The Quietest Shop on Main (Shops on Main #3)

Chapter 27

27

“ T hat’s it,” the middle aged woman said. She smiled kindly at Skyla, tucking her camera into her bag. “You’re free to clean up now.”

“Thank you,” Skyla said softly. Her smile still wasn’t cooperating today, but she offered what she could. She’d been watching for several hours as the officers went through her shop and picked up anything that looked like evidence and took pictures of everything else.

The woman gave her an odd look before nodding and walking away.

Skyla didn’t walk her to the door. Instead, her feet stood rooted to the floor. She couldn’t make herself walk farther into the disastrous room, but she also couldn’t leave.

The first tear slipped free, dripping down Skyla’s chin, followed quickly by another.

How had her life gone from so wonderful to so horrible in such a short amount of time?

Sniffling, Skyla wiped her face on the back of her sleeve. Her whole body was shaking. Partly from cold and partly from lack of energy. Her head was pounding, her vision was slightly blurry, and her stomach felt like it was eating itself, but Skyla couldn’t bring herself to care.

Did anything really matter any more?

It felt like it should, but Skyla wasn’t sure why or how to make herself respond.

“Hello?” The bell over the door rang, and heavy footsteps came into the shop.

Skyla sucked in a startled breath and wiped frantically at her face. She was in no shape to talk to customers today. Hadn’t she left the Closed sign up? She hurried toward the door. “I’m sorry, but we’re closed…” Skyla’s voice trailed off as she saw who had arrived.

More and more people came through her door, and Skyla couldn’t keep up with them all.

Harmony was in the front of the group. She smiled as she pulled off her gloves. “We’re here to help.”

Luca McCoy nodded, his bald head easily spotted over the others.

Shiloh had her arm wrapped around her son and smiled wide. “Put us to work.”

“Pearl and Ivory can’t get away,” Blaire said from the back. “But I’ve got hot chocolate and ice cream for when the work is done.”

“Ice cream might be my greatest paycheck yet!” one of the McCoy twins shouted as he slipped inside and began unbuttoning his coat.

“Better give him a cut-off, Blaire,” the other twin said wryly. “He’ll eat you out of your food truck.”

Chuckles rang through the group, but Skyla couldn’t join them.

She began to blink rapidly, the picture of the group growing wavy as her eyes filled with tears and she began to gasp for breath.

“Sweetie,” Harmony cooed. She quickly walked forward and wrapped her arms around Skyla.

“I’m sorry,” Skyla hiccupped. She tried to pull back. “I don’t want to mess up your scarf.”

“It’s washable,” Harmony assured her. “You’ve been through a lot. Just cry. It’s alright.”

The tears came harder, and after a moment, Skyla stopped trying to keep them at bay. Other voices came and went, some deep, some feminine. A few hands rubbed her back, but Skyla had no idea who they belonged to.

Now that she’d let the dam break, she couldn’t seem to reign it in, and when Harmony passed her over to one of the men…Skyla barely noticed.

It was nice. Being wrapped up in big, strong arms and up against a chest that seemed perfect for holding her weight.

It would have been nicer if she wasn’t blubbering like a child, but still Skyla decided whoever was holding her was a willing participant and she let them help.

When a large hand began combing through her hair and a kiss landed on top of her head, however, Skyla’s recognition of her surroundings began to come back.

She froze.

She knew this sweater. She recognized the smell of the ocean on it. She’d experienced that hand in her hair before and the pressure of that kiss.

Slowly, she turned her face upward. “Dalton?” she whispered.

One side of his mouth quirked up. “Hey,” he said softly.

Skyla leaned back, guilt eating at her already hurting stomach. She brushed down the front of her shirt. “What are you doing here?”

Dalton rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his weight. “I heard you needed help.”

“Oh.” So he wasn’t here for her. He was here because being a hero was second nature to him.

“Skyla…” Dalton cleared his throat and looked around. “Why don’t we get everyone organized and then we can talk?”

Skyla shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I get it.” She stepped back farther, putting distance between them.

If she’d wondered before how her life could get any worse…it had just happened.

Having him so close and yet so far away was worse than having him gone completely.

“Um…” She pushed her hair off her wet, sticky cheeks. Yikes. She probably looked like something that crawled out of the forest. “If some of you men would be willing to help with the furniture, that would be great.”

Her legs shook and her chest squeezed, but slowly, Skyla began asking her unexpected crew to do various tasks. And the time began to pass.

The afternoon waned, the sun went to bed, and the group began to dissipate.

It had to have been the longest day of her life when Shiloh came up and gave Skyla a hug.

“I hate to say it, but we gotta go,” the beautiful brunette said reluctantly.

Skyla offered the fake smile she’d been using all day. “I’m so grateful for your help.” She looked down at the boy. “You too, Zane. Thank you so much.”

He shrugged and looked at his mom. “I’m starving.”

“I know, bud. We’ll grab some dinner on the way home.” Shiloh turned back to Skyla. “Would you like us to come by tomorrow?” She waved at the shop. “It’s not quite done yet, and we’ve got time.”

Skyla shook her head, ignoring the migraine it brought on. “No. Thank you. You’ve all done so much. I’m going to keep the shop closed one more day and go through the inventory list. Then I’ll have a final list for Grady as to what was taken.”

