Page 20 of Knot That Difficult

Skylar and April already blabbed to Ben about my crush, which is why Ben had made it clear that I should find my pack.

“Yup.” Skylar smirks. “And I don’t think heneedsto be here for a coffee delivery. He’s the owner of the company, after all. Interesting that he would travel all the way to Isleton just to drop off some beans.”

“Stop it,” I murmur, unbuckling my seat belt and opening the passenger door.

“You need a pack, kiddo,” Skylar adds as she exits the car.

“I’m not a kid.”

“Then stop acting like one.”

I gape at Skylar, who hurries ahead of me into the café.

* * *

It’s packed today.

We have a new macaron flavor—raspberry vanilla—and we’ve already had preorders set up, so customers are showing up to pick up their boxes.

The new flavor was my idea, by the way. Tammy encouraged me to come up with more flavors, and I crafted this one in the middle of the night with Ben watching me.

Sometimes I can’t sleep, so I’ll spend the night baking. I also blow up the group chat with Skylar and April, who yell at me in the morning to stop texting them in the middle of the night.

Tammy is at the café today too, helping run the cash register. She looks like an older version of April, with kind light brown eyes and soft features.

When she sees me, she gives me a friendly wave, and I run up and hug her, interrupting the transaction with the customer.

“Dev, honey, grab your apron,” Tammy says, giving me a quick squeeze. “We’re busy right now. We’ll catch up later, okay?”

“I know. I missed you,” I say, then mouth a quicksorryto the person in line. I head to the back, toss my purse on one of the stock shelves, and grab my apron.

After, I head to the front and spend the next few hours brewing coffee and running back and forth between the register and the pastry display. Occasionally, I’ll bring a cookie or latte to a table.

I love it. I’m allowed unlimited access to the coffee, so I take a few sips here and there as I race to fulfill customer orders.

“The raspberry vanilla is our most popular, by the way,” Tammy adds once the café has quieted and we’re almost out of the limited-edition macaron. “You did great, Devyn. Everyone loves it. Better than the Valentine’s Day flavors we did.”

I soak up Tammy’s praise and grin widely. Anytime I can make her happy, it’s worth it.

She’s wise, kind, and welcoming.

The minute she hired me, I knew I was in good hands.

She’s encouraged me to learn more and never doubted me, even when I was made a manager out of necessity because April and Skylar went missing.

She’s just thebest.

April is truly lucky to have Tammy as a mom.

“So, now that the rush is gone”—Tammy closes the cash register and leans on the counter— “tell me about your trip. Oh, but also, we’re waiting for a delivery from Connor. He should be here any minute.”

Connor.

I forgot about Connor once I threw myself into my work, but at the mention of his name, my inner Omega purrs to life.

Alpha.

Tammy raises an eyebrow and chuckles at whatever she sees on my face. “Oh. I heard all about Connor. He’s been asking about you, apparently.”

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