Chapter 9 Scarlett
NINE
SCARLETT
When I go running over the next few days, I skip Cedar Creek Ranch.
Not that it helps because I see Connor around town all the time.
He’s helping someone carry a big box from the hardware store, or he’s talking to the same group of old men, or he’s helping Marion put up even more Christmas decorations.
One day, I come down and Marion is directing him to hang garlands over the staircase railing.
“It’s like Santa’s village of the damned in here,” Connor says. “It’s too much.”
“It’s never too much,” Marion says, her eyes finding me. “What do you think, Scarlett?”
Connor looks up at me and I avoid his gaze. Mostly because I’m worried he’ll be able to tell I’ve been thinking about him.
“You can never have too many Christmas decorations,” I say, smiling at her. “Tis the season.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Connor warns, continuing to decorate. “She hates Christmas.”
“People change, Connie,” I say sweetly.
Marion steps away to greet guests who’ve just arrived.
“Going out, baby girl?” Connor asks, his eyes dragging over me.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. I’m going out for a walk.”
My family is in Calgary for the day while I was sleeping off a headache. I’m going stir crazy inside, so some fresh air is needed.
“Need some company?”
“Not yours,” I say, on my way out.
I grab a pumpkin spice latte from the cafe across the street and just walk around town. It really is picturesque. The mountains are so close they loom over us, and I feel like if I walk in a straight line, I’ll get to them.
There’s a black truck with tinted windows I see driving around everywhere I turn, but it usually speeds up and drives past just when I start growing suspicious.
I try to keep my mind off Connor, but it’s not easy when I keep running into him everywhere.
The day after I found him decorating the Inn, I’m in the bookstore and as I round the corner, who should I run into but Connor.
“Is stalking me part of your plan to get me back?” I ask.
“I can’t lie and say I didn’t consider it,” he admits, mouth tilting up into a smirk.
“Stop trying to make us happen, Connie. It’s never going to happen. You ghosted me six months into our relationship.”
I slide the book I’m holding back on the shelf. I’m acutely aware that we’re the only two people here other than the owner and they can probably hear our conversation even though our voices are low.
“Not because I wanted to,” Connor says, brows drawn in. “I never wanted to leave, Scarlett.”
“That doesn’t make it better, Connor,” I snap.
“I never said it did. I don’t claim to be anything other than an absolute asshole for the way I ended things, but if I’d seen you…” he trails, swallowing thickly. “If I’d seen you I wouldn’t have been able to leave and I was too fucked in the head to think of anything else.”
A very small piece of me thaws, hearing the pain in his voice. I know now his grandfather died shortly after he left, but it doesn’t make my heartbreak fickle. The only thing left to do is forgive him and try to move on, which I can’t find myself doing right now.
“I have to go,” I tell him.
It’s been a couple days since my talk with Connor in the bookstore and the only time I saw him in town was when he was helping people around town. I don’t know how he has so many regulars, but this is Connor to the core.
I need to focus on my sister’s wedding and making sure everything is ready for the big day instead of wondering about Connor.
Even dad is growing concerned.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Dad asks, on our drive back to the Inn this morning. I hate having him drive behind me, so I usually drive back with him after I've completed my run instead of running back.
I chew on the straw of my coffee and then spat it out when I remembered it’s a paper straw.
“Connor is literally the last person I want to be thinking about right now,” I tell him. “Sienna’s getting married and I’m her maid of honor. She needs me to focus on her and what she wants.”
“But you’re thinking about Connor?” Dad asks, glancing at me.
“It’s a disease. Even when he wasn’t around I was thinking about him and now it’s gotten worse and we’ve only been here for seven days.”
Dad’s the only one I can talk to about this because I know he won’t get excited. He’s definitely the kind of father who isn’t happy when his daughters bring home a boyfriend.
“Do you want him back?” Dad asks.
“I never want to see his face again.”
“Never?” Dad looks at me from the corner of his eye and smirks.
I sip my coffee. “He’s nice to look at, but right now, that’s about the only thing he’s got going for him,” I admit.
“What if he begs for your forgiveness and wants to get back together?”
Baby girl, if I thought getting you back was going to be this easy, I wouldn’t try because it’d mean I don’t know you at all.
Was he serious when he said it? Does Connor actually think there’s even a chance we’re going to get back together?
This isn’t a movie where everything is going to be magically resolved in two weeks.
