves,” grunted Cal. “But no, not that kind of accident. An actual one.”

“And pigs might fly.”

Cal took a deep breath and winced again because Rosalee was not a gentle nurse. Then she spilled the details of what had just happened.

A couple of minutes later, Rosalee was fixing a small plaster on Cal’s cheek and shaking her head. “It wasn’t a good idea, Callan, you know it wasn’t a good idea.”

“What? Coming back here?” Cal said. “It wasn’t exactly a plan. I had to come back, remember?”

“Why now? Why not three months ago when it happened? Or long before that, when your mother needed your help?” Rosalee asked, packing up the medical bag.

“My mother needed nothing from me,” said Cal. “Besides, she never said a word, never asked, and probably didn’t even know where to find me.”

“Because you ran away,” Rosalee pointed out.

Cal bit her lip. She wasn’t going to get into this with Rosalee.

“You should leave,” Rosalee said. “It might have been an accident this time, but people are angry with you in this town. You have a reputation, Callan.”

Cal gritted her teeth. “And no one can ever change, can they?” she spat. She was tired, angry and hurting. “I’ve got every right to be here, Rosalee. I’m going about my business and everyone else can think what they like.”

Rosalee held up both hands. “Alright, alright, keep your hair on. I was just trying to be helpful.”

“Oh, like when you were gossiping after I came in? ”

Rosalee had the grace to blush. “Jim has the right to know who’s staying in his pub.”

Cal shook her head. “This is why I left. Everyone always thinks they know everything in a small town, don’t they? But no one actually bothers to find out the truth. They just assume the gossips know what they’re talking about.”

Rosalee scooped up the rubbish from the table. “Just do what you need to do and then go back to your life, Callan.”

“That’s exactly what I was intending to do.”