Radcliffe gave her a look that said they’d now stepped into
his territory, landed safely in his world where things made
sense because they were business transactions. They’d moved
away from emotions and feelings, into the land of contracts
and agreements. Dani didn’t want to be there, but she’d sealed
her fate the minute she thought she could throw something
back at him.
And really, why not? She was going to get left. This thing
with Emily couldn’t last because nothing lasted. Nothing
good. Nothing bad. Nothing was permanent. If she was going
to be the one left behind yet again, why not have something
she could keep out of the deal? That was why she’d entered
into the agreement in the first place, wasn’t it? So that she
didn’t end up losing the store that meant so much to her. It had
meant everything.
Why it no longer felt that way, Dani couldn’t say. She didn’t
want to say. She had others to think about. Andi. Her
customers. Mr. Pickles. What would she do with her cat if she
had nowhere to go? She couldn’t go back to having nothing.
To not even having a safe place to call home. She’d lived that
way since she was ten years old. The store was the first real
reprieve she’d ever had. That’s why she cared so much about
it. She just needed a reminder of how things were before.
Radcliffe had seen to it that she got one.
“A building,” Radcliffe said cautiously, steering the
conversation back to the way he wanted it to go. To something
he could navigate his way around. “I’ll buy a building for you.
Whatever you want, within a certain budget.”
Dani shook her head. “No,” she said, but her voice cracked.
Radcliffe couldn’t keep the smug expression off his face. He