Sold to the Man Who Took Me, but I Hold His Life novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Pearl's

Pearl's Taffy opens at seven, and in November nobody comes until nine.

I walked there from the bus stop on the Boardwalk with my breath going ahead of me and the ocean slapping the pilings.

Declan had not stopped me.

I had come down the stairs at six and the kitchen was empty, the counter wiped, one cup in the rack.

His driver was waiting at the curb with the engine off, and when I said I was taking the bus, the driver only said, "Yes, Miss," and followed it for three blocks anyway.

I let him.

I unlocked my grandmother's door with my own key.

The shop smelled the way it had since I was six, of sugar and salt and the machine oil on the pulling arms.

Nana Pearl's hand-lettered price board still hung over the register.

Nobody had ever been able to make me take it down.

I switched on the lights, filled the copper kettle and stood at the pulling machine for a while with both hands on the cold steel.

It was the first place in two weeks where nobody wanted anything from me.

The regulars came in one at a time.

The retired lifeguard, who bought a quarter-pound of peppermint every morning and told me the same joke about seagulls.

Two women from the lunch counter next door.

A boy of about twelve who had never once bought anything and always asked what the flavors were.

Nobody said a word about my father, or Declan, or the Starlite.

Atlantic City knew by now, I supposed, and had decided to let me be.

At ten the bell over the door rang and my father came in.

He had on his sports-book windbreaker, the one with the sleeve gone gray at the cuff.

He had shaved badly.

"Roz," he said. "Honey. You look good."

"What do you want, Dad?"

"I wanted to see you were okay. That's all."

I did not say anything.

He looked at the saltwater taffy rack and at the pulling machine, anywhere that was not my face.

"Mr. Mallory's not what people say," he said. "I went to him, you know. In person. He was very decent. He said there'd be no trouble for you."

"He said that to you?"

"He said it." My father shifted his weight. "It's a good house, honey. You're better off than you were at the Starlite. Four years goes fast."

← Chapter 3 · All chapters · Chapter 5 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend