Audrey had no idea how she was going to escape this situation when the door to the bakery opened again.She prayed for divine intervention in the form of a customer, hoping against hope that it wasn’t Mason because she was fairly certain her face would give it away…
Worse.
It was so much worse.
She gulped as Yasmine walked through the doorway.Effortlessly chic in her usual winter coat that made her look like she’d just stepped off the runway, her hair was straight down to her shoulders, where it developed a gentle curl.She took off her sunglasses as she walked in.Forget the runway, it was like she was starring in her own private movie.
And having her walk in right at this moment…
For Audrey, it was the worst timing possible.If someone was watching this as a movie, they might be howling with laughter… or cheering for Yasmine to tear her a new one.
Oh God… does she know?Does she not know?Which would be worse?How do I act?
Why is my life like this?
She wouldn’t trade this new life for her old life, but sometimes, she wished there was a third option.So far, most of those moments involved Yasmine.
“Hey, Audrey,” Yasmine smiled.
She must not know.Crap.
“Hi,” Audrey replied weakly, trying to ignore the suddenly suspicious looks her grandmother was shooting between her and Yasmine.“How are you?”
“I’ve been better.”Yasmine eyed the group of women.“Hello, ladies.Can you give Audrey and me a moment?I need to talk to her about something.”
That was enough for Grandma to make the wild, and entirely too accurate, leap to the right conclusion.She gaped at Audrey.Mary and Karen appeared confused, but were watching intently.
“It wasMason?”she asked in a thunderstruck voice.Then she spun around and caught Cassidy staring at the ceiling.She pointed an accusing finger.“You knew!You knew, and you didn’t tell me!”
Yasmine’s lips twitched with amusement, but it didn’t reach her dark eyes.She cocked her head at Audrey.
“Maybe you have somewhere in the back we could talk?”
“Sure.”On the list of people she wanted to be alone with to talk today, Yasmine ranked barely above her parents and Cash, but Audrey didn’t have a choice.She owed Yasmine… something.She didn’t know what, but something.
If Yasmine wanted to yell at her, she was just going to have to deal with it.
Taking a deep breath, Audrey turned around, giving Ashley a little wave.Ashley gave her a sympathetic look, then greeted Yasmine as they went past.All while Audrey’s stomach roiled, and she had to work to keep her shoulders from hunching in.
She closed the door to the office behind them.If there was going to be a confrontation, she was going to need the space and privacy to cry without everyone else knowing about it.
“Do you want to take a seat?”she asked, gesturing to the chairs.“Can I get you something to drink?”
“I’m good, thanks,” Yasmine said, settling gracefully into one of the chairs.“I won’t be long.I just wanted to come by because Mason called me this morning.He wanted to let me know that the two of you are together, and he wanted me to hear it from him and not the gossip train.”
Oh.Well, that was nice of him.Except why hadn’t he told Audrey that he was going to do that?Would it have killed him to give her a heads-up?
A little kernel of anger lodged in her gut that he’d set her up like this.
But she couldn’t deal with that right now.Yasmine was still sitting right in front of her.
“I’m so sorry,” Audrey said, pressing her hands together in front of her as she sank down into the chair across from Yasmine.She was at a loss about what to say after that.Should she offer to stop things with Mason?She didn’t want to, even though she was kinda mad at him right now.But maybe she should.
Yasmine blinked.
“About what?”
“About…” Audrey floundered.“About me and Mason.And not telling you.Although he said that you wanted a month before hearing about him with someone else.”So it wasn’t really her fault; she’d been trying to respect Yasmine’s wishes.
