first month we got to L.A. Us just scraping by created problems of its own. The only thing that made it tenable was me loving California and hanging out with these cool roommates we had. But actually leaving him? That took a year.” Delilah rolled her sleeve and motioned to the badass design on her arm. “He’s the reason why I got this tattoo.”
“It could’ve been worse,” Shea pointed out. “You could’ve married the guy. And instead of leaving after one year, you could’ve waited twelve.”
Delilah’s jaw slacked a little as she righted her sleeve. Shea just gave a little shrug. In the name of girl talk, it had felt safe in that moment to give it away. Plus, the night before had been so bad it was harder than normal to bear the isolation.
“Even the bad relationships have their purpose,” Delilah mused. “I never would’ve gone to culinary school if I hadn’t followed him to California. Some of my best years so far were the ones I spent living up north—it was nice, living close to Dev. And I gained perspective, too. Turns out, I missed this place.”
“Well, you built something special,” Shea murmured, envying Delilah more than a little bit. “Everything you bake is pure happiness.”
“I have a lot more time for my real job, thanks to you.”
“So where is this rock star now?” Shea wanted to know. “Let me guess—playing open mic night at the old folks’ home?”
Delilah broke into a hearty chuckle. “Actually, he’s the lead singer for Selfish Bliss.”
Shea blinked and shook her head as if she’d heard wrong. “For real? Adam Jinn is your ex-boyfriend?”
“Two years ago, he wrote a song about me. Unoriginally, it’s called ‘Delilah.’”
But if Shea wasn’t mistaken, the look on Delilah’s face was slightly pleased.
“Word of advice…” Delilah threw Shea a look. “Never mention Adam in front of Dev. He’s still mad about a few things.”
16
The Bureaucracy of Things
Dev
“They want back in.”
Brody’s phone talk was efficient, though it had taken Dev weeks to decode. The man skipped information. He also had a flair for drama and never used a paragraph to say something if he thought a sentence would do.
“The insurance adjusters?” Dev clarified.
“Affirmative,” Brody said. “They need more time at the scene.”
It was code for them needing more time to find loopholes in their obligation to pay the claim on Number Eight. Dev had a low opinion of insurance companies in general. But even he had to admit—it was right for them all to be suspicious as hell.
“When do they want to come out?”
Dev threw his pen down on the counter and ran his fingers through his hair. All week, he’d managed his time so he could leave The Freshery early today and head out on a hike before he had to be back down the mountain for Silvio’s delivery to The Big Spoon. And tomorrow was out, supposing the forecast was right in predicting a 90% chance of afternoon rain.
“Today,” Brody confirmed. “I think it’s best you handle this one. Packard’s boys are down there, too. Last time things got a little hot.”
“Shit,” Dev waited until Brody hung up to curse the ruination of his plans. Dev needed this hike to clear his head. He was starting to suspect what happened at the mills was an inside job. He still hadn’t been able to get a call back from Packard’s business offices from anyone willing to hear his proposal, and he was still pissed off about his conversation with Delilah about Shea.
As Dev wended his way through town, his thoughts remained on the latter. Word had gotten around that she was behind all the good changes at The Big Spoon. Locals rarely invested much time in getting to know newcomers who no one expected to stay. Shea wasn’t the first New Yorker to come off-season to live in one of the mansions on Elk Mountain. But she was certainly the first one to take a job on Oliver Street and entrench herself in the life of the town.
Everyone who was getting to know Shea was also getting to like her, which should have made Dev happy. He didn’t like to think of her all alone. Only, her working at The Big Spoon meant he saw her less. He didn’t like being under the watchful eye of his sister whenever he saw her there, either. And for some reason, she’d all but stopped her morning drop-ins at the store.
If he had any time for it, he might like to