“Come on, Brad.I know when you get that look that you’ve come up with an idea.What is it?”
Brad shook his head.“Not this time, my friend.He looked down at the menu that was sitting off to the side of the table.He didn’t have an appetite.
“Do you mind if we skip dinner?”
“Uh.Sure.Everything okay?”Reed sent him a concerned look.
“I don’t know.I need to go see Abby.”When he went to stand, he paused and glanced over at Reed.“Would you do me a favor?”
“Sure.What do you need?”
“Can you take some food to my mother back at the B&B?I know she said she had a headache, but maybe some food will help.”And then he had a thought.“If they have the stew today, I think she’ll really like it.And that homemade bread.It’s the best.”When Reed grinned at him, he said, “What?”
“I think you’re starting to fall for some of Bayberry’s charms.But she won’t need dinner.”
“Why not?”
“She’s having dinner with Sadie’s parents and Abby’s mother.”
“She is?”He was confused.“But she said she didn’t feel well.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, but she was fine when I drove her to Sadie’s parents’ house.”
So, his mother had pleaded a headache to get rid of him.He wondered if she was hoping that he’d go talk to Abby.Perhaps his mother had a bit of a matchmaker in her.
Brad got to his feet.“I have to go.Sorry about dinner.”
“No problem.Good luck with your talk.I hope it goes well.”
Brad nodded as he headed for the door.He was hoping the same thing.But would Abby hear him out?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
She’doverheardhim.
Abby’s heart sank when Brad had asked Reed if he thought he was making a mistake moving to Bayberry.It felt as though they’d come full circle.Luckily, Brad hadn’t spotted her at the diner.
She took quick steps as she headed back to the coffeeshop.She didn’t pay the least bit of attention to the curious looks she got.Let them talk.She didn’t care.
She was blind to everything, including the crisp green grass and the leaves that were beginning to sprout.Spring might be her favorite time of the year, but today it might as well have been dark and stormy, because it felt like there was a storm brewing within her.
How had she been so wrong about Brad?Maybe because she only saw what she wanted to see.
Well, not anymore.She’d taken off her rose-colored glasses.And she wasn’t about to put them back on.
He had been stringing her along.He never had any intention of taking their relationship to the next step.Being her boyfriend would involve a commitment—it would involve the possibility of a future.And he didn’t want that, especially if it included him moving to Bayberry.
When she entered the coffeeshop, Mia took one look at her and said, “I’ve got the close, if you want to go home.”
Did she want to go home?The thought of not having to speak to anyone appealed to her.She needed some time to get her head screwed on straight.
“Thanks, Mia.I’ll see you Monday.”She kept going.
She couldn’t wait to get home.She pushed open the back door of the coffeeshop.She turned the corner toward her car.Her drive to her apartment was only a couple of minutes.In no time, she was up the stairs and inside her second-floor apartment.
She leaned back against the closed door.There wasn’t a cat or dog to greet her—not even a goldfish.She should do something about that.Thankfully, her landlord, Edith Merkle, loved animals.Abby was sure that Edith wouldn’t mind her getting…a dog?Wait.No.A cat.Yes.Definitely a cat.
If she was going to get a cat, she should clean up first.It wasn’t like her apartment was messy.But she had too much pent-up energy to sit still.
