Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
That stings more than it should. I’ve spent hours missing her, and she hasn’t even noticed my absence.
I nod despite that ache I had in my chest earlier kicking back up. “I’m glad you’ve had a good week.”
Silence floats between us which normally wouldn’t be an issue, but it’s heavy and awkward right now.
“Did you start that new show? I’ve seen it’s been getting great ratings. I figured we could get a couple episodes in tonight and the rest—”
“I watched it already.”
I swallow down my disappointment. “Okay, then back to The Walking Dead. My place or yours tonight?”
I have a few ideas on how I can pull her out of whatever this funk she seems to be in right now, but I can follow through with that at any place that offers a little bit of privacy.
“I think I’m going to pass tonight. I just want to go home, get a hot shower, and go to bed.”
“Adalynn—”
“We made tuna, and ham and cheese,” Robin calls from the dining room.
“We better go in there,” Adalynn says.
I catch her by the arm once again before she can walk away from me.
She looks down at the connection as if I’ve burned her before raising her eyes back up to mine. She only locks her gaze with mine for the briefest of moments before she looks away again.
“I forgot about something at the office. I’ll have to take a rain check on tonight.”
She doesn’t say a word, doesn’t ask me if it’s something that she can help me with. She doesn’t tell me to grab a sandwich to go because she’s worried about me getting too busy and not eating. All things she would’ve done before we lit the fuse to a friendship that I was always too lucky to have had for the time I did.
I press my lips to her temple, and for the first time in my life, it feels like a real goodbye.
Chapter 26
Adalynn
The last time I stood in the kitchen in my bakery and couldn’t stop sniffling was because I attempted a recipe with habanero powder. Accidentally breathing some of it in cleared my sinuses like smelling salts would.
Today is different. Today my heart is more than a little broken.
As if the world is out to see just how much pain and heartbreak I can manage, the last several days have been a series of blows that individually wouldn’t make me bat an eye, but altogether, it seems like too much to handle.
One of my ovens went out, but it’s under warranty so it’s being replaced. I’ve had to reduce my output for the bakery, which isn’t a big deal, but several customers have left unsatisfied because I’ve had to slow production, preventing me from carrying the variety I normally carry.
Old Man Hinkle got super annoyed yesterday, asking me how I can call it a variety pack when I only have five flavors.
The air conditioner for the kitchen decided to back up, and the clogged drainage pipe led to a mess I had to clean up when I first came in this morning.
I woke up to my period which didn’t surprise me. The signs and symptoms that it was coming have been torturing me for days. I still took a test because I was trying to convince myself that it was implantation bleeding like the books I’ve been reading suggested.
Despite knowing better, the single line on the test was the breaking point. I sobbed in the bathroom for so long, I missed the timer for the oven, and now I’ll only have three flavors of cupcakes until I can manage to get the batter for something else made and in the oven. With the pity party I can’t seem to pull myself out of, I’ve considered just keeping the front door locked and going home, but the idea of disappointing anyone in town makes me sob even harder.
As if she knows I need her, Madison’s name flashes on my phone screen.
I press the button, allowing the phone to connect, but I can’t seem to manage a word.
“Ads?”
I sniffle once again, suddenly feeling like a fool for being so upset.
I think I wished this into happening.
The last two weeks have been brutal. I haven’t seen Cash since the dinner at Dad’s house over a week ago. The texts between us have been few and far between. I tried to create distance between the two of us, thinking that maybe a reset would be best. I needed things to go back to the way they were before because I missed him so much. I argued with myself that hopefully I wasn’t pregnant, so there wouldn’t be anything between us that made it awkward.
Then my period arrived, and the negative pregnancy test confirmed my suspicions. Only now, I have to accept that the damage has already been done, and there’s no going back. What happened between Cash and me isn’t something you can just ignore for a few weeks.