Maya came back into the office, holding a small baggie of ice. “I begged the coffee shop next door to give me this. They said they weren’t supposed to give out plastic at all, especially not to noncustomers.”

Jo winced as she settled it onto her hand.

“Here. Let me help.” Maya adjusted the bag of ice so that the pressure was more gentle as it landed on Jo’s hand.

Jo still winced a little, but she also breathed out a sigh of relief as the ice covered her knuckles completely. “How’d you get them to give it to you?”

“At first I told them we needed it for an injury, and they wanted to charge.” Maya focused very intently on the bag of ice. Not on Jo’s hands. Not on Jo’s face. Just that bag of ice.

Jo also focused on the bag of ice, but she also watched Maya’s hands settle the bag. The focus of a woman determined not to look.

Imogen smirked watching the exchange. “So did you pay for it?”

Maya shook her head. “Nah, I told them Jo punched a creep and that changed their tune. Anybody who throws a left hook in order to protect a teen girl gets a bag of ice on the house. Annnd”—Maya pulled a card out of her pocket. It was one of those loyalty punch cards, and it had been fully punched out—“a free coffee.”

“Wow. What a reward. A free bag of ice and a free coffee.” Jo’s voice was shaky, like she’d finally registered what she’d done. Like she didn’t want to, but it was slowly dawning on her, all the same.

Imogen knew that feeling all too well. She rubbed the stubble of her hair at the back of her neck.

“As long as you didn’t break any bones, you really do come out ahead,” Maya said with a smile. She made eye contact, and she looked at Jo like maybe the sun was about to come out again.

Of course, that’s when Eli came into the office, holding the landline that he’d dragged all the way through the store. AJ trailed in after him, clearly concerned about whoever was on the other end. None of them had heard it ringing, but Eli handed the receiver to Jo and they all knew without a word that it was Archer on the line.

Jo cleared her throat. “Mr. Hunt?”

And then Jo listened and said nothing for a solid minute. She just sat there, stone-faced, hearing whatever Archer had to say. And then she hung up without so much as a goodbye.

Nobody said anything for a long beat.

Finally, Jo said, “He called to congratulate me.”

“On what?” asked Imogen.

“Punching Harvey in the face. Said not to worry, that he talked Harvey down from pressing charges. And said good work and then hung up the phone.”