Page 13 of Before and After

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“And I know you’re giving everything to your nephew. You should be proud of the job you’re doing.”

She blinked at me and tilted her head. “Who are you, and what have you done with our head of security?”

She made me want to smile. I realized I like seeing her pleased and happy. How would it feel to make her happy all the time? She had shadows under her eyes and I knew she wasn’t getting enough sleep. I knew she didn’t have much free time. What if someone helped share that load?

Not your job, Castro.

“Okay, you two.” Tessa appeared. “This one or this one?” She held up two small squares of fabric.

Shit. They were both shades of brown with some sort of stripe in them.

“That one.” Allie pointed to the one on the right.

“I agree,” I added quickly.

Tessa beamed. “That was my choice as well. I think the shades go really well with our luxury mountain lodge theme.” Then she pulled something out of her pocket.

It was a bar of chocolate. It was wrapped in patterned white and gold paper.

“Your reward.” She handed the bar to Allie.

Allie’s eyes widened. “Dandelion!” Her lips curled into a smile. “You’re a goddess, Tessa.” She clutched the bar to her chest like it was made of gold.

I frowned. “Dandelion?”

Allie spun, pure joy on her face. “Thebestchocolate in the world. It’s small batch chocolate made in San Francisco. They make single-origin dark chocolate using just two ingredients: cocoa beans and organic cane sugar. That’s it. And it tastes like heaven.”

She looked like she’d been given an all-expenses paid vacation.

“The only place they sell it in the entire state of Colorado is in The Nook here in Windward. Tessa’s aunt owns the store.” She ripped open the package, broke off a bit of dark chocolate and took a bite. “Mmm. I’m going to savor this. Thanks, Tessa.”

I watched Allie eat another piece of chocolate. I tried not to look at her lips.

She broke off another piece and held it out. “Try it.”

“I don’t really eat chocolate.”

She smiled. “Of course you don’t, but try this.”

I took the square and popped it in my mouth. The rich, nutty flavor hit me and my eyebrows rose.

“Told you,” she said smugly.

She was right. The dark chocolate was good.

Then she carefully folded the wrapper over the chocolate and slipped it into her pocket.

“You’re going to hoard it?”

“It’s a treat and I need to make it last. I can’t afford fancy expensive chocolate anymore.” She shook her head. “It’s all Reese’s peanut butter cups these days. They’re Ollie’s favorite.”

My chest tightened. She couldn’t afford her favorite chocolate? I hated that.

The ring of a cellphone interrupted, and Allie fished around in her bag. “Crap, that’s mine.”

She pulled her phone out and an unreadable look crossed her face. My best guess, it was part annoyance and part resignation.