I rushed my way through throwing everything I’d brought with me back into my suitcase in the dark, flung myself in the car, and drove off.
37
XANDER
The harsh ringof the bell over the bakery door made me jump, breaking the near-perfect silence I’d been sitting in.
“Xander honey, do you know where Milo is? I justhaveto talk to him about—Xander? Are you all right?”
I sniffed, wiping at my already-red eyes for what must have been the thousandth time this morning, and couldn’t quite make myself meet Muriel’s eyes.
“Fine,” I said in my least convincing voice. “What, uh. Milo isn’t… but I could pass on…”
I didn’t have to look up to know Muriel was looking at me. Her gaze was intense enough to bore a hole in my head.
Instead of trying to make anything up, I grabbed the note Milo had left from behind the counter and passed it to her.
I didn’t care anymore if she knew I was hurting. Last time I’d been through a breakup, I’d been angry, and I’d known I was doing something that was good for me.
This time my heart was breaking and I didn’t care who knew about it. All I wanted was to go back upstairs and crawl under the blankets and cry until I ran out of tears.
Muriel took the note, and I’d read it so many times that I couldn’t help repeating it in my head while she scanned it.
You were right last night. You shouldn’t have to live waiting for your absent boyfriend to show up when it’s convenient for him, and you do deserve better. I don’t want to be another Brady. I want you to smile when you think of me. But you should find someone who can make you smile in person every single day of your life. Don’t accept less.
I love you,
Milo
“Oh, honey,” she said, handing the note back. “I’m sorry, I came rushing in here and—”
Muriel broke off as I burst into tears. I’d been holding it together, mostly, but something had finally broken and all I could do was crumple into a sobbing mess.
I wasn’t sure how long it was before I felt gentle hands guiding me to the little table I’d sat with Milo at when he’d come in to apologize to me. The blinds in the front window closed, and it must have been Muriel who closed them, but I didn’t notice her doing it.
All I could do was stare at the note in my hand and hurt.
At some point, a warm mug was pushed into my hands, and I looked up to see Muriel—with tears shining in her eyes—smiling a kind smile down at me.
I looked at the mug, then bent down a little to sniff it.
“It’s chamomile and lavender,” Muriel said. “I always carry a couple of tea bags with me. I hope you don’t mind me using your kitchen.”
I hadn’t even noticed her going upstairs. Unless she meant the kitchen in the bakery. I didn’t have the strength to ask.
At least the mug was warm.
“I’ve flipped the sign for you,” she added, sitting down opposite me.
This wasn’t exactly how I’d expected her to react to the news that the perfect boyfriend she’d been expecting to leave me or cheat on me the entire time he’d been in town had finally packed up and left without so much as saying goodbye.
“Why?” I asked, gripping the mug tightly.
“Because you’re upset, and not everyone in town needs to see that,” she said.
I’d tried to tell myself when I found Milo’s note that this was all just a bad dream, but I’d stopped believing that when I burned myself on the oven door taking the cinnamon rolls out.
I’d put an extra batch in the fridge yesterday so I could send them away with him this morning.
