There was an easy solution to that problem. He’d been blinded by her beauty, her drive. She was right. He’d seen her as something different and thought different had to mean good. “Maybe I should pay someone else if you’re going to be this nosy.”

She sat back and her energy seemed to deflate. “All right, then. I’m going to take this to go, and I don’t think Friday is a good idea.”

“Maybe it’s not.” Maybe she was too prickly even for him. “If you can’t take good advice, then you won’t last long here.”

She didn’t reply, merely grabbed her purse and pulled out her wallet. “I’ve lost my appetite. This should take care of my part of the bill. Good afternoon, Sheriff.”

She pushed out of the booth and dropped a ten on the table.

How had this gone so wrong? One minute he’d felt close to her and now it was like a damn wall had come up. He wasn’t sure he wanted it to come down. But he also wasn’t sure he didn’t. They’d both said some things they probably shouldn’t have said. “Hey, let’s take a breath.”

She didn’t look back as she headed for the door.

•   •   •

She was not going to cry. She wasn’t. The tears were right there, pulsing behind her eyes, threatening to rob her of her vision and her dignity. But she wasn’t about to shed them. Certainly not in front of this crowd. That’s probably exactly what they wanted.

“Hey, are you okay?” Noelle was staring up at her.

Damn it. She shouldn’t have said anything. She didn’t think Noelle could have heard the advice she’d given her father. She’d kept her voice low, but honestly, she’d also meant it. Not that she should have an opinion at this point. It hadn’t been fair to throw that on him, but she couldn’t take it back now. She plastered a smile on her face. The other girl sitting with Noelle stared at her like she expected her to grow horns at any moment.

“Of course,” Lila replied. “I have to get back to the clinic. That’s all. I hope everything works out for you.”

She was going to have to hope since her father likely wouldn’t bring her back to the clinic again. Of course, once her father found out she’d helped his daughter with her masturbation techniques, showing her how to order a vibrator over the Internet on her phone, the relationship probably would have gone to hell anyway. Like all her relationships had.

She was too fussy. Too picky. Too intimidating. Too uptight.

Too much.

It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before.