Page 68 of Bad Wolf's Nanny

“Who’s it for?” Lola asked warily.

Cassie raised her brows. “You, if you’re brave. Or me, if you go for the tea instead.”

Lola stood slowly, brushing her skirt down. “Not that I’m not grateful, but what are you two doing here?”

“We were in the area,” Daisy said.

“Uh-huh.”

“And we were thinking about you,” Cassie added. “Just wanted to check in. You know. See how you’re holding up.”

Lola crossed her arms, instantly retreating into the posture she’d perfected over years of awkwardness—prim, proud, untouchable. “I’m fine.”

“Of course you are,” Cassie said gently, “that’s why you look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

Daisy stepped around the desk and set the tea down like she was delivering something fragile. Her eyes were full of sympathy, but not the cloying kind. The honest kind. The kind that cracked something in Lola’s chest.

“I heard from Ethel that you’ve been doing extra shifts here,” Daisy said softly, “we just wanted to make sure you’re not burying yourself.”

“Work is productive,” Lola said, clearing her throat, “it’s...useful. Unlike crying into one’s pillow or…or waiting for someone who doesn’t want you to change their mind.”

Cassie winced, “Okay. That’s fair. But—”

“I’m not waiting for him,” Lola added quickly. Too quickly, “I have my work. I have Sam. I’ve been fine without a mate for this long. I don’t need one now.”

Neither of them said anything.

Lola shifted her weight. “You don’t have to say anything, really. I know what I am. I’m not some stunning warrior female or pack royalty. I’m just a researcher. A scholar. I should’ve known better than to think someone like Dane—”

Her voice broke.

Daisy reached out instinctively, but Lola turned her head away. Her eyes burned.

“I didn’t mean to care this much,” she whispered, voice cracking.

And then, like a dam bursting, she was crying. Quietly, fiercely. Hiding her face in her hands like it might somehow save her from the humiliation of it.

Cassie was beside her in a second, looping her arm around her shoulders.

“Oh, Lola,” she said, “it’s okay. Let it out.”

“I’m sorry,” Lola muttered, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I wasn’t expecting to cry on a Monday. I had very different plans.”

“Tears are pretty standard for a Monday,” Cassie said, steering her toward one of the cushioned reading chairs like she did this kind of thing often, despite the slightly panicked look Lola caught her sending Daisy. Daisy cleared her throat and took over, guiding her into the chair, arranging the cushions around her like she was some sort of baby.

It just made Lola cry harder.

Daisy handed her a tissue and sat on the armrest beside her. “You don’t have to apologize. Ever. Especially not for caring about someone.”

Lola exhaled shakily and looked down at her lap. Her knuckles were pale from clutching the balled-up tissue. “I don’t know why I thought…”

Cassie leaned in, brows up, “Why did you think what?”

“That I mattered to him.”

Neither of the other women said anything immediately. Lola’s throat closed in anticipation. They were going to think she was so stupid. She was so stupid. Stupid to think she ever meant anything to Dane at all. They were probably trying to come up with ways to tactfully say it to her. Break the news that she’d been a fool from day one.

But then Daisy, ever gentle, offered quietly, “Youdomatter to him.”