Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ruby
The cold seeps through my coat, but it’s nothing compared to the chill sitting in the center of my chest.
I make it halfway down the inn’s walkway when I see Griffin exit his car and hurry inside.
I hold back and wait until he’s out of sight.
Seems the story about needing to check on his car was bogus.
He was hiding from me. Hiding the truth.
Then Nick came over to chat with me and told me about the shop.
Sorry to hear about Oopsie Daisies.
He went on to say how much he loved the shop and Clara and wished it didn’t have to close. The news hit me like a bullet to the chest.
Nick didn’t mean to hurt me. He just said it like it was common knowledge, like everyone already knew.
Griffin told me it’s the only logical move.
Logical. Maybe to him.
The words have been ricocheting around my head ever since.
They hit even harder because ten minutes earlier, Griffin and I had been shoulder-to-shoulder stringing flower chains like a couple of kids, his fingers brushing mine, his smile softening just a little, the kind of moment that makes a hopeless romantic like me start imagining things she shouldn’t.
And then he’d gone quiet, pulled away, mumbling something about needing to check on his car.
Now, hands shaking as I dig for my car keys, the realization settles in. I’m falling for a man who is closing the shop.
My shop.
My bit of color in a world that once went gray for too long. The thing that, along with Clara, helped bring me back to life.
He didn’t even tell me.
I swallow hard, brushing a stray paper heart off my coat sleeve and unlock my car. The sting is sharp, but underneath it is something steadier. Not anger. Not bitterness. Just a quiet ache that reminds me I’ve survived worse and kept standing.
I slide into the driver’s seat, waiting until my breath evens out.
Hopeless romantic or not, I have to hold on to what keeps me grounded.
Griffin cares. I know he does. That almost makes this worse, because he still couldn’t tell me himself.
I sit there letting the ache settle before the truth rises to the surface.
I lost my husband and Clara. I won’t lose Oopsie Daisies.