Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Zara
My first afternoon off, I ventured back to Main Street to do more exploring. After a short stroll and stopping in a few cute little shops, I ended up in Sugar Rush again. For a Sunday afternoon, the place was buzzing, with only a few empty tables.
Phoebe lit up when I made it to the counter to order. “Hey, you. It’s good to see your face again.”
“You too.” I leaned over the counter to brush a kiss on her cheek. “God, you smell good. Do you roll around in sugar in the back?”
She laughed. “That’s all natural. It comes from my pores.”
“Why do I believe that?” I pushed my hair off my shoulders as I glanced at the bakery case. “What should I order? I’m starving. My stomach is eating itself.”
“Trust me to pick a few things?”
“Yes. Please. I have decision fatigue. If you could make some for me, I’d love you forever.”
She gasped, one hand flying to her cheek. “You don’t already?”
I waved my hand back and forth. “To be honest, it’s touch and go.”
That made her giggle more. “All right, you. Go find a table. I’ll bring something over in a minute.”
I reached into my purse for my wallet. “I have to pay.”
She rolled her eyes. “No, you don’t. Besides, I’m planning on joining you. Your company is payment enough.”
I would have argued getting to sit with her would be another treat, but there was a line forming behind me, and I didn’t think I’d be able to talk her out of it anyway.
I claimed an empty table near the front window.
The next table over, a man appearing to be in his fifties pecked away on his laptop.
A group of women were playing some type of card game at the table in front of me, speaking softly.
Teen girls were clustered around another table, snickering over something on one of their phones.
The door chimed as customers went in and out, not remaining silent very long.
Phoebe appeared a few minutes later, carrying a pink box and two iced coffees. She sat across from me, wiping her hands on her frilly apron, and smiled.
“It seems like your shop is doing really well,” I said.
“Oh, it is. It helps to be the only game in town—and that I kind of know what I’m doing.” She flipped open the lid of the box. “I’ve created addicts out of the whole town. They can’t resist my baked goods.”
I snorted a laugh. “Is that what you’re doing with me—giving the first hit for free so I’ll keep coming back?”
“Absolutely.” She nudged the box closer. “Pick your poison. I put one of almost everything in there. If you want a suggestion, I highly recommend the carrot cake muffin. There’s cream cheese frosting inside.”
“Sold.” I lifted the muffin out of the box, surprised and intrigued by how heavy it was. My mouth was watering so much I could barely peel back the wrapper before taking a massive bite. “Mmm…ungh.”
Her brows lifted. “That good?”
“Yunggg.” I covered my mouth to muffle my moan. It might’ve been my hunger speaking, but this was the best thing I’d ever tasted. I took another big bite as soon as I swallowed the first.
Phoebe was more polite, taking delicate nibbles of a chocolate cookie that looked so good I had to stop myself from snatching it from her. Luckily, there was another one in the box.
Once I got a handle on myself and was able to behave like a normal human being, we updated each other on our lives.
We’d never fallen out of touch, but it had been a few years since we’d seen each other in person.
Phoebe became almost euphoric talking about becoming parents with Deacon.
She said he was the sweetest, most protective dad, and Abigail absolutely melted in his arms. She was only slightly jealous of their bond.
Mostly, she adored watching them together.
I was slightly jealous hearing how wonderful her life was, but I was able to set aside my feelings about the disaster of my own life and revel in her happiness.
Her soft-brown eyes swept over me. “Please tell me if I’m being insensitive. I only know a little bit about what happened with your marriage, and maybe you don’t want to listen to me gushing about mine. You can tell me to shut up at any time.”
I reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “First of all, I would never tell you to shut up. Second, if you want to know, all you have to do is ask. It’s not a secret.”
“Okay…” She rested her chin on her fist, “what happened, Z?”
So much. Yet, when it came down to it, it was pretty simple.
I took a deep breath and launched into the worst decision I’d ever made.
“I married a liar enmeshed with his family. There were no boundaries between Jackson and his brothers—to the point where it was like we were in a four-way marriage. I tricked myself into thinking they were extremely close, like Zane and me, but this was way beyond. We rarely had a second of alone time, and when we did, nothing I shared with him remained private. After we got married, we were supposed to move an hour away from them, but I quickly came to realize that was never going to happen. I don’t think Jackson ever intended to move and only said it to placate me and get me down the aisle. ”
Her nose crinkled. “That sounds awful. My family is close too, but they know when to back off.”
“Your family is lovely. They’re nothing like his.” I blew out a breath. “I might have put up with it. Actually, I know I would have. I was determined to make it work no matter what.”
She shook her head. “That stubborn streak.”
“A mile wide.” I smiled ruefully. “No one wants to get divorced, but it’s even worse when you’re thinking about it on the honeymoon.”
“No…” She pushed the bakery box all the way to my side of the table. “You deserve a cookie—or twelve.”
I picked out the chocolate one I’d been eyeing and took a bite. It was just as good as I’d imagined.
“We went to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico. It was so pretty and romantic. Then, on day two, Randall and Owen showed up with their parents. Jackson pretended to be surprised, but he’d known they were coming the whole time.
” I leaned close, whispering, “We had sex once that whole week. The rest of the time, he spent getting plastered with his brothers.”
Phoebe choked on her iced coffee, her cheeks flushing red. “One time? And you stuck it out?”
