Page 75 of A Spot of Tea
“Yeah.” She stood at the window, her back to him.
Joey sighed. Why had she come with him if she wasn’t going to talk to him?
“Do you want me to bring you some stuff? Clothes, food? A blanket?”
She cleared her throat. “That would be nice. Sure.”
He waited for her to say more, but when she didn’t, he shrugged. “All right then.”
Joey spun, shutting the door behind him.
Sure, she’d come along, but she wasn’t going to involve him. She’d cut him out of looking for the robber long ago, and now she was leaving him out even more.
He could take the hint. He wasn’t wanted here. Eliza didn’t trust him – not really – and she wanted nothing to do with him. As soon as his contract expired, he’d be gone. She’d never have to hear from him again.
His breath grew heavy and hot. This whole job was a mistake. He’d take whatever came up next and forget any of it had happened.
Joey ducked down to untie the plane and pulled out his phone. He could send Mackenzie a text, but would it be better for Eliza to call? They would think he’d kidnapped her.
He ran back to the office, slowing when he got to the door and heard something.
At first, he thought it was an animal – a bird, maybe. But he leaned closer, listening.
Crying. It was Eliza, sobbing and gasping and sniffing.
He knocked on the door, loudly announcing, “Hey, I forgot something.”
Silence, then, “Come in!”
The door creaked as he pushed it open. “I’ll leave you my phone in case you want to get in contact with anyone.”
Eliza spun around. Her nose was red and her cheeks were streaked with black. Apparently, she did wear makeup.
The burning fury in his chest disappeared, as though someone had thrown salted, stinging seawater on the flame, extinguishing it in a flash.
She waved a hand. “That’s really nice of you. I appreciate you doing this.”
She took the cell phone from his hand.
“My password is 1-2-3-5,” he said. “That’ll unlock it. The battery might be a little low, but I can find a charger.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
Not even a crack at how terrible of a passcode that was.
She fidgeted, her breath jagged. “You should probably go. In case anyone comes looking for me. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
He stared at her, acutely aware of how loud his breathing was. His mind tumbled and his heart accelerated in his chest.
She wasn’t afraid of him. She was afraidforhim.
Joey sucked in a breath. He had to say something.“Right. I’ll be in touch.”
The door creaked on the way out.
He took off, the sea pen shrinking beneath him. He flew east, toward the tea shop, but he thought of the workers finishing their lunches and looking for him and turned around, pointing the plane toward Roche Harbor.
It wouldn’t help Eliza to have a bunch of guys making noise and stomping around, though. He could come up with an excuse as to why they needed to be done for the day. Russell wouldn’t mind, would he?
