The coffee machine came back to life as I stared at Claire, no longer willing to let the woman look down on me, make me feel small.

“Nathan made his choice,” I informed her. “I had nothing to do with him leaving town. Thankfully, I have nothing to do with him or you anymore.”

Claire sucked in a sharp breath. “You are a piece of work,” she hissed, abandoning all pretense of civility. “Of all the women who wanted Nathan, all the women who deserved him. Who deserved our family name. Of all the women, he chose you. He was the best thing that ever happened to you, and you threw him away. Broke his heart. Drove him out of the town he was born in.”

I laughed out loud at that. I couldn’t help myself.

This ticked off the woman more. She might’ve scowled, but who knew considering all of the toxins freezing her facial muscles.

“You really are deluded,” I shook my head once I got a hold of myself. “Nathan will never be the best thing that happens to any woman. Because he was raised to think he is God’s gift when really he’s just another rich asshole who doesn’t know where to find the clitoris.”

I really wished I had a camera so I could immortalize the look on Claire’s face. Fiona struggled to contain her giggle beside me, and even Tina choked out a chuckle.

The shock on Claire’s face only lasted for a handful of seconds, unfortunately. Then she regained her bearings and found a toxic glower to direct my way.

“You’re trash,” she snarled. “And you’re going to pay for running my son out of town. Mark my words.”

I let out a laugh. “You sound like a Scooby Doo villain.” Then I leaned slightly forward, narrowing my eyes at her. “Now, I understand the WASP way is to drink or dope yourself into denial about who your husband is sleeping with, where the money comes from, and the truth about the children you raised, but I think you’re intelligent enough to understand that there is no love lost between your son and the residents of this town. Me, on the other hand…” I paused to peer around my packed bakery, a lot of the residents interested in this showdown. “I have a good reputation because trash or not, I try my best to be a good person. I provide jobs, sugar, and good coffee. I’m a genuinely pleasant person. So, I’d like to see you find a way to ‘make me pay’ without blowback from the town that even you wouldn’t be able to weather.”

Claire blinked rapidly at me as my words punctuated, then I watched her try to battle against the truth of them.

But she couldn’t.

Everything I said was true. She’d reveled in her family’s ‘place’ in the town and wasn’t deluded enough to understand that people would be watching, people understood that she was not my biggest fan, and this town would not stand by and watch this woman damage me.