The rush finally broke after three. Sabrina stepped outside with a glass of ice water and found three missed messages on her phone.
Daphne: Truck lives. Barely.
Daphne: Chad says the battery is dying.
Daphne: I say the truck has excellent instincts.
The final message included a charcoal sketch of Sabrina’s Chevy with angel wings and a tombstone marked HERE LIES BAD DECISION-MAKING. Sabrina laughed before she could stop herself.
Mindy came through the back door carrying her purse. “What?” Sabrina showed her the drawing. “That’s mean.”
“It’s accurate.”
“You two talking again?”
“We never stopped talking.” Mindy gave her a look. “Fine. We stopped saying anything that mattered.”
Nadine shoved open the door behind them. “Brie, your ride’s here.”
Chad waited beside the faded Chevy at the edge of the lot, one hand resting on the open hood. Daphne’s older brother had been part of Sabrina’s life since they were teenagers—first as a friend, later as something neither of them had managed to end cleanly. In work boots and sun-faded jeans, he looked like a man who had spent the afternoon losing an argument with old machinery. Once, that face had meant safety. Lately, it mostly meant unfinished business. “Battery cable was loose,” he said. “Battery’s still about dead.”
“So it’s fixed?”
“It’ll get you home. I wouldn’t trust it farther than that.” His gaze moved to the flour on her shirt and the burn reddening one knuckle. “Busy day?”
“You could say that.”
Mindy appeared at Sabrina’s shoulder. “She saved civilization with biscuits.”
Chad’s mouth almost curved. “Sounds dramatic.”
“You weren’t there.”
For a second, the old ease flickered between them. Then Chad looked away and closed the hood. “Come straight home before the battery changes its mind.”
The words should have sounded like concern. Instead, they sounded like an order. Sabrina took her keys from his palm. “I know how to drive, Chad.”
“Never said you didn’t.”
“You didn’t have to.”
She climbed into the truck and turned the key. The engine coughed twice before catching. In the mirror, Chad stood beside Mindy’s silver Mercedes with his hands on his hips, already looking like a problem she would have to face later. On the passenger seat, Maggie’s number waited inside Sabrina’s apron pocket. For once, she had somewhere else to look.