Chapter 7
EZRA
Talya took a seat on the banquette behind her, then reached into her purse. She pulled out her phone and set it beside her, the screen lit with a timer already counting down.
I wasn’t sure how she’d managed to sneak the device inside—Mystique was notoriously strict about cameras inside the club to protect the privacy of its patrons—but her last words were all I could focus on.
You have one hour.
I wasn’t surprised she was holding me accountable to my offer, but it meant my time with her was limited and I had to make it count.
“Okay,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck, the scratchy fabric of my glove grating my skin as Talya stared at me, unblinking.
I silently cursed myself for not having a plan. I’d spent so long imagining what I’d say if I ever got the chance to speak to her again—only to come up empty now.
Because while this was Talya’s first time seeing me… it wasn’t mine.
I might have told her I’d only moved back to Boston last week, but in reality, I’d been back for almost a month now and had driven past her shop so many times I’d lost count.
I’d never lied to her before. But I hadn’t wanted to scare her off by admitting I’d practically been stalking her ever since I’d set foot in the city.
I wasn’t proud of it, but staying away from her had been physically unbearable over the last three years. And even though she’d broken my heart, I couldn’t keep my distance.
I’d never really been able to.
If it had been only up to me, I would have turned down the internship in France to work under Auguste Dumas—one of the world’s best pastry chefs—in a heartbeat when I got the offer. But my mom had sacrificed so much to help me realize my dreams, and I couldn’t bring myself to let her down.
My dad died right before I was born, and for years, my mother picked up so many extra shifts at the hospital to make sure I never felt like I was missing out on anything, even with only one parent raising me.
And besides… Talya would’ve never forgiven me if she found out she was the reason I’d stayed and missed the opportunity of a lifetime.
Now I couldn’t help but wonder if it had ever been worth it.
Silence bloomed in the space between us, heavy and awkward in a way that had never existed before. Talking with Talya, spending time with her, had always felt so easy. From the moment she’d barreled across the street on our moving day to introduce herself to my mom and me, she’d felt like home.
Everything about her was warm. Calming. Like the sun.
And just like the sun, I’d been drawn to her and had never been able to stray away, even with the certainty I’d get burned.
“So—”
“How—”
We spoke at the same time.
“You go first,” I said right as she insisted, “You go first.”
Another beat of silence.
“How’s Roots going?” I asked, settling on a safe topic as I took a seat on the banquette closest to her. I wanted to sit even closer, but I had to remind myself to take baby steps.
She shifted away slightly, and I tried not to flinch at the ache blooming in my chest from the gesture. “Fine,” she replied.
Great. I was getting one-word answers. I wanted to cut straight to it and ask why she’d never responded to my letter, but time had clearly built up walls around her that I’d never seen there before. She’d never pushed me away like this, and now, I was chartering in foreign territory.
Réfléchis, Ezra.
I scrambled for something that might get through to her when she let out a quiet sigh and leaned back, crossing her legs. The hem of her dress rode up just slightly from the movement, instantly drawing my attention to the smooth expanse of her tanned skin.
Heat stirred beneath my skin at the sight, and just like that, my mind betrayed me by flashing through to all the lonely nights I’d shamelessly imagined her in ways no friend ever should.
“How was Paris?” she asked.
Her voice snapped me out of my reverie and I responded quickly, “Fine,” praying my expression didn’t betray my thoughts.
I wasn’t going to shy away from telling her how I felt tonight, no matter how it ended, but I had to break down her walls first. And more importantly, not think with my dick.
I cleared my throat and met her gaze. I’d expected indifference, assuming she was only being polite by asking, but beneath that resistant armor, I still caught a glimpse of my Talya.
So I’d hold onto that. I’d use it to remind her of who we used to be.
I’d already recounted every second of my time in France through my letters and the few times we managed to FaceTime, but if she wanted to hear it now, I’d indulge her.
“I mean, it was good. Great, actually,” I said with a small smile.
She didn’t return it, but she was listening—and that was a start.
So I kept going. “I got to learn a lot. And Chef Dumas was amazing. Well… outside of the kitchen. Inside it, he was a fucking asshole,” I shared with a soft chuckle.
“But I’ll forever be indebted to him for everything he taught me. ”
I paused, then added, “And I got to learn a lot about my dad.”
Her gaze softened. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly.
There were many reasons I’d applied for the Dumas internship, but the most important one—the one I hadn’t told anyone except Talya—was my dad.
I’d never had the chance to meet him before cancer took him, and my mother rarely ever talked about him.
I never blamed her because I couldn’t even fathom losing the love of my life right before one of the biggest milestones in your life…
let alone raise a kid who looked like an exact replica of him while trying to navigate your own grief.
It had always felt like I couldn’t connect to this other part of me because how could you miss someone you never met?
But there’d always been this longing inside of me to know more about my father.
So when I’d stumbled on an old journal that my dad kept while he was studying to be a pastry chef, I’d found entries of his time with his old friend Auguste.
When I’d told Talya about it, she’d been the first to push me to apply.
So I did.
I’d even used my mother’s maiden name so there’d be no bias, and a week before graduation, I’d gotten my acceptance letter.
“The internship was intense,” I said, “but when I finally told Auguste who I was, he made sure to share every embarrassing story he had about my dad.”
I still remembered the day I’d finally mustered the courage to tell Auguste the truth. I’d been whirling with emotions and the first person I’d wanted to call was Talya. But by then, that stupid letter had already been sent and I’d had to remind myself she’d made her decision about us.
“I’m happy for you, Ezra,” she said, a small smile forming on her lips. “Truly. I know how important finding a way to get closer to your dad was for you.”
Warmth spread through my chest at her words and all I wanted was to pull her into my arms and never let go.
“Thank you, Taly-belly.”
She stiffened the moment the nickname slipped past my lips. Her smile vanished as quickly as it had come. Her gaze dropped away, shifting to the phone screen beside her.
The timer showed forty minutes had already passed.
Panic swirled inside my chest, dousing the previous warmth. It was replaced with a heavy weight that settled deep in my gut at the realization that I only had twenty minutes left with her before she might disappear forever from my life.
I could see her walls going back up, so I said the only thing I thought might blur the lines enough for me to finally be able to ask her what I’d set my mind to the second I saw her tonight.
“Let’s play a game.”