Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
VIOLET
“How are you liking the job so far?” I ask Liv as I sit down in front of her. Both of us are resting after our morning and afternoon rush.
We usually get a small rush during the morning and lunch hours, and then it calms down.
I’ve been keeping an eye on how busy we get during the day, to see what hours we should be open.
I’ve noticed the busiest times are morning and afternoon.
Closing late afternoon would be a big help to me.
I would have more time to bake, and not have to be here twenty-four seven, like I have been lately.
She finishes chewing her bite before speaking. “I love it. I don’t think college is where I’m supposed to be.”
I chuckle a little, knowing that’s how I felt the moment I stepped foot into college. It felt like high school all over again, learning about something I’ll never use.
“I’m glad. How have your parents felt about you not going to school?”
She smirks and shrugs her shoulders. “They think this is a phase I’ll grow out of.”
“Do you think it is?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. How can someone know something like that? I don’t want to live my life thinking about the future. I would rather live my life in the moment. If that’s me going back to college tomorrow and dropping out the next day, then so be it.”
“Life’s too short to be forced into something that doesn’t feel right.” I take a sip of my coffee, glancing at her.
“Right. I wished my parents thought like you.”
“At least you’re being responsible and paying them back for the semester they paid for. That has to mean something to them.”
Her eyes meet mine. “They told me it does. But sometimes I don’t even feel like I should pay them back because they forced me to go to college.” She rolls her eyes. “I didn’t want to, and they knew that.”
“Maybe this will show them you’re still trying to figure out what you want to do.”
“Hopefully it does, because next time I’m not paying them back.”
I let out a laugh. If I could go back in time and be young and carefree, I wouldn’t hesitate.
Sometimes I miss when I was younger. And what’s sad is I couldn’t wait to grow up and be an adult, and now that I am, I wish I had enjoyed the simple things in life more, back when my life was simpler.
Here I am, thirty and starting all over.
At least I’m starting over with experience.
The bell above the door jingles, and Liv’s face immediately falls, her cheeks flushing a bright pink. I spin around and spot a guy who can’t be much older than her. His hair is messy in a ‘careless, but I did it on purpose’ way. His eyes dart around nervously before landing on her.
“Hi, Liv.” His lashes lower, the hint of a smile tugging at his mouth.
“Hi, Jacob.” She stumbles over the two words as she gets up from her seat. The sound of the chair scraping across the floor makes a screech.
“Is this where you work?”
“Yeah. Did you want to get something?”
He pivots to face the display cases. “Sure. What’s good?”
She rushes behind the counter, and I can’t help but smile at how cute their shy interaction is. It reminds me of Ezra and I when I first started getting feelings for him.
“Everything,” she says with a wide smile, showcasing her pink cheeks even more. “What’s your favorite dessert?”
“Umm. I don’t really eat sweets.”
“What! You’re missing out. Especially these.”
Dang, she’s really hyping me up.
“Pick one for me.”
“Uh, okay.”
“Is that your sister?” he whispers, leaning towards her.
“No, that’s my boss,” she whispers back, catching my gaze for a moment.
“Oh.”
She grabs him a pumpkin cinnamon roll, wraps it up and places it in a bag. “Did you want to eat it here?”
“Nah. I gotta go.”
“Oh.” Her voice is low in disappointment.
“Are you going to Caleb’s party this weekend?”
“Yeah. Are you?”
“Yeah.” He pays and grabs the bag from her. “Thanks. It was nice seeing you. I’ll see you at Caleb’s,” he says, heading out the door.
“Okay, see you.” She watches him walk out the door and gives him a small wave.
She walks back over and sits back down. Her cheeks are still pink as ever. “Who was that?” I ask, eyeing her.
“Some guy,” she says with a shy smile, avoiding my gaze.
“Do you like this guy?”
“Yeah.”
“You should’ve asked him to stay.”
Her eyes widen. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Have you ever asked a guy out?”
I pause for a moment, thinking if I have. “No.”
“See. I can’t do that.”
“Okay. I get your point. Has he ever asked you out?”
She shakes her head. “I keep waiting for him to, and he never does. We keep running into each other and nothing happens.”
My head tilts. “Then how did he know you were here?”
“I told him the last time we ran into each other where I worked.”
That’s interesting. He stops by and leaves. Either he’s really shy or is this the kind of dating that is going on? Hopefully not.
“How do you know him?”
“We went to school together.”
“You should ask him out.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Did you ask that one guy out?”
“Ezra?”
She nods, leaning both her elbows on the table with her brows raised and a smirk on her lips.
“No.”
“See,” she says, leaning back in her chair.
She got me there. I forget how wise some teens can be.
“Is he your boyfriend?”
“No, it’s a long story.”
Liv smiles and raises her eyebrows up and down. “He’s really cute. You two are cute together.”
Now it’s my turn to get shy, as my cheeks heat. I grip my coffee cup nervously. “Thanks.”
To this day, I still get butterflies whenever Ezra’s name comes up around me. It’s ridiculous, because how can my stomach still flip at the sound of his name as if I’m in high school all over again?
I don’t know if it’s because of everything we’ve been through, or the history we have.
But that tiny rush, that flutters through me, hits me every single time.
But lately, that tiny rush has been feeling more like nagging worries.
After he told me where he stood, I can’t explain it but something just made me shift into even more worry.
But I know there isn’t anything I should worry about.
I just am. It’s something hidden beneath the surface that I can’t control.