Page 55 of Knot So Sweet
"Beyond expectations." I show him my phone. "Enough work for months."
"That's incredible, Violet. You should be proud."
"I couldn't have done it without you. The idea, the support. You made this possible."
"The talent and work? That's all you."
The sincerity makes my chest tight. I reach across the table to squeeze his hand. "Thank you. For everything."
Then a sharp crash.
I pull my hand back. Garrick glares at a metal tray on the floor, surrounded by ruined rolls. The air around him crackles with barely contained rage.
Definitely not about the rolls.
"Everything okay?" I call out, unable to keep the edge from my voice.
He grunts and slams the rolls into trash without looking at me.
My chest tightens. Yesterday he couldn't stop touching me. This morning I'm invisible. Now I hold Liam's hand for two seconds and suddenly I exist again?
"He's been like this all morning," I whisper to Liam. "Cold. Distant. Like I did something wrong but won't tell me what."
"Like what?" Liam asks carefully.
"Like everything was perfect yesterday and then overnight he decided to hate me." The frustration comes out sharp. "I don't understand what changed."
Liam's expression shifts to something knowing. Something almost sympathetic. "How busy has it been?"
"Steadily packed since Tuesday. Maybe thirty percent more customers." I pull up my notes. "But that's not new. It's been five days. Why is he suddenly angry about it now?"
"Maybe it's not about the business." Liam's watching Garrick with an odd expression.
"Then what? Because yesterday we were..." I stop, not sure how much Liam knows about Garrick and me. "We were fine. Better than fine. And this morning he won't even look at me."
"Have you tried talking to him about it?"
I snort. "He won't talk to me. This morning I tried to say good morning and he grunted and walked away."
"He's not great with change."
"What changed? The tourists have been here all week. The article went live five days ago. Everything's been the same except his sudden decision to treat me like I have the plague."
"Maybe," Liam says slowly, "something scared him. Sometimes when things get real, when feelings get complicated, Garrick's first instinct is to pull back."
I stare at him. "You think he's scared?"
"I think he's probably terrified. Of what he's feeling. Of how fast it happened. Of what it means."
"So his solution is to pretend I don't exist?"
"His solution is usually to push people away before they can hurt him." Liam's voice is gentle. "It's not right. But it's what he does."
I glance at Garrick again. The tension in his shoulders. The way he's methodically working through orders with grim determination.
If Liam's right, if this isn't about the business or the tourists or anything I actually did wrong...
If he's just scared of what's happening between us...
