Chapter Twenty-Five
Alan
I went into the bakery and quietly asked Lainey as she rang up a customer, “Is everything okay with Jessica?”
She called the customer by name, told the woman she’d see her tomorrow, then spun around to face me—worry replacing her customer-service smile.
“I don’t know? What’s going on?”
“It—it looked like she was crying before she went to the bathroom. And she’s been gone a while.”
“Sometimes it takes a while in the bathroom, Alan,” she admonished.
I rolled my eyes. “I understand that, Lainey. That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about the tears before she went into the bathroom.”
“What did you do?”
What the fuck? How is this my fault?
I stood at my full height and deadpanned, “I walked into the kitchen and told her ‘good morning’.”
Lainey frowned. “Oh. That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“You sure you didn’t say or do anything else?”
“Jesus, Lainey. No, I didn’t do anything to upset her.”
“Hmm. It could be new mommy hormones.”
I folded my arms across my chest to let her know that answer wasn’t good enough, and I wasn’t budging. She must have inferred I was serious because she grumbled, “Fine, I’ll go check on her.”
****
Jessica
I buried my face in a handful of paper towels and sobbed.
And sobbed.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried like that. Maybe that’s why I hadn’t let myself do it, because once the dam burst, I couldn’t stop the flood of tears.
There was a gentle knock on the bathroom door, followed by Lainey softly calling my name.
“Jess? Are you okay?”
I tried to infuse my voice with some pep. “I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute!”
My blotchy reflection and puffy eyes in the mirror begged to differ.
Lainey knocked again. “Let me in, please.”
“Just a second…”
I didn’t want her to see me like this, so I turned on the cold water and splashed some on my face, hoping that would help.
It didn’t.
Her knocking grew more insistent, so with a sigh, I turned the knob to unlock the door. She immediately came in, took one look at me, and locked the door behind her.
“Oh, honey! What’s going on?”
Her concern made my eyes well up again.
“Nothing! Everything! I don’t know!” I wailed as the tears flowed down my face.
She rubbed both my biceps as she looked me in the eye and told me, “Take a deep breath,” as she modeled it. Then, “Again.” I breathed in synchrony with her, and after the fourth breath, she said, “Let’s start at the beginning. What’s going on?”