Besides, he lives here, and I live in New York.
Clearly, the man thinks long distance relationships can’t work otherwise he wouldn’t have disappeared from my life.
“I don’t know, Daddy,” I say. “He’ll have to get down on his hands and knees and beg like his life depended on it. Maybe then I’ll consider forgiving him.”
“Connor Hayes,” Dad says quietly, with disbelief.
“Bet you didn’t expect me to be the child who dated a professional athlete,” I say, grinning.
Dad laughs, signaling right to turn into the parking lot for The Honeysuckle.
“You’re the child I never expected to date,” he says honestly.
“Yeah, that tracks.”
I’m the kind of girl who never leaves the house and expects the love of her life to somehow find her. In my case, I didn’t find him. He found me in a crowd of thousands of people, while he was in the middle of a game, and I was on a date with another man.
“Don’t tell Mom I talked to you,” I say, as dad parked the car.
“Angel, I’ve been married to your mother for thirty-four years. I know when not to tell her things.”
I can’t stop the snort-laugh which erupts out of me. I hold my cup out in front of me so I don’t spill coffee everywhere.
“What’s so funny?” Dad asks, giving me a weird look and a curious smile.
“Connor is thirty-eight. It’s just weird to think that my ex-boyfriend is older than my parents’ marriage.”
Dad makes a horrified face which only made me laugh harder.
“Age is just a number,” I say.
“And hell is just a sauna,” he quotes, making me laugh harder.
The next day, while my sisters and mother go shopping, Dad stays back to take a nap, and I go make sure the wedding vendors are ready to have everything prepared on the Big Day. Which is only six days away.
My first stop is the Butter & Bloom, the bakery where we ordered the wedding cake. They’re reportedly the best bakery in town and as soon as I step in, I can see why. It smells like cinnamon and nutmeg and fresh coffee. My stomach growls at the scent.
All varieties of baked goods are displayed behind the glass, and I’m drawn to their holiday flavors, which feature a cinnamon roll cake, vanilla cake with nutmeg ganache, gingerbread cupcakes, peppermint cupcakes, and more. My mouth practically waters.
I miss our shop. This is our busiest time of the year, but my parents have chosen a great manager for the shop and Niles runs a tight ship.
During the holidays, we always have to hire extra help, and our chocolate pies have a waiting list that starts in the summer because there’s only so many chocolate pies we can bake.
“Can I help you?” The teenage girl behind the counter asks.
“Can I get a peppermint mocha and an assortment of your holiday cupcakes? I also have a custom order for a wedding cake for next week and I want to check everything is fine with that.”
“Sure thing! Let me take care of your order first and I’ll get the manager,” she says.
She rings up my order and passes it to me. I sit down at a table so I’m not holding up the line and sip my peppermint mocha. It’s perfectly hot, which is what I like.
I look out the window and see a woman across the street with a little girl, both carrying bags from the local clothing store.
There’s an ease to life here that I’ve never seen in New York. I’m not sure New Yorkers even know how to slow down. Here, everyone seems to know everyone, and this is where Connor grew up. The town he left because he couldn’t stay here and be one of them.
“Excuse me?” I look up at a man about my age standing in front of me. He’s wearing an apron over his jeans and t-shirt, his hair disheveled. “You said you had a wedding cake you’re picking up next week?”
“Yes! For the Monroe/Carter wedding on December 23,” I say.
“Let me check,” he says.
He walks behind the counter and types something on the cashier’s screen. Whatever he sees makes him frown. He converses with the cashier, and she shrugs before walking into the kitchen. When she comes out, she whispers something to him, and he sighs before walking back over to me.
I don’t have a good feeling about any of this, but I give him the benefit of doubt until he opens his mouth and speaks. “We don’t have a booking for Monroe/Carter for December 23.”
I blink at him. “Then I guess the booking confirmation I received must have been from another Butter & Bloom bakery in Silverpine. If you tell me where it is, I’ll promptly make my way over there.”
He shifts on his feet, his cheeks brightening with color. “There isn’t another Butter & Bloom in Silverpine.”
“Yeah, I figured as much,” I say, with as much sarcasm as I can manage.
“Then there must be a reservation in your system because there’s definitely a deposit in your system and I’m not in the habit of spending money without getting some kind of proof.
So, either give me back my deposit or bake the cake I hired you to bake. ”