Page 153 of Safe With You

Ellis laughed as he got to his feet. “You didn’t have to get us anything.”

“I know.” Naomi opened the box. “But if I came back in here with cookies and didn’t offer a six-year-old one, I’d feel judged.”

“I would’ve judged you,” Mila said.

Naomi pointed at her. “Exactly.”

Ellis reached for his wallet. “At least let me pay you back.”

“You can buy next time.”

“Deal.”

He said it easily, already sliding his wallet back into his pocket.

Naomi glanced at me.

I didn’t give her the satisfaction of acknowledging it.

“Are we eating these cookies or not?”

Her mouth twitched. “We are.”

Conversation moved easily around the table after that. Naomi told Ellis about the customer who once spent nearly fifteen minutes arguing with her that autobiographies and biographies were the same thing because they were both about people’s lives.

“They are not the same thing,” she said, still offended even though it happened months ago.

“I tried to explain that.”

“You argued with that man for fifteen minutes,” I reminded her.

“Because he was wrong.”

“You could’ve let him be wrong.”

“In my bookstore?”

I lifted an eyebrow. “My bookstore.”

“See? Now we’re focused on the wrong part of the story.”

Ellis laughed. “I’m staying out of this.”

“Smart man,” I told him.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Naomi said.

“Too late.”

“So what’s the worst somebody’s ever acted during a photo shoot?” Naomi asked.

He let out a laugh. “You sure you want to know?”

“That bad?”

“Family of five. Mom, dad, three kids. Youngest couldn’t have been more than two.” He leaned back in his chair. “Every time I lifted my camera, that little boy lost it. Full tears. Screaming. Everything.”