“Val, you just made my week.” He pulls the collar of his heavy coat up around his ears as he heads towards the exit. “I’ve missed you, I can’t wait to catch up,” he calls out from the door, then pushes out into the frosty evening.
That was a whirlwind.
I never expected to see him again.
Then a chill pools around my legs, drifting from the kitchen.
“Sawyer?” Where is he? Did he go out the back?
A swath of flour is smeared across the prep station.
Weird. He usually keeps everything clean.
But when I step closer, ice locks into my chest in an agonizing stab.
Letters are drawn through the white powder that bring a spring of tears to my eyes.
“I quit.”
Chapter 29
Sawyer
I’ve never felt thisache before.
Maybe when I was ten?
The moment Dad told me that Mom was gone.
That’s what this feels like.
My heart has been ripped out of my chest and stomped into the frozen earth.
I heard every word. How she laughed at the idea of settling down.
How she eagerly accepted his dinner invitation when she wouldn’t even have breakfast with me.
My throat is raw, choked up, filled with misery like broken glass every time I try to swallow.
What an idiot.
She made me believe I was special. That I washers.
A glance in my rearview mirror shows the marks have faded away, along with whatever hope I had that she might want me.
There’s no reason to work there now. I didn’t need the job, I just loved it.
And her?
Fuck.
The road blurs as I fight the tears. I’m so damn stupid.
I thought with patience she’d see that we could be more.
Is that what I wanted? Val forever?
An hour ago, I thought so.
