Chapter 54 Audrey
Chapter fifty-four
Audrey
“Do you think the town will allow you to get a pink awning?” Penny asks with her hands on her hips, staring at the clapboard building I now officially own.
The owner was so thrilled to get it off his hands that when I said I’d pay cash, he nearly threw the deed at me.
There were two floors; the first was the shop and the second was an apartment, though no one had lived in it for a while.
First, I needed to get this bakery up and running, then I would turn the top into a livable apartment, perhaps for myself.
“Pink?” Furrowing my brow, I looked at my best friend who nodded, chewing her pink lip, probably redesigning the entire thing in her mind. “I was thinking I'd do a neutral palette.”
It was Penny’s first time seeing the space. "Okay but hear me out. Neutral palette, very minimalistic and aesthetic, with pops of pale pink. I think it would be beautiful.”
I stare at the building, trying to visualize what she’s saying. “Okay…” I nod slowly, a small smile on my face. “I can see it.”
Penny looks pleased with herself as I lead her inside the construction zone. Brown paper still lines the front windows. I want everything to be a surprise to the public on opening day. However, the town gossip mill was already going wild with speculation. But I’m good at keeping secrets.
“Oh my gosh, this is…wow.” Penny slides her sunglasses down her nose, peering around the empty shop. I knocked down the interior walls and removed the thick plaster from the side walls to expose the hundred-year-old brick.
“I found someone who is going to restore the original pine floors and the tin ceiling tiles. I want to preserve as much history as I can.” Pride swells in my chest, along with a dash of overwhelm. This business was so out of my element, but I was taking it day by day, figuring it out as I went.
“I’m so excited for you, Aud. This is seriously going to be so cute! People are going to make the drive from the city once they taste your cookies.”
“I can’t believe I bought a building, Penny. Who am I?” I let out a small laugh, feeling slightly lightheaded as I consider the tