I sighed as I opened a call with Juniper. She didn’t drive, but she’d figure out how to get me home.
“Tahira! How was Niagara Falls? Did you go to that candy store I told you about? Last time I was there I bought this chai tea fudge that was to die for. I almost didn’t buy it because I totally get that ‘chai tea’ is redundant, but I’d never had tea in fudge before. I swear it was the best thing I have ever put into my mouth. Did—”
“Juniper, I’m stuck.”
“Stuck? Like with glue? LOL! Oh no, you’re not stuck at Niagara Falls, are you? That can’t be, because I just passed Gia at Hyacinth’s.”
“No, I’m stuck at that park near the nursery. The one with the pond?”
“You’re stuck at Bell’s Pond?”
“Yeah, Matteo and I were talking, and...he...left.” My voice cracked.
“Oh no, did you have a fight?”
I took a deep breath. “Sort of. I mean, if you call him telling me that he’s also seeing someone else a fight. Is there a cab company or any way I can get back into—”
“Shoot. I got you, Tahira. I’ll call Row. He probably just left the nursery.”
She hung up before I could tell her no, please anything but Plant-Boy. Ugh. Now Rowan Johnston was going to see me in this state. This day could go shove it.
I had no choice but to wait for my rescuer. And no choice but to think while I waited.
The sun had pretty much set, and the park was mostly empty, save for a few dog walkers and joggers. No sounds of people hanging out or talking, like if this were Toronto. Nothing to drown out my thoughts. Nothing to distract me from the realization that I was a complete idiot—at least when it came to guys.
This was on me. I mean, in hindsight, all the signs had been there from the beginning. Matteo slid into my DMs on Instagram only after I had a respectable following. Most of our conversations were about my fashion designs, or about his goals as a model and influencer. I hadn’t thought anything was wrong about that since it was what we had in common. We were both so committed to our goals—so why wouldn’t we talk about them?
But that wasn’t the only reason he was into me, was it? I hadn’t dated that much, but I thought I could at least tell when someone was sincere, and he seemed to genuinely care about me. I had no reason to think he didn’t consider us exclusive. I wiped away a tear.
This was the worst possible time for this to happen. How was I going to get through what was already proving to be an enormously hard summer without Matteo grounding me? Without him reassuring me that I could do this and keeping me focused on what was important—my Plan? I just didn’t have the mental bandwidth for a breakup right now. I took a long, shuddering breath. I needed to hold myself together. With or without Matteo, I needed to stay on course.
It was so weird to feel such relief to see Rowan Johnston, but my whole body relaxed when his old green car pulled into the parking lot. Hopefully he’d say something annoying and insensitive right away, which would distract me from how pissed off I was about Matteo.
I opened the door. “Hey,” I said. “Thanks...I mean, for coming to get me.”
He shrugged.
I got into the car. “I mean it: thank you for taking me home.”
“It’s no bother. I’m literally going to the same place.”
Rowan’s car was a clean older-model Subaru. Juniper had told me he’d bought it recently with his earnings from Wynter’s.
I buckled my seat belt. It was super weird that I knew so much about this family, thanks to Juniper’s chattiness, but Rowan himself was still mostly a mystery to me.
“Still...you didn’t have to turn around. Thanks,” I said.
He shrugged again and started the car. I leaned my head back against the headrest and cataloged all the blows life had thrown at me in the last few weeks. The bird in Paris. Losing my internship. Having to move to Bakewell. Shar rejecting my plan. And now Matteo cheating on me.
I wished I were home. Back in Toronto, not in the middle of nowhere in a car with a guy who hated me. If I’d never come to Bakewell, maybe none of this crap with Matteo would have even happened. Maybe we’d still be together.
That wouldn’t be a good thing, though. Because then I wouldn’t know he was using me. That he could be unfaithful just to get invitations to launch parties. I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t want Rowan to see me cry.
I opened my eyes. “What’s on your shirt?” I asked, breaking the silence. I hadn’t noticed it when I got into the car, and I suddenly wanted to know what plant pun he wore today.
“What?”
“Your T-shirt. What’s on it? An ironic cactus? Something floral?”
