Inked Obsession (Montgomery Ink Fort Collins #2) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,22
cool breeze on my skin as I tried to catch up with everything around me. I remembered the touches on my shoulder, the deep hugs from those who loved me. My brothers hadn’t been able to come. They’d all been overseas themselves, and every time I thought about it, I could barely catch my breath. Because what if they didn’t come back? What if they died over there, just like Marshall had? They had all been spread across the world in different places at the time, though I had known they were coming back soon. To their home in Texas.
Maybe I should go there. Perhaps I should go and let my brothers take care of me for a little while as I figured out what to do. Could I share the same state with people who hated me? Who wanted nothing from me but the money their dead son had left me? Could I share the same state with a woman Marshall had loved, one he’d taken to bed that eventually gave life to a little girl? A child with his eyes.
I swallowed hard and set my pencil down. Then I looked at the sketch in front of me and shook my head.
“What a waste,” I whispered. I crumpled the paper, knowing it wasn’t nearly good enough nor salvageable. I would start over, and I would have time. I had two more commissions to start before I could take a break. First, I had to get through these.
I couldn’t just sit here and mope, thinking about Marshall and the fact that everything I’d known was a lie. I needed to do something. I needed coffee. I didn’t want to make coffee. I had to get out of the house.
“I’m going to get coffee,” I told myself. I had reached the point where I was talking aloud to the emptiness of my home, trying to encourage myself to actually leave the house. I was officially losing my mind. I really needed to get out. I shook my head, put everything away, made sure I at least had on a bra, and made my way to my car.
Annabelle and Jacob were at work, and nobody was outside when I got into my front seat. My garage was full of things from my old house that I wasn’t sure what to do with, mostly Marshall’s stuff, and a lot of Jacob’s old things that they hadn’t fully integrated into Annabelle’s place. I didn’t mind sharing the space, and I still had enough room to park if I wanted to. I had been too tired the night before to bother.
There was something truly wrong with me if that was the case.
I made my way to my favorite coffee shop a few miles down the road and figured maybe I should just go in and order something rather than going through their small drive-thru. I picked up my bag, made sure I didn’t look like a horror show, and walked inside. The place was decently empty since it was the middle of a workday and not around lunchtime. I went up to order my drink. The barista smiled brightly at me, her red and curly hair piled on top of her head, an eyebrow ring glittering in her brow. She looked hot with it. Maybe I should get an eyebrow ring. Or my tongue pierced. Or dye my hair pink.
Or I needed to get some sleep.
“What can I get you?” she asked.
“A non-fat, sugar-free, caramel latte,” I said. “No whip.”
“Sounds good to me. I take it you don’t want any extra caramel sauce on top, then?” she asked with a wink.
I frowned, wondering why I was ordering my usual when nothing about my current situation was usual. “You know what, give me all the sugar. I’ll still take the fat-free milk, but I want sugar. And the caramel sauce. And whip. It’s been that kind of day.”
The girl’s brows rose for a second, and then she grinned. “You know what, I can do that. And since I’m the manager, I’m giving you a cookie on the house.”
I nearly started crying. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Sure, I don’t. But I want to. Because…yay, sugar.”
I held back a sigh.
“Yes, sugar is amazing. Thank you. Seriously. Thank you.” I said that all through gritted teeth because, apparently, I looked like I was manic enough to need a free cookie. I would take it. I would take anything to make me smile again.