6
I stared at the screen for a second, heart flipping like he could see me standing there. I opened our text thread, long-pressed the message to love it, and slipped my phone back into my coat pocket.
“Here you go, babe.” The barista slid the drink and my sandwich in a paper bag toward me with a grin. “Stay warm out there.”
“Trying to,” I mumbled, tipping her and heading back outside.
My first stop was Cashmere & Chic, a little boutique where I always found cute shit. Scented body scrubs, wine tumblers with petty sayings, fuzzy socks, even a couple of travel-sized silk bonnets in fun colors.
“Oooh, this is cute,” I whispered to myself, holding up a tumbler. Merry, Messy & Moisturized. I was cracking up as I added it to my basket, thinking about Troi snatching it and yelling, “It’s giving spa day in a glass, honey.”
I turned down the next aisle and nearly ran right into somebody’s buggy. “Oh! My bad,” I said quickly, looking up.
The man blinked as if he'd seen a ghost. “Oh, shit. Autumn?”
Damn. I froze for half a second before my face rearranged itself into something polite. “Theo,” I said, giving him the smallest smile my lips could manage.
He didn’t deserve more than that. He was still fine as ever, though. Peacoat, fresh fade, beard trimmed up. But none of it hit the way it used to. Not after I finally pulled myself out of the fog he helped dig.
Theo’s eyes slid over me like he had the right. “Been a minute.”
“Yeah,” I said. “A long one.”
He nodded, as if he wanted credit for noticing. “You look… good. Different. Like, uh... life’s been treating you good.”
That made me laugh under my breath. “Life treats you better when you take care of yourself.”
His jaw ticked a little, like he’d realized the truth in that. He glanced at the basket in my hand. “Christmas shopping?”
“Yep.”
“For who? Your man?” he asked, and the way he said it rubbed me wrong. Like he still thought he was somebody I owed explanations to.
I scoffed, shaking my head. “I gotta go.”
He shifted his weight. “Look, my fault for just… ghosting like that, Autumn. I didn’t plan to just…”
“You did,” I said quietly. “You absolutely did. You put all your shit on me, which made me depressed, and some more shit, and then you had the audacity to just walk away.”
He swallowed. “I was going through a lot of shit.”
“You were always going through a lot,” I replied. “I just didn’t realize I was supposed to drown with you.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, exhaled, and tried for a softer tone. “Well, glad you’re doing better.”
“I am,” I said. “And I plan to keep it that way so you can stop calling me.”
He nodded slowly, stepped aside, and gestured for me to pass. “Merry Christmas.”
“You too.” I walked around him without looking back because I wasn’t the same woman who used to wait for him to show up. And right now? I had bigger things to worry about. Like the baby I was carrying and the man I was dodging.
A few shops later, I’d grabbed everything I wanted to buy. I purchased a candle set for Kourtni and bottles of perfume for the rest of the girls, including Rhonda. I also bought a bottle of aged whiskey for my daddy and a few designer silk ties. The last store was another designer boutique. I walked in slowly, eyes roaming. There was this Gucci cologne set that caught my eye, and a hoodie I knew would look good on Woods.
“That cologne is a bestseller,” the older man behind the counter said. “Lotta ladies buy it for their men.”
“He’s not my man,” I replied too fast, then winced. “I mean… not officially.”
He smirked. “If you’re buying him designer cologne and clothes, he probably will be soon.”
Outside, it was getting dark early, and it was only four o’clock in the afternoon. I walked toward my car, bags on each arm, brain fried. But in the middle of all the chaos, all the planning, all the “he’s not my man” mental gymnastics… I knew something for sure. I missed Woods. Bad. That’s why I gave in last night over the phone. My body needed it.
I put all the shopping bags in the trunk and then unlocked the car. I just sat there for a second, resting my head on the steering wheel. Of course, my phone would start ringing. I stared at it, torn.