“Right? Go me. I wish I could tell you it got better. Jackson convinced me to work for the construction business he was starting with Randall and Owen. I had a really good job with a tech firm, but he said he needed me, so I gave it up to run the books for them.”
I pressed my fist to my forehead. “I worked for them for a year before I discovered what they were doing. It was a mess, and they’d tangled me in without me knowing. They’d raised money from private investors and were making the company look healthier than it was by counting what wasn’t there yet.”
Phoebe nodded, listening intently, so I went on, spilling it all.
“I handled the internal books. I didn’t have access to the investor accounts.
When I finally realized what they were doing, there was no explanation Jackson could have given that would have been enough.
” My throat thickened as I tried to swallow.
“One of the worst parts was he didn’t try.
He basically shrugged, expecting me to continue playing along.
It felt like he’d literally shaken me out of a stupor.
And once I was awake, I couldn’t force myself back to sleep—my eyes were open to everything. ”
Phoebe fell back in her chair, her lips parted. “Wow. This guy…in what episode does he die?”
I hadn’t thought I’d be able to laugh about this, but a big, bright burst of humor rocketed out of me, making all my limbs buzz. A few heads turned in my direction, but Phoebe kept her eyes on me, light filling them as she grinned.
“Maybe in the spinoff,” I said. “I’m not his emergency contact anymore, so I don’t have to worry about that.”
“At least you can joke about it now.”
“I honestly didn’t know I could, but yeah…” I wrapped my hands around my cup, the condensation cool on my palms. “When I lay it out like that…it’s ridiculous. I don’t know what I was thinking. I had massive doubts, saw the red flags, yet I still went through with it.”
“Even the smartest people can be dumb sometimes. I once dated a guy who turned out to be married. In retrospect, I should have seen the signs, but I kept my blinders on. All you can do is try to forgive yourself and learn from it.”
“I’m working on the forgiving part.” I broke my cookie in half and brought it to my lips. “But I learned my lesson all too well.”
“I bet you did. The bright side is it can only go up from here, right?”
I groaned, rapping my knuckles on the table. “Knock on wood when you make statements like that.”
With a laugh, she knocked on the table too. “Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I waved the other half of my cookie. “For another one of these, I’ll forgive you.”
I was in a good mood after spending time with Phoebe. Carrying my pink box filled with pastries back to my car, I was almost feeling optimistic.
Until I pressed the ignition button…and nothing happened.
Absolute silence.
I gripped the steering wheel, letting my forehead fall against it. This couldn’t be good.
It took me a minute to gather myself, then I climbed out of my car and popped the hood. My dad had made sure I knew how to change my oil and a flat tire, but that was as far as my mechanical skills went. I had no clue what I was looking at, only that I couldn’t see any glaring problems.
With a groan of frustration, I kicked the front tire. “What good are you, car?” I wound my foot back and kicked it again. “This is your one job, and you can’t even do it. I should send you straight to the junkyard.”
I geared up for another kick when a roll of laughter broke through the air.
“What did your car do to you?”
Startled, I jerked midswing. My foot caught awkwardly on the pavement, and the world tilted. I let out a small, undignified gasp as I stumbled sideways…
Running straight into solid warmth.
A strong pair of arms wrapped around my waist, stopping my fall just short of disaster. “Whoa, whoa,” Cormac said, low and close. “I’ve got you.”
For a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe.
He gently steadied me on my feet, his hands lingering long enough to make me acutely aware of where they’d been. “Sorry,” he added. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
My heart was racing like I’d sprinted a mile. I kept my hands on his forearms, partly for balance, partly because I wasn’t ready to let go. “Did you really have to show up while I was in the middle of a full-blown temper tantrum?” I asked weakly. “As if I don’t have enough to be embarrassed about.”
“Nothing embarrassing here.” His brow furrowed with concern. “Is something wrong with your car?”
“Yes.” I let go of his arms to shove my hair off my face, and he released my waist slowly, like he didn’t trust me to stand on my own two feet. Fair, since I’d almost toppled only a minute ago. “It’s not starting.”
“Hmmm.” Hands on his hips, he peered under the hood.
I wasn’t sure he knew more about cars than I did, but his confident stance and serious expression as he examined its inner workings made him look incredibly competent.
“I’m not seeing anything glaring. Did it make a sound when you tried to start it? ”
“Silence.” I stepped beside him, my arms folded. “That can’t be good, right?”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “Usually, yeah. Could be a dead battery. Could be the ignition.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’ll call Scott. He’s closed today, but he can tow it to his shop and take a look tomorrow.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I can find someone.”
His eyes flicked to mine, narrowing a touch. “Someone other than Scott, the guy who owns the only shop in town?”
“I—” My stubbornness flared then fizzled just as quickly. He was helping. There was no reason to fight it. I exhaled. “Thank you for helping me, Maccie.”
“Anything you need, Zara.” He looked down at his phone, thumb moving over the screen. “You don’t even have to ask.”
He sounded like he really meant it. And there was a time when I’d believe it with my whole heart.
That may have been a long time ago, but here we were. All grown up, standing toe-to-toe, and Cormac was holding out his hand, just like he used to do.
I still couldn’t make sense of this man and the man I’d overheard on the night of my wedding, and looking at my dead car, I wasn’t going to be able to solve the mystery today.
I had the rest of the summer for that.
Even as I hoped that would be long enough, I already knew it wouldn’t be.