“Good,” Dare said. “Thanks. I’m gonna send these out to the club and a broader circle of contacts we have, just to get some other eyes on this.”
“Okay,” Haven said, the precautions Dare was taking making her nervous about just how much her father might know about her whereabouts.
Dare frowned and, for a moment, looked like he was going to say something more. Then he shook his head and backed away. It was almost like he’d had a whole little conversation—with himself. “Catch ya later, then,” he said.
Haven nodded, and, when Dare was gone, she turned to Cora.
“He is so into you,” Cora said, eyebrow arched.
“You got that from that weirdness just now?” Haven rolled her eyes, even though everything inside her wished it was true.
“No,” Cora said. “I got that from watching him watch you looking at his cell phone. His eyes were on you the whole time.”
Butterflies whipped through Haven’s belly. “Well, who knows what that means.”
“Only one way to find out,” Cora said, pointing toward the hallway down which Dare just disappeared. “And he just went that way.”
Haven shook her head. “I’m not following him. Come on, we have to help Bunny finish cleaning up.”
“If you say so,” Cora said, giving her an amused, challenging look.
“I do.” They made their way back into the mess hall, which was all cleaned up, but they were in plenty of time to help with the dishes.
When they were putting away the last of the dishes they’d hand-washed and dried, Bunny turned to Haven. “You realize that when you two leave, the guys are going to wonder why they’re not getting any more amazing baked goods. All my marriage proposals are going to dry up overnight.” The older woman was wearing an amused smile and a vintage Harley Davidson T-shirt with a pair of jeans.
And that was when Haven realized that she was going to miss Bunny almost as much as Dare, maybe more, since she’d never had a mother figure in her life before. Her own mom had fled from Haven’s father when Haven was still in diapers. Guess he’d treated her badly, too. There’d been a time when Haven resented the heck out of her mother for leaving her behind, but after a while it had felt pointless to hold a grudge against someone she didn’t remember and would never again see.
But Bunny, in just a few short weeks, had offered her friendship, advice, guidance, protectiveness. Haven wasn’t going to forget her any time soon, and it made her ache.
“I didn’t think of that,” Haven said. “Though I hadn’t actually expected to leave so soon, I guess. What should I do?”
“I hadn’t expected y’all to leave so soon, either,” Bunny said, her expression sympathetic, almost sad. “But on the baked goods”—she reached behind her and grabbed the plate of peanut butter cookies—“I think you gotta start with telling Dare.”
Haven stared at the plate like it might bite her. “Really?” The thought of revealing something else she’d been keeping from him made her big breakfast sit like a rock in her stomach.
“Really,” Bunny said, exchanging a look with Cora that Haven couldn’t read.
Cora nodded. “Probably a good idea.”
Haven accepted the cookies into her hands. “He’s going to be mad at me.”
Bunny shook her head. “I doubt that, honey. You just go see. You two will both feel better after you talk.”
“Fine,” Haven said, deciding to get this over with sooner rather than later. “But when he’s mad at me, I get to say I told you so.”
“Deal,” Bunny said, giving her a wink.
Haven crossed through the clubhouse doling out cookies along the way to guys who saw what she was carrying. The more Ravens she talked to, the less intimidating she found them. They were just guys, guys who were really loyal to one another, as far as she could see. Maybe they wore the badges of their club on their backs and had lots of ink on their skin, but they also took in and helped people like her. And that counted for a lot in her book, because she knew that brand of kindness and generosity wasn’t universal. Not by a long shot.
By the time she got to Dare’s office, the pile of cook ies wasn’t as high as it had been, but she still had plenty to offer up as an olive branch. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.
“Come in,” came his voice through the door. His gaze cut up when she opened it. “Haven. What’s up?”
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked, slipping in and shutting the door behind her.
“Of course. Is everything okay?” he asked, getting up and coming to her.
“Yeah,” she said, thrusting the plate into his chest out of nervousness. “Bunny said I should bring these to you.”
He chuckled and grasped the plate. “That’s because Bunny knows these are my favorite cookies in the world.”
A wave of satisfaction rolled through Haven’s body at the thought. “Really?”