A few minutes later, she approaches. “Hi, Skye.”
“Hi, Betsy. I wanted to return your money from the other night.” I hand her the bills. “Braden ended up picking up the entire check.”
“You came all the way here for that?” she asks.
“I also came for lunch. I’ve been meaning to try the new deli and café down the street.”
“Oh, good. I’d hate to think you made a trip just to give me a few dollars.”
“Why? It’s your money.”
“You could have easily kept it and I’d never know.”
I lift my eyebrows. “I’d never do that.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” Her eyes become glassy, as if she’s looking through me.
“Betsy? You okay?”
“Yeah,” she says quietly, eyeing her other customers. “I should apologize to you, for…you know.”
“For what?”
“For breaking down in the bathroom. You didn’t need to see that.”
“It’s okay.”
“Just be careful, Skye.”
“Be careful of what? Braden?”
She nods.
“I don’t understand. Everything the man does is scrutinized by the press and the public. He hasn’t had a tiny blemish on his record in the last ten years. How am I supposed to believe he’s bad news, as Addie says, when the worst thing I’ve read about him is that he’s a womanizer?”
“Isn’t that bad enough?”
My heart speeds up a little. “He’s not the first billionaire who likes women, and as long as he’s faithful to me while we’re together, I don’t see why it should matter.”
“He’s faithful to you?”
“We haven’t been together long, but yeah, so far he is.”
She clears her throat. “Addison came into the shop this morning.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She doesn’t want me talking to you.”
“Why shouldn’t you talk to me?”
“She’s all uptight about you and your new Instagram posts. She’s being weird. I haven’t seen her like this since…” She shakes her head.
“Since when?”
Betsy shakes her head. “Nothing. If you’re not going to buy anything, I need you to leave, Skye.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
I follow Betsy to the counter and set my baguettes down. “I don’t have a dog, but I’ll buy some treats for a friend’s dog.” I place a bag of small bone-shaped cookies on the counter.
She rings me up quickly. “Eleven dollars and thirty-eight cents.”
I insert my credit card into the chip reader. “What are you scared of, Betsy?”
She doesn’t look me in the eye. “I’m not scared of anything.”
“Look at me.”
She hesitates a few seconds but then meets my gaze and speaks quietly. “I like you, and I like Tessa. We all clicked so well, and I’ll miss you guys, but I can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“Hang out with you guys anymore.”
“Why?”
“I just can’t.”
“Whatever Addie has on you—”
“She doesn’t have anything on me. It’s me, Skye. I’m the one who has something on her.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Then what do you care what she says?”
“She’s a huge influencer. She could ruin me.”
Betsy’s hands tremble slightly. Only slightly, but I notice. She’s frightened of Addison. But why?
“Maybe she’s afraid you’ll ruin her,” I say quietly.
Betsy looks around the store. Two customers are browsing. One leaves. When the other chooses a few items and then pays for them, Betsy thanks him politely and then locks the door to the shop, placing the Closed sign in the window.
“Closing for lunch?” I ask.
She nods.
“Want to join me?”
She nods again.
“You just said you don’t want to hang out with me anymore.”
“I said I can’t hang out with you anymore. Big difference.”
I nod. I get it. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“I like you guys a lot. It’s been a while since I’ve met any new friends. My shop keeps me busy. I only have one employee and he’s part-time. He works a couple of evenings a week. The shop is doing well, but without Addie’s influencing, I’m not sure I’d stay afloat. Every post she does brings in a huge influx of business.”
“You’re local. Why not expand?”
“I can’t afford it.”
“Sure you can. Expand into online shopping. Addie brings business to big companies like Susanne who have stores all over the world, plus their website.”
She widens her eyes. Has she truly never thought of this?
“Do you think it would work?”
“Everyone shops online these days. And people love their dogs. They’re always looking for ways to pamper them.”
“True. I do great business during the holidays. You wouldn’t believe how much people spend.”
“Think of how much more you can sell online. You can set up an Etsy shop, too!”
She hesitates. “There are a million online pet stores out there.”
“But there’s only one Betsy’s Bark Boutique.”
She smiles. “You think I can do it?”
“I do. We can discuss it over lunch.”
…
I return home after lunch. I didn’t press Betsy to talk about Addie, and we spent the whole lunch talking about expanding her business. She returned to her shop excited, with an agreement from Tessa—we called her—to run some numbers.
My cell phone rings.
“Hey, Tess,” I say.
“You’ll never guess what I did.”
“Probably not.”
“Well, Betsy’s a doll, and I’ve been feeling super guilty about lying to her about having a dog, so I took a late lunch after you guys called and went to the shelter. I found Rita!”