Shiloh nodded and blew out a breath. “I’m sorry this happened to you,” she said softly. “One of these days we’re going to figure this out and stop it before it starts.”

Skyla forced her smile to spread wider and she nodded, but more words were clogged in her throat.

Once the last of the group went out the door, she locked it and rested her forehead against the cold glass, utterly spent.

She should probably go home to Grandpa, but Skyla didn’t know if she had the energy to drive or the energy to deal with him.

Instead, she let her legs go and slumped onto the floor. Someday, she’d offer proper gratitude for the miracle she just experienced with her friends coming to help clean up. She owed them big time.

But even that felt completely out of her reach at the moment.

Dalton had watched Skyla all afternoon. Her smile had shaken, her hands had trembled, her voice was barely audible, and her eyes had often been wet, but she’d kept moving.

She’d never stopped moving, never stopped saying thank you, and never stopped to address the situation between the two of them.

He was grateful her busy mind had lost track of everyone who had left because he’d been purposefully trying to be the last one left.

It had taken some work, but over the course of the afternoon, Dalton had convinced Analiese to humble herself enough to go over and take care of John so Dalton could take care of Skyla.

He knew Skyla well enough to know she was probably thinking about her grandfather, but the seriousness of the shop was keeping her from going to him.

It hadn’t been very many nights since Dalton had managed to ease her load, but he was going to try again…right now.

“Skyla?”

She gasped and flipped around. “Dalton,” she breathed, her chest heaving. “I…I didn’t know you were still here.”

He gave her a small grin. “Sorry. I was…” He shrugged. “I was being quiet on purpose.”

Skyla closed her eyes and hung her head before standing up. “I didn’t mean to lock you in,” she began.

Dalton took a step forward. “I’m not ready to go yet.”

Skyla stopped moving, looking at him warily. “I don’t have anything else for you to do tonight.”

Dalton swallowed. She was still being stand-offish. But after the way she’d cried in his arms, he knew he was going to have to follow Grady’s suggestion and man-up. Someone needed to be willing to take the first step.

He was officially volunteering.

“We need to talk.”

Skyla grew paler, and Dalton clenched his hands into fists to keep from reaching for her. “I’m not holding you to anything,” she began. “You said why you came.”

“And now I’m saying why I’m still here.”

She frowned.

“Skyla…” Dalton took another step. “I love you.”

Well…if ever a man had manned-up, that was how it was done.

Her eyes widened, and she fell back into the door. “W-what?”

He took another step. They were only a few feet apart now. “I said I love you.”

Tears immediately began spilling down her cheeks, and Dalton could stand it no more. Three more steps brought them toe to toe, and he pulled her into his arms.

He’d had a fleeting thought that she wouldn’t welcome his touch, but her hands immediately gripped his shirt and she buried her face against his sternum.

Not knowing what else to say for the moment, he held her.

And held her.

And held her.

Dalton had no idea how long she cried but he was starting to grow concerned that the tears weren’t the happy kind.

“I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I just…” Skyla took in two shuddering breaths before leaning back. “I thought you hated me.”

Dalton’s head jerked back. “Why would you think that?” he asked. “I stayed away because you told me to, not because I hated you.”

Skyla shook her head and wiped at her cheeks. “Maybe hate isn’t the right word. But I was horrible to you yesterday, and then when you arrived this afternoon, it felt like you made it very clear that you were here to help, not because of me.”

Dalton groaned and pulled her in tighter, burying his face in her hair. “I wasn’t sure you’d let me stay,” he whispered near her ear. “You were so upset, and I…I was angry that you were angry and…” He grunted. “I think it all just got blown out of proportion.”

“I was just so scared yesterday?—”

“I know,” Dalton assured her. He straightened a little, pulling her face up with his knuckle under her chin. Grady was right. She looked completely beat up. Bruises and bumps everywhere, and yet Dalton couldn’t look away.

She was still beautiful.

Fragile, but beautiful.

“I shouldn’t have taken it so personally,” he continued.

“And I shouldn’t have yelled or gotten upset at all.” She shook her head, then winced.

“When was the last time you took pain medication?” Dalton asked firmly.

Skyla rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know.”

Dalton frowned, a few other thoughts occurring to him. He’d seen firsthand how well Skyla took care of herself on a normal day, let alone when she and John were both hurt. “When did you last eat?”

Skyla pinched her lips together.

“Right.” Dalton took Skyla’s hand. He needed to get her taken care of before this went any further.

No matter how much he wanted to know her response to his declaration, their discussion would go much better if she didn’t feel like a punching bag while it was going on.

He set Skyla down on a chair in the back, started the kettle, and spent five minutes on his phone ordering dinner.

By the time he finished that, he made her a cup of tea, set it in front of her on the table, and finally sat down, with one ear tuned to the door so he’d know when dinner arrived.

“Okay.” He rubbed his hands together and finally looked at Skyla, then stilled.

The first genuine smile he’d seen all day was spread across her face.

“What?” he asked, automatically smiling back.

“Sometimes I think you take care of people more than I do,” she said softly, toying with the mug he’d handed her.

Dalton scoffed. “That’s absolutely untrue. You take care of everyone who crosses your path.” He pointed to his own chest. “I, on the other hand, pick and choose who I take care of.” He forced back another bout of fear and reached for her free hand. “And if you’re willing, I’d like to add you to the list permanently.”