Chapter 21
“Ooohhh. I love it.”
Jeremy looked up to see Anna standing in the middle of the store. With shopping bags clutched in one hand, and a takeaway coffee cup in the other, she stared at the wall over the counter with an excited grin. He didn’t bother following her gaze. He didn’t want to look at the wall. In fact, he’d spent the last two days avoiding the sight of it at all costs. Which was difficult considering how much time his customers spent talking about the stupid thing.
“Of course, you love it,” he drawled. “Everyone loves it.” He slapped a price sticker on another boxed Harry Potter mug and added it to the pile on the shelf. “Best idea I ever had.” That, and falling in love with the man who put the enormous piece of art in the middle of his workplace and then dumped him. A pure stroke of genius that one.
Anna frowned as she made her way over to him. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing is wrong with me,” he said, glaring at the sticker he’d put on a box upside down. “I don’t have to be happy all the time. Sometimes I go whole days without wanting to smile.”
“Wow.” She took a sip of her coffee as she considered his bad mood. “Are you this friendly to all your customers?”
He gave her an exasperated look. “You’re not a customer. I don’t have to fake it for you.”
“Or me apparently.” Kat’s voice came from behind them, where she’d just finished completing a sale for a customer. “Anna, I’m so glad to see you,” she said as she walked over to them with her hands on her hips. “I’m in desperate need of your help.”
“Me?” Anna’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “What can I do?”
“Please, for the love of everything holy, takehimaway.” Jeremy glared at the finger Kat pointed at him. She stopped pointing. “I mean that in the nicest possible way, boss man.”
“What the hell is going on?” Anna cried out, glancing back and forth between the two of them.
“I don’t know, he’s refusing to talk about it.” Kat gave an indignant sniff, obviously miffed about not being let in on the secret. “But I’ve been drowning in brood for two days now.”
“I’m not leaving, Kat,” he said, picking up the empty cardboard box at his feet. “Your shift is almost over, and I need to be here to close up.”
“I will stay late and close.” She put a hand over her chest as she announced her great sacrifice. “You need to get out of here, and I owe you a favour, remember?”
“Come on,” Anna added, nodding her head toward the door. “My car’s right outside. I’ll drive you home.
Heaving a sigh, Jeremy gave in. “Fine, but I’d like to lodge my objection to you women ganging up on me.”
Anna held up one hand. “Objection duly noted and summarily ignored.”
He was still rolling his eyes at her response when Kat launched herself at him. “Feel better,” she murmured as she hugged him tight. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Kat.” He hugged her back before pulling away. “Sorry for being such a grump.”
“Hey,” she said with a shrug. “We’re all entitled to a bad day now and then. They’re what make the good days even better.”
Jeremy nodded, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Harrison’s bad days made his good days even better? Somehow, he didn’t think depression worked that way. He’d been present for some of Harrison’s good days and, if the growing frequency of his smiles had been any indication, Jeremy had helped make those days better. What would Harrison’s bad days be like? Did he even want to know?
He was still trying to figure out the answer to that question a few minutes later when he was foisted into the passenger seat of Anna’s car. The moment they were on their way, Anna gave him a pointed look. “Tell me.”
Jeremy kept his gaze on the passing scenery. “Harrison and I broke up.”
“Crap,” she said with a sigh. “I had a feeling that might be it. What happened?”
Drawing his bottom lip between his teeth, Jeremy bit down hard before clearing his throat to respond. “I don’t want to get into it.”
Glancing his way, Anna made an exasperated noise. “At least tell me who did the breaking.”
“Harrison said the words, and I didn’t try to stop him from saying them. So, I suppose you could say it was mutual.”
“Oh.” She sounded surprised and, when he finally turned to look at her, she gave him a single-shouldered shrug. “I guess it’s for the best, if it’s what you both wanted.”
“What we wanted?” Jeremy huffed out a sad laugh. “I don’t think either of us knows what the hell we want. Considering, right after he broke up with me, Harrison told me how stupid in love with me he is.”
