“I don’t believe in looking gift horses in the mouth,” Tulsi countered. “Let me watch the shop while you go run and get a coffee and tell that man you’ll go out with him. He said he was headed to the coffee shop. He’s probably still there.”
“No!” Mia shouted over her shoulder as she dug through her tiny closet. “You have to get to work.”
“I can be a few minutes late,” Tulsi shouted back. “Come on, you have nothing to lose. If you can’t stand the guy, it’s not like he’s local, and you’ll have to run into him around town forever.”
Mia didn’t reward her meddling best friend with an answer. She tugged on her favorite brown jeans—the beaten in pair that were nearly as comfortable as pajamas—and paired them with a peach tank top. She added a watercolor silk scarf around her neck, ran curl-cream-covered fingers through her hair, smoothed on lip-gloss and mascara, and was down the stairs less than five minutes later, ready for a fresh start to her day.
A fresh start with no insanely handsome men in it. Just the way she liked it.
“I’m serious.” Tulsi was perched on top of the counter, scrolling through something on her phone, but looked up when Mia thumped down the stairs. “My first client isn’t for an hour. I was going to do some cleaning up around the barn first, but that can wait until I’m finished for the day.”
Mia shook her head, trying not to let her irritation show. Tulsi had been one of her best friends forever, but her skin wasn’t as thick as Bubba’s or Ross’s. Tulsi’s sass was only skin deep. Beneath the surface, Tulsi was a shy soul, who felt things more deeply than anyone Mia had ever met. If Mia lost her temper, Tulsi would get her feelings hurt, and there was nothing sadder than Tulsi’s eyes when she was sad. It had been seeing those big blue eyes filled with tears on the first day of kindergarten twenty years ago that had put them on the road to friendship in the first place.
Three other girls had been teasing Tulsi, the shortest kid in class, about being too babyish for kindergarten. Mia, the tallest kid in class, had put a stop to that with a promise to rearrange the face of anyone who messed with her new friend. Mia was a tomboy with a tough older brother, and even at five years of age had been capable of making threats in a way that made people pay attention. Tulsi’s tormentors had scattered, Mia had given Tulsi a hug and the bottom of her tee shirt to use as a makeshift tissue, and they’d been friends ever since.
They’d been through thick and thin and were as close as sisters, but Mia wasn’t going to let anyone—even Tulsi—bully her into breaking the promise she’d made to herself.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” she said. “Now get going. Go make some kids happy.”
Tulsi sighed as she hopped off the counter. “Okay, but I’m not giving up on this. You deserve to be happy, too, you know.” She paused, looking up at Mia with so much compassion it made Mia’s throat tight. “None of what happened in Los Angeles is your fault. Not even a little bit. I hope you know that.”
Mia nodded, but didn’t say a word. After her first few days back in Lonesome Point—when she’d been so devastated all she could do was huddle in her childhood bedroom with the covers pulled up over her head, and confide every horrible detail of her nasty break up with Paul, in between bouts of tears and epic naps that felt like she’d slipped into a coma—she had done her best not to talk about her ex.
Now, she wished she’d never opened her mouth.
Growing up in Lonesome Point, she’d had a reputation as a prankster, a tomboy who was always ready for a laugh, but people had known not to mess with her, too. It wasn’t just because her older brother, Pike, had been a town hero for years before he was signed to play pro ball for the St. Louis Cardinals and became a town legend. It was because Mia had exuded an inherent strength. She had been raised by a strong woman and the man who loved her, and been taught from an early age to respect herself and demand respect from others. Hell, if they’d had the category in the high school senior’s “Who’s Who,” Mia would have been voted Girl Least Likely to Become a Victim.
But then she’d fallen in love, and everything had changed.
Logically, she knew that her relationship with Paul had been unhealthy, and that not every love affair had to end in tragedy, but logic wasn’t enough to put it all behind her. The wounds were still raw, and the memory of what it felt like to be powerless and afraid was too fresh for her to risk a repeat performance, especially not with a man who could snap her in two with his bare hands. At least with Paul, she’d had a fighting chance. That night, when he’d come through her bedroom window, the fact that he’d only had twenty pounds on her, instead of sixty or seventy, had made all the difference.
Mia swallowed, ignoring the wave of panic the memory sent coursing through her, even now, a year, and a thousand miles, from the scene of the crime. She never wanted to be a victim again. Her family’s curse had made her vow never to get married, but it was the woman she’d been with Paul—that woman who craved his approval so much she’d allowed herself to be walled away from the world with a person who made her cry as often as he made her laugh—that had made her swear off love.
“I don’t want to upset you, Mia,” Tulsi said, as attuned to her friend’s emotions as she always was. “But all of us are worried. Me and Bubba, even Ross, and you know he doesn’t worry about much if it doesn’t involve beer or nachos.”
Mia smiled, but didn’t trust her voice not to tremble if she spoke.
“What you went through is serious stuff.” Tulsi put a hand on her arm and gave a squeeze. “There’s no shame in not being able to put that behind you on your own. There are people who can help, you know. The woman who brings my equine therapy kids over on Wednesdays is a trauma therapist, and super nice. She might be worth talking to. I could ask her for a card if you want.”
Mia shook her head. “Thanks, but no. I’m fine.”
Tulsi lifted a skeptical brow.
“Or I will be,” Mia added. “Just…give me a little more time, okay?”
Tulsi’s lips thinned, but she didn’t respond. For a moment, Mia thought her friend was going to let the subject drop, but she should have known that wasn’t the kind of morning she was having.
“You’ve had enough time.” Tulsi propped her hands on her narrow hips. “Every day you spend hiding because of what happened with Paul is a day that creep wins, and you’re better than that, Mia. You’re stronger, and I hate to see you sticking your head in the sand while life rushes by without you.”
Mia blinked, so surprised by Tulsi’s uncharacteristic toughness that she couldn’t even lift her arms to return Tulsi’s hug when her friend pulled her in for a quick squeeze before heading to the door.
“Call me if Clementine needs a reminder to be on her best manners,” Tulsi said as she backed away. “I’ll have my cell with me. And Clem has money for lunch in her back pocket, but don’t let her get a cheeseburger. We’re going over to my parents’ tonight to grill for Dad’s birthday, and I don’t want her having too much red meat in one day.”
“There’s no such thing,” Mia said, before adding in a softer tone. “I love you, Tulsi.”
Tulsi paused at the door, a gentle smile curving her lips. “I love you, too. And that’s the only reason I said any of that, you know. Because I love you too much to keep my mouth shut.”
Mia nodded and lifted a hand to wiggle her fingers. “Have a good day. And don’t worry about anything. Clem and I will have fun, and stay out of trouble.”