Evers & Afters (Dare With Me #2) - J.H. Croix Page 0,59

Coffee when it wasn’t in a truck.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Cammi

“What are you talking about?” I asked Susie, a little exasperated with her.

“Elias was at the hospital yesterday morning. So was that woman who showed up at the brewery.”

“Her name is Sandra,” I forced out. Maybe I didn’t know her, but it felt weird to refer to her as “that woman” over and over again.

“Why are you telling me this?” I adjusted the phone between my ear and shoulder and nudged a stack of clean towels in place by the espresso machine in my coffee truck.

“I called Violet,” Susie explained.

Now I was more confused. “What? What does Violet have to do with this?”

“She knows why Elias was there. He was in the lab.”

I couldn’t help myself. “What did Violet say?”

Susie let out an aggrieved sigh. “She won’t tell me anything! She said she has to protect confidentiality. She wouldn’t even acknowledge he was there. Which is ridiculous because I was there in the waiting room at the same freaking time, and she saw us both. It’s like she wants me to pretend I didn’t see him.”

Violet Hamilton worked in the lab at the hospital and was a friend. We all knew her well, and she was awesome.

“Well, would you want her just telling people why you were there? Come to think of it, why were you there?” I asked.

“Oh, no biggie,” Susie said. “Just my annual numbers thing where they check cholesterol and all that. Elias was in and out super-fast, and Sandra was there before him only to fill out paperwork. She was gone by the time he got there if you were wondering.”

I totally was, but I wasn’t going to fess up to it. “This isn’t really helping,” I pointed out.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Susie said. “They weren’t there together. He looked kinda down and told me to tell you he wants to talk to you. Are you ignoring his texts and calls?”

“So what if I am?” I mumbled. “I’m busy, and I think that’s for the best right now. I already had one round of finding out some kind of major stuff a guy was hiding from me. Elias and I weren’t even that serious, and I just don’t think I’m ready for a relationship. Maybe it’s not a big deal, but I’m freaking out, and I need to get a grip.”

I could sense Susie’s frustration through the phone line. “Sweetie, just—”

“Susie, I know you mean well, and I love you for it. But I need to not be freaking out right now. I really can’t do this. I’ve gotta go. I promise we’ll talk later.

I hung up the phone and sat down on an overturned plastic bucket with a hefty sigh. Tears were stinging my eyes, and I was tired. I was legitimately tired, but I also knew I was right. I needed some time to gather myself together, mentally and emotionally. I was going to talk to Elias when I was ready. But I couldn’t rush into it. I was basically losing my shit over this. I was already falling in love with someone else. Why, oh why, did Elias have to be the kind of guy that I fell for so freaking fast? This was way worse than with any other guy.

Of course, now I couldn’t help but wonder why Elias went to the hospital lab. My brain went right to the obvious possibility—a paternity test. Resting my elbows on my knees, I looked around my little coffee truck. Despite my emotional tumult, a weary smile curled my lips. I loved this little space. It was all mine, and I was so proud of what I’d done. I was a little anxious—okay, maybe more like losing-sleep kind of anxious—about my new business. Yet, I thought perhaps I was up to the challenge.

It was early, earlier than I usually got here. Like me, Susie was an early morning worker, so she’d known I’d be up when she called. I stood from the plastic bucket and tapped the keyboard to power up my laptop. I quickly made a few orders for supplies here and checked my email to see if the sellers had sent over their stock status yet. They were lining up supply orders for the next two months so that I could walk into this with things ready to roll. With Susie’s firm guidance, we’d made sure that was part of the contract. There was nothing from them in my email yet, but it was still early.

I wasn’t