Not after I’ve started to love her.
Chapter 13
When the Music Stops
Maisie
Peaches is curled up on the flower shop’s welcome mat, her tiny limbs tucked into the arm holes of a hand-knit sweater that reads, in glittery block letters, “Team No Comment.” I squint at it. Definitely Jenna’s handiwork. No one else in town owns that much garish metallic yarn or passive-aggressive humor.
I crouch beside Peaches and scratch behind one ear. “You gonna tell me what he’s thinking?”
She yawns and flops onto her side. Figures.
It’s been three days. Three whole days since we got back from the cabin. Since that kiss. Since he looked at me as though I was the only thing in the world he wanted to hold. And now?
Now nothing. No texts. No unexpected flower deliveries. No sarcastic drive-by comments. Nothing but silence.
And silence, I’m learning, is loud. Deafening.
The bell above the door jingles as I step inside, and I barely make it to the storeroom before the tears come.
Again.
I’m not a crier. Truly. But something about this is different. This ache is deeper. It doesn’t sting as a stab wound would. Instead, it pulses in a slow, relentless throb, diffusing into each muscle and nerve.
I’ve come to expect that many people who know me will try to squash me. Is that what Beau’s waiting for, too? For me to shrink into someone more manageable?
I sit down on an overturned bucket, tissue box on one knee, as I smooth out crinkled floral ribbon in my lap. I don’t even hear the door open until Jenna’s voice floats in.
“If you’re hiding in here to escape the wisteria vines, they’re winning.”
I let out a watery laugh. “It’s not the flowers. It’s me.”
She sits beside me without asking, her knee bumping mine as she hands me a fresh tissue. “Okay. Spill it. What’s going on?”
I hesitate. The words are jagged. But they roll out anyway.
“He’s avoiding me. After the kiss, after the weekend…he’s pulling away. And it’s not even that he’s being mean or cold. He’s just not there. It’s as if I imagined the whole thing. And it’s messing with my head.”
Jenna doesn’t interrupt, but nods, listening fully.
“I keep thinking maybe it was all pretend. Maybe he’s just that good at faking it. Or maybe I wanted my happily ever after so terribly that I made an ugly mess of everything.”
Jenna sighs tenderly and holds my hand.
“I can’t help but think this is Gray all over again, and Beau is going to drop me, too.” I sniff.
“Did I ever tell you what Gray said when he proposed?”
Jenna shakesher head.
“After I said ‘yes,’ and he was sliding that enormous, expensive ring on my finger, he paused and looked up at me.”
“Go on,” Jenna encourages.
“I saw it there, in his eyes, before he said anything. The conviction and naive belief that he really did love me, even as he said, ‘You’re the woman I want by my side forever, Maisie. You’re almost perfect. With a little polishing and restraint, you will be perfect for me.’“
Jenna gasps and her hand flies to her mouth. “Oh, Maze, honey.”
