“I am. How did you know her?” My heart began to race.
She smiled. “Maya worked here for about six months. Sweetest girl, and she talked about you all the time.”
I crossed the space and reached the counter, my voice barely above a whisper. “She did?” I’d never known Maya to hold down a job for more than a week.
Tilly softened. “You were her hero. She loved you so much. She was working on getting her life together.”
My lips trembled as I worked to hold back tears. I didn’t even know Anna was next to me until her hand found my shoulder.
“She was doing so well. She’d been clean for almost a year. She’d planned to come see you soon, and show you Elias. I told her to call, but…”
I pressed my lips together.
“How’s Elias doing?”
“He’s good,” I croaked out. “He’s with a…”
“My brother, her fiancé,” Anna slid her arm across my shoulders and squeezed me to her.
My emotions were getting assaulted on two fronts. I wouldn’t be able to handle much more. Maya and marriage.
“Sounds like she was doing well,” Anna said.
Tilly nodded. “She was.” She paused and exhaled slowly. “Such a tragedy, but I know she’d be thrilled to know you have Elias.”
That landslide of grief was being triggered, but I couldn’t lose it in this bakery. I swallowed down everything, boxed it up, and took a deep breath. “Thank you for telling me that. I’m glad to know she had a friend and a job. I’d missed her so much.”
“I know, and she understood why you did it. She said you were right to cut her off. That she would have never gotten clean if you hadn’t. She said you saved her life.”
I gulped air. Nope. Not losing it.
Tilly, seeming to sense the war of emotions going on, waved to a table near the window. “How about I get some samples of cake? If you’ll take a seat, I’ll bring them right out.”
“Are you okay?” Anna asked once Tilly was in the back.
Nope. I was one comment away from dropping to the floor and curling into the fetal position. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
Anna enveloped me in a hug. “It’s okay to not be okay, but I get not wanting to fall apart here.” She held me out. “Before we go home, you and I will stop by the grocery store, get every flavor of ice cream available?—”
“—And Cookie Crisp.”
“And that.” She smiled. “And we will hide in one of the bedrooms and eat until we’re sick.”
“The guesthouse has a fridge. That way the ice cream won’t melt.”
“Sure. We can stay there. No melted ice cream.”
The rest of that appointment went in a blur. If Anna hadn’t been there, I’m not even sure I’d have picked flavors that worked together. And proving that she was the best friend ever, she rescheduled the florist appointment for later in the week.
By the time we returned to the house, I was a wreck.
I don’t know how he knew, but Jason was waiting for me.
The moment the SUV door opened, he had me in his arms, walking into the house, and sitting down with me on the couch.
All he did was hold me.
No questions.
