Given the circumstances.
As if she were bad PR. A stain on their perfect wedding.
Hannah pressed her nails into her palm and smiled like she wasn't falling apart.
"I understand."
Charlotte let out a relieved breath. "Okay. Well, good luck with everything."
Click.
The line went dead.
Hannah slowly set the phone down.
The bakery was too quiet.
She turned to the kitchen counter, her hands shaking, and saw the order folder still open to Charlotte's wedding cake design.
Neat sketches, flavors they had excitedly picked out together. A cake that would never exist now.
Nothing personal.
Just her entire life crumbling around her.
Just everyone she'd ever known turning their backs.
Just the understanding that twenty-four hours was all it took to destroy a lifetime of trust.
Where was Jake?
A knot formed in her throat, but she swallowed it down. He had to have a reason.
Maybe he was working. Maybe he was trying to fix this already. That's what he did—he fixed things.
He'd walk through that door, shake his head at the town's cruelty, pull her into his arms and tell her they'd get through this together.
As long as she could just see him, touch him, hear his voice—then everything would be okay.
It had to be.
Her phone buzzed again. She should check it.
Instead, she forced herself to stand, her legs unsteady as she walked to the door. She flipped theOpensign toClosed. She turned the lock, the soft click echoing in the empty space. A barrier between her and the outside world.
Then, she sank to the floor of her grandmother's kitchen, pressed her face into the flour-dusted apron, and finally let herself cry.
Hannah wipedthe last traces of tears from her face and stood, her movements slow, unsteady. The bakery walls felt like they were closing in, suffocating her under the weight of everything she had lost.
She needed air.
She needed Jake.
The certainty settled deep in her bones. He would make this right.
She grabbed her keys and pushed out the door, ignoring the way her stomach twisted as she caught a few more customers hurrying past, their gazes flicking to her before they turned away. Let them stare. Let them talk. She didn't need them. She only needed Jake.
By the time she reached his street, her hands were shaking again.
