Candle In The Wind

Chapter Thirty One

Blast From The Past

I swallowed as I looked at the coffee spot as I sat my car in the parking lot, gripping the steering wheel.

I already checked on Ava to see how she was doing and everything. I had her open the store for me because I drove all the way to a different town to meet—which I thought was the most ridiculous and equally worst idea I’d ever had but I thought I’d damned myself enough so I really did have to go through this.

I opened the car door and got out with a shaky breath. We agreed on a coffee shop outside of town, well I agreed because it was outside of town.

I pushed my bag over my shoulder and clutched it as an emotional support item, but really, I was just gripping my purse in fear. I locked my door and made my way to the front door of the cafe.

I was greeted when I walked in, but the words flew over my head as I looked around the place until I found his face. Well, I found the back of his head. The familiar buzz cut he always had. It was like his hair just never grew.

I approached him at the table, my eyes still glued on him when I managed to plop down in the seat in front of him.

“Hey, Jules.”

A chill crawled up my spine.

“Hey, Derick.”

Derick Smith, the second scariest person I knew—but he was mostly harmless to me. I wasn’t too sure about that now, but I could tell he was only here for him.

His dark eyes glanced over my body again, the same exact way he looked at me when I was sitting down. But before there was a slight look of shock or surprise on his face—right now he was just amused. I saw it in his eyes.

This was a really bad idea.

“What do you want Derick?”

“You know, I’ve missed you so much,”

he smiled and leaned in, “just here to catch up on all those girl talks I’ve missed so much.” He waved one of the workers over to our table. “It’s really hot out here, you want anything? Coffee? A cold drink? Anything, it’s on me.”

One of the workers who looked around Bailey’s age came over. “How can I help you?”

He forced a smile.

“We’re ready to order,”

Derick said.

I sighed, mentally face-palming myself. “Derick this is a coffee shop not a restaurant.”

He laughed. “Right, right, so sorry.”

He waved them off.

“I can go order. Do you know what you want?”

I asked as I held onto my purse.

“No, don’t be silly, I can go take the order, what do you want?”

“Iced lemonade.”

“That’s it?”

He stood. “No snacks?”

I slowly shook my head. “No, I’m fine.”

“Alright, be back in a flash.”

He smiled.

And for the first time since I sat down, I finally released a long-awaited breath. I wanted to change my mind and walk back to my truck and drive far away from here and never look back. But chances were he’d follow me back all the way to my Barn or Cal’s house.

I didn’t know what Derick wanted, or what he wanted—well I know what he wanted but I didn’t understand why we had to play this cat and mouse game we were playing.

My knees were bouncing uncontrollably under the table and even when I placed my sweaty palms over them I still shook with nervousness. I looked back at Derick who was still waiting on the orders. He glanced back at me with a creepy smile plastered on his face. I quickly looked back and pulled out my phone to check in on Ava again. She still hadn’t replied to my previous messages—it could be busy at the Barn, it had been lately. Our peak hours were one hour before lunch time. I even had to push back a couple classes because I had to be here.

“One glass of lemonade.”

He placed the icy drink in front of me.“And a chai tea for moi.” He smiled then took a sip.

He looked up at me again, and the scar at the side of his face brought curiosity.

“So, are we gonna talk about the elephant in the room or what?”

He chuckled.

I quickly caught on and looked down at my pregnant stomach. I looked up again. “Why are you here?”

He pursed his lips into a thin line. “You know why I’m here. You’ve been found.”

He kissed his teeth. “And after the shit you pulled? Leaving him hanging down the aisle? C’mon, you know he’d never stop looking for you—you really embarrassed him,” he laughed, “that’s cold, Jules.” He grabbed his chai tea again, “and who would’ve thought little Jules would grow a pair and finally leave that little bastard?”

He took a sip from his chai tea again then set the glass down, he scratched the back of his head. “I just have one question though.”

He leaned in.

I pushed myself back in my seat to put some space between us. Still, I hadn’t said a word, my heart was pounding out of my chest.

“If you knew you were gonna leave him, Jules, why’d you go through the process? Putting on the dress…walking down the aisle… You know? Then disappearing after saying you’d go to the bathroom?”

He raised his eyebrows like he was actually expecting an answer from me. Then he tilted his head to the side with a laugh.

“The man can’t live it down from his parents,”

he leaned back still laughing, “his parents already hated you. I mean like really hated you,” he pressed, “they thought you were this gold digger who could never love their heartless son.”

I sighed. “Thank you…for that.”

Revisiting how much his parents hated me wasn’t something I had on my list to revisit but we didn’t always get what we wanted.

“He couldn’t leave you, Jules, because he really did love you, in his own heartless, twisted ways.”

“Wasn’t that the issue?”

I retorted.

“And you’re pregnant now,”

he said, finally bringing up that topic. I was wondering what was taking him so long.

“It’s not his.”

He crossed his hands over his chest. “Hell, at this point, if you tell me dinosaurs existed, I’d believe you.”

I squinted as my brows furrowed. “They did.”

He looked at me skeptically. “Sure.”

“But you know what?”

“What?”

“I know all about your sweet new spot that seems to be the heart of that shitty town you live in.”

I quickly shook my head. “I’m not making enough profit yet, and I’m saving to pay him off.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll have to pay me too.”

“What?”

His brows furrowed as he pretended to look confused. “How else am I supposed to walk away and not tell him I’ve found you pregnant and barefoot but wait…”

he raised a finger, “the baby isn’t his which means you’ve been working fast.”

My palm curled into a fist under the table. “Listen, Derick, I really don’t have anything right now—”

He grabbed my glass of lemonade, which I still hadn’t touched, and harshly smashed it against his head. Blood immediately trickled down his forehead as I gasped. I was still in shock and I guess everyone else was too because we were all gasping.

“What are you doing?”

I whispered as I grabbed some napkins and lightly dabbed them against the side of his head, but he was still bleeding.

“I want you to guarantee me a cut, otherwise I’ll tell your…fiancé that your new boyfriend beat me up for just approaching you.”

He smiled. “We’ll see how fast he gets down here.”