After moisturizing, I threw on my plush robe and headed back into the room. The weather app said snow all day with a wind advisory, so I needed to dress cute but warm.
I pulled on a thick cream-colored sweater that hugged my girls, high-waisted charcoal jeans, and my camel coat with the matching knit scarf. My boots were weatherized, tan suede, mid-calf, and warm as hell. I topped it off with a nude gloss, gold hoop earrings, and a light beat to make it look like I tried, even though I was barely holding it together. I planned to do my hair the following day, so I just slicked it up in a ninja bun.
Outside, snow was falling in thick flakes and the city of Arbor Hills looked like one of those Hallmark postcards. Lights wrapped around the streetlamps. Kids bundled up, tossing snowballs. And every coffee shop had a sign posted in big, bold letters for a peppermint mocha or a sugar cookie latte.
I parked near the downtown shopping plaza and wrapped my scarf tighter as I stepped out into the cold. Snow crunchedbeneath my boots as I crossed the street toward my favorite local spot, Sippin’ Joint. I needed something warm in my system and a sandwich.
Inside smelled like cinnamon and roasted espresso, the kind of aroma that hugged you as soon as the door closed behind you. The barista who seemed to work every single day with purple box braids and a Santa hat smiled at me from behind the counter.
“Hey! Freezing out there, huh?”
“You know it,” I smiled, blowing into my hands.
“Grande hot cocoa with oat milk, extra whip, sprinkle of cinnamon? Bacon, egg, and cheese as well?”
“Yes, please. Extra cinnamon today. I’m feeling festive.”
She winked and started making it as I stood off to the side, watching couples and solo shoppers shuffle in and out with bags and red noses. Christmas music played low overhead, and the heat inside made me loosen my scarf and unzip my coat.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
I stared at the screen for a second, heart flipping like he could see me standing there. I opened our text thread, long-pressed the message toloveit, and slipped my phone back into my coat pocket.
“Here you go, babe.” The barista slid the drink and my sandwich in a paper bag toward me with a grin. “Stay warm out there.”
“Trying to,” I mumbled, tipping her and heading back outside.
My first stop was Cashmere & Chic, a little boutique where I always found cute shit. Scented body scrubs, wine tumblers with petty sayings, fuzzy socks, even a couple of travel-sized silk bonnets in fun colors.
“Oooh, this is cute,” I whispered to myself, holding up a tumbler.Merry, Messy & Moisturized. I was cracking up as I added it to my basket, thinking about Troi snatching it and yelling, “It’s giving spa day in a glass, honey.”
I turned down the next aisle and nearly ran right into somebody’s buggy. “Oh! My bad,” I said quickly, looking up.
The man blinked as if he'd seen a ghost. “Oh, shit. Autumn?”
Damn. I froze for half a second before my face rearranged itself into something polite. “Theo,” I said, giving him the smallest smile my lips could manage.
He didn’t deserve more than that. He was still fine as ever, though. Peacoat, fresh fade, beard trimmed up. But none of it hitthe way it used to. Not after I finally pulled myself out of the fog he helped dig.
Theo’s eyes slid over me like he had the right. “Been a minute.”
“Yeah,” I said. “A long one.”
He nodded, as if he wanted credit for noticing. “You look… good. Different. Like, uh... life’s been treating you good.”
That made me laugh under my breath. “Life treats you better when you take care of yourself.”
His jaw ticked a little, like he’d realized the truth in that. He glanced at the basket in my hand. “Christmas shopping?”
“Yep.”
“For who? Yourman?” he asked, and the way he said it rubbed me wrong. Like he still thought he was somebody I owed explanations to.
I scoffed, shaking my head. “I gotta go.”
He shifted his weight. “Look, my fault for just… ghosting like that, Autumn. I didn’t plan to just…”
“You did,” I said quietly. “You absolutely did. You put all your shit on me, which made me depressed, and some more shit, and then you had the audacity to just walk away.”
