Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
She’d overheard him.
Abby’s heart sank when Brad had asked Reed if he thought he was making a mistake moving to Bayberry. It felt as though they’d come full circle. Luckily, Brad hadn’t spotted her at the diner.
She took quick steps as she headed back to the coffeeshop. She didn’t pay the least bit of attention to the curious looks she got. Let them talk. She didn’t care.
She was blind to everything, including the crisp green grass and the leaves that were beginning to sprout. Spring might be her favorite time of the year, but today it might as well have been dark and stormy, because it felt like there was a storm brewing within her.
How had she been so wrong about Brad? Maybe because she only saw what she wanted to see.
Well, not anymore. She’d taken off her rose-colored glasses. And she wasn’t about to put them back on.
He had been stringing her along. He never had any intention of taking their relationship to the next step. Being her boyfriend would involve a commitment—it would involve the possibility of a future. And he didn’t want that, especially if it included him moving to Bayberry.
When she entered the coffeeshop, Mia took one look at her and said, “I’ve got the close, if you want to go home.”
Did she want to go home? The thought of not having to speak to anyone appealed to her. She needed some time to get her head screwed on straight.
“Thanks, Mia. I’ll see you Monday.” She kept going.
She couldn’t wait to get home. She pushed open the back door of the coffeeshop. She turned the corner toward her car. Her drive to her apartment was only a couple of minutes. In no time, she was up the stairs and inside her second-floor apartment.
She leaned back against the closed door. There wasn’t a cat or dog to greet her—not even a goldfish. She should do something about that. Thankfully, her landlord, Edith Merkle, loved animals. Abby was sure that Edith wouldn’t mind her getting…a dog? Wait. No. A cat. Yes. Definitely a cat.
If she was going to get a cat, she should clean up first. It wasn’t like her apartment was messy. But she had too much pent-up energy to sit still.
She grabbed her earbuds and put on some pop music. She wanted something with a bouncy tune. Next, she got out her vacuum, a bucket, and a rag. With some window cleaner, she started on the windows.
With the music cranked up, it helped to drown out her thoughts—drown out her anger at Brad—drown out her anger at herself for caring about him. When she finished the windows, she started to dust.
She turned around to grab some paper towels when she spotted someone standing in her apartment. She jumped before she realized it was Brad standing there.
She hastily pulled out her earbuds. “What are you doing in here?”
“I knocked. I knew you were here. So, when you didn’t answer, I got worried.”
She frowned at him. Why hadn’t she locked the door? Because this was Bayberry, and locking your door was optional...unless your nosy ex was looking for you.
“You can’t be in here,” she stated flatly.
“Abby, we have to talk.” His blue eyes pleaded with her.
She recalled some of what she’d overheard at the diner. She’d only heard a bit of the conversation, but it had been long enough to know he was never going to change.
She shook her head. “Whatever we had, it’s over.”
“Abby”—he stepped forward—“I’m sorry. I totally messed things up with my mother. I just panicked.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It was a mistake. We were a mistake.”
She wasn’t going to give him a chance to draw her back in. She was done.
He stepped closer and reached out to her. “Abby...”
She stepped back. “Why are you still here? I heard you with Reed. You were still trying to talk him out of moving here.”
“I wasn’t—”
“You were. I heard you at the diner.” Her frustration with him was growing with each passing moment. “Why can’t you just let Reed and Sadie be happy?”
“I do want them to be happy.”
“It sure didn’t sound like it to me.”
“Then you must not have heard the whole conversation. I was trying to figure out...us.”
“That’s a pretty strange way to do it.”
“Abby, I know I’m messing this all up. Can’t we sit down and talk?”
She shook her head. “Brad, why are you pushing things?”
“Because we can’t end this way.”
“Why? You knew it was going to end eventually. You live in Chicago. I live here. It was never going to last.”
“Abby, what we have is good.”
“Stop. We’re not doing this.” She picked up the window cleaner and the paper towels. She turned her back to him and squirted the mirror.
“Abby, please don’t shut me out. Please talk to me.”
She ran the paper towel over the mirror. They’d talked about a lot of things over the past few months. The one thing they’d never talked about was their feelings. She had no idea how he felt about her.
She stopped cleaning the mirror and turned. She looked directly into his eyes. “What do you feel for me?”
His eyes widened. His mouth opened, but no words came out. He wordlessly pressed his lips together. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I, uh...I like you. And you like me too. Or at least you used to.”
She shook her head. “Liking someone isn’t enough. There’s too much at stake.”
He pressed his hands to his waist as he glanced down. “What do you want from me?”
I want you to love me. I want you willing to meet me halfway to make this relationship work. I want you to tell the world how you feel about me.
Of course, she wasn’t going to say any of that out loud.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked. “I apologized. I explained things to my mother. She wants to have lunch with us tomorrow.”
Abby was touched that he’d clarified things with his mother, but it still wasn’t enough.
“Brad, I can’t keep doing whatever this is.
I thought I could. I thought I could live without labels.
But I can’t. I want more. And you aren’t willing to give more.
” She walked to the door that was still ajar. She pulled it wide open. “Please go.”
His gaze lifted to meet hers. There was a myriad of emotions in those blue eyes as he walked out the door.
She closed the door behind him. Once it was locked, she leaned back against it. She closed her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks.
She couldn’t play this game by his rules any longer. She wanted more. She needed more. She deserved more.