Free Losing Romeo by Cindi Madsen Page B

grabbed a to-go order and left the store, the bell sounding again.
    Rosaline sat opposite Dafne. “She’s got to be the nicest girl I’ve ever met.”
    “Her mother’s like that, too. They’re just genuinely nice people who like to make everyone feel welcome.” Dafne took a sip of her latte. “Leanne was trying to convince me to let you spend some time in town with her.”
    A delicate bubble of hope rose up inside her. She was almost scared to breathe for fear she’d do it wrong and Dafne would keep her locked up forever.
    Dafne traced the rim of her cup with her fingertip. “I was thinking that if you work really hard in the office all this week, I’ll let you spend a few hours with Leanne on the weekend. Sound good?”
    “Sounds awesome.” Rosaline bit into a cinnamon roll—soft, sugary heaven. Yeah, she needed to order an entire box of baked goods so she could break into it whenever Dafne decided chicken and veggies were a full meal. She licked off the frosting, savoring every ounce of sweetness. “There’s, um, been something I’ve been meaning to ask you. About Bryson.”
    “I thought you were swearing off guys.”
    “Bryson’s just a friend. Getting to be anyway.” Rosaline leaned forward. “What happened to him?”
    Dafne tore off a section of Rosaline’s roll and tossed it in her mouth. “He used to go around the state entering all the motocross events. Won most of them, too, and I know he was hoping to go pro. But then…I’m not sure of all the exact details—I’m not even sure Bryson remembers what happened. He got into a fight with a group of guys, ended up in the hospital, and after that, he was a different kid.”
    She glanced around and then leaned her forearms on the table. “After that, he seemed to give up on life. He’s a good kid, and I care about him, but some days he’s okay and some days… Well, let’s just say if he suddenly pushes you away, try not to take it personally.”
    Spending time with Bryson yesterday made the day go by so much faster than boring filing. But if he was going to be hot and cold…
    Maybe I should keep my distance. I don’t want to get attached if he’s going to be one more person who hurts me.
    She’d already had enough people push her away, and she didn’t think she could stand one more.
    But Bryson and I have a different kind of relationship. There’s something about him that makes it easy to be myself. And I feel like he’s happier when we’re hanging out, too. We need each other. He won’t push me away.
    By the time they made it back to the truck, Rosaline was nice and buzzed on sugar, thinking that while she failed at yoga, she totally ruled at pastry eating. She flipped down the visor to make sure she didn’t have frosting on her lips and frowned at the mirror embedded in the plastic. “You know how we’ve got the Capulet eyebrows?”
    Dafne wrinkled the eyebrows in question and looked in the rearview mirror. “We do?”
    “Uh, yeah. And they require maintenance or you end up with a unibrow, a la Bert on Sesame Street .”
    Dafne still didn’t seem to be getting it, so Rosaline just blurted it out. “We both need our eyebrows waxed. I’m hoping there’s somewhere in a thirty-mile radius that could help us out with that.”
    “You think?” Dafne glanced in the mirror again. “I suppose they are getting rather full.”
    “‘Rather’ happened a while ago.”
    Offense pinched Dafne’s features. “Hey!”
    “Well, you weren’t taking subtle hints. We did yoga for our booties; now it’s time to get our faces in shape, and trust me, professional is the way to go. You could probably use a trim, too. Then you can wear your hair down instead of always twisting it up.”
    The engine roared to life as Dafne turned the key. “You make my confidence soar, you know that?”
    “First I crush it; then I help you fix it. Just leave it to me.”
     
    ***
     
    Aunt Dafne was taking deep breaths, her chest rising and falling with