Chapter Sixteen
LANDON WAS CONFUSED. AFTER talking to his brothers, he returned to the library to find Bailey missing. Landon looked all over the house for her but couldn’t find her. It was the strangest thing. When he checked outside in the driveway, her vehicle wasn’t there either. She was gone.
“Everything okay?” True asked when he walked back into the house. Landon knew his utter confusion must be showing on his face. He hoped there hadn’t been an emergency with her family.
“I’m not sure. Bailey just up and left without even saying goodbye.”
True wrinkled her nose. “That’s strange. She seemed to be having a really good time all day. Did something happen between the two of you?”
“Not that I know of,” he said. His mind was beginning to race as he went over the events of the day. Kisses. Romantic gestures. Jokes. Raw emotions.
“Why don’t you give her a call? I’m sure there’s a simple explanation. Cheer up,” True said, lifting his chin up and smiling at him.
Once True walked away, Landon continued to go over the situation in his mind.
There had been one thing that had happened between them.
He’d told her that he was falling in love with her.
His heart sank. He didn’t want to think it, but maybe that was it.
She had never responded to his declaration, and although he’d shrugged it off due to them being interrupted on several occasions, maybe she just hadn’t been feeling him.
Maybe he’d said too much. Too soon. Or perhaps since Christmas was a few days away, she was grieving her father all over again, especially knowing that Hattie’s light was fading.
Maybe he should have been more sensitive to that fact and checked in on her.
Landon headed upstairs to his bedroom so he could make a call to Bailey in private.
Even though he called her phone several times, she didn’t pick up.
Now he was getting really worried, almost to the point where he was considering reaching out to her mother.
Rather than go that route, he decided to text her instead. Hopefully he would get a response.
Hey Bailey. I’m a little worried you left without saying goodbye.
A short while later, she replied: I’m fine Landon. I was just feeling a little suffocated.
He looked at the phone in disbelief. This response didn’t even sound like Bailey.
How in the world had she been feeling suffocated when they had all been happy and celebrating a joyful occasion?
She had been incredibly moved by Jacques and Hattie’s wedding.
She had suggested the chili cheese party and been delighted by how it had turned out.
He couldn’t help but respond.
Suffocated?
At this point he was just hanging on by a thread, waiting to see the little dots followed by her reply. Finally, it came.
Today was a lot, Landon. I’m sorry.
I don’t think I can do this. We can still pretend to be together for Hattie, but anything more is off the table.
His hand shook as he held his phone. Landon had to read the message twice, then three times, to even allow the words to sink in. She was breaking up with him. Abruptly. Randomly. And her message sounded so cold, totally unlike Bailey.
What in the world had happened?
He needed to press for answers. This just seemed unbelievable and out of the blue.
Surely he would have known if something had been majorly wrong between them.
His mind raced as he went back over the events of the day.
Things had been perfect. Or so he’d thought.
The only extraordinary thing that had happened was him telling Bailey that he was falling in love with her.
Had that scared her off? Made her realize that her feelings didn’t match his?
Landon needed to know.
Did something happen
today that I don’t know about?
I just realized that your
feelings are way stronger
than mine and I don’t want to
lead you on. It wouldn’t be fair.
Ouch! There it was. He couldn’t even pretend that this didn’t hurt.
A part of him wanted to beg her to reconsider, but his pride wouldn’t let him.
Maybe this had been too good to be true all along.
A woman like Bailey could have anyone she wanted.
For him that was what it boiled down to.
The hard cold truth was that she just didn’t want him. And there was no simple fix for it.
The pain ricocheting through his body was intense.
This was what it felt like, he realized, to have your heart smashed into a million little pieces.
He felt incredibly blindsided and a bit foolish for believing that love was in the cards for him.
For the first time in his life Landon had felt that a woman had truly seen him and valued him for who he was.
Bailey had made him feel as if he was worthy of a happily-ever-after.
It had all been smoke and mirrors. None of it had been real.
Like most mirages it had faded away after time.
Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to run into her at work, since Yukon Cider was closed for the next week in honor of the holidays.
He had no idea how he was going to be able to work with Bailey after this.
Maybe this was why people didn’t engage in relationships with their co-workers. The fallout could be brutal.
He placed his cell phone in his jacket pocket and stood up from his bed. Even though he felt like roadkill, he wasn’t going to host a pity party for himself. It was still Jacques and Hattie’s big day, and he intended to celebrate with them.
Landon could lick his wounds later. His broken heart wasn’t healing anytime soon.
Bailey woke up the next morning feeling as if she’d been run over by a semitruck. She couldn’t count the number of tears she’d cried last night. Never before had she actually cried herself to sleep. But then again, she’d never given up the man she loved for his own benefit.
The truth was, all she wanted these days was to be with Landon.
Bailey Daniels had become that person, the one she always railed against who became low-key obsessed with their partner.
She was so into him that at times she couldn’t think straight.
But now that she’d sent that awful text and cut him to the core, there would be no more Bailey and Landon.
The most magical thing that had ever happened to her was over.
And tonight she would have to put a happy face on for her family and pretend that all was right with the world. They had plans at her mom’s house to order in dinner and do one another’s nails. A spa night with food was always a mood lifter.
She knew that no one would talk about the awful anniversary coming up, but she really didn’t want to be alone.
Tonight of all nights she could push it to the back of her mind, along with the horrible way she’d dumped Landon.
Not doing the dirty deed in person had been the only upshot.
Seeing his reaction face-to-face would have been soul sucking.
For the rest of the day she puttered around her house doing laundry and making a grocery list. She’d ended up with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, watching the new season of Love on the Run. Watching other folks make poor decisions all in the name of love was comforting.
She had a few presents under her tree with Landon’s name on them. What was she going to do with them? It made her want to cry all over again. Each gift had been picked out with love and care. And now most likely Landon would never even open them.
When it was time to head over to her mom’s, Bailey was more than ready to get out of her house. It wasn’t good for her to be alone, especially when she was mourning the loss of Landon. There was an ache in her chest that just wouldn’t subside.
As she was walking up the driveway, Bailey crossed paths with her grandfather, who was on his way out of the house. Guy was dressed in a sharp long black coat with a red tie peeking out. “Looking good there,” she said, letting out a whistle of approval.
He did a little spin for her. “I’m going to meet up with Peggy. We have a date, so don’t wait up for me,” Pops said with a wink. “I might be staying over at her place.”
Peggy Dillard was her grandfather’s girlfriend. The two were in the hot-and-heavy stage, and her grandfather wanted everyone to know.
“Okay, that’s definitely TMI,” she said, shaking her head. He grinned at her in response.
“Bailey, just go with the flow when you head into the house.”
“What does that mean?” she asked him. “We’re just having a low-key night.”
“All will be revealed,” he said, whistling a happy tune as he walked toward his truck.
Sometimes Pops could be incredibly random, but she loved him to bits.
When Bailey walked inside the house, it was unusually quiet. She didn’t hear any chatter, no music or anything else to indicate her family was here.
“Hey, where is everyone?” she called out. She heard muffled sounds emanating from the television room. Bailey placed her purse down on the kitchen table and began walking down the hall. When she walked into the room, her whole family was there, grinning and smiling at her.
“What is this?” Bailey asked, looking around. “Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Everyone was acting as if they were keeping a secret.
“Is this a surprise party?” she asked. “Because it’s not my birthday.”
“It’s just a little something we pulled together for you,” Gemma said.
“For all of us, actually,” Lynn added, smiling.
“What’s happening?” she asked. Everywhere she looked there was a photo of her dad.
Her parents together. Her sisters and her at the zoo with her dad.
Individual pictures of each of them with him.
Birthdays. Holidays, Christmases. Pictures for every decade of his life.
Some of these photos she hadn’t seen since she was a little girl.
They had been tucked away as if they’d never happened. At least that was how Bailey had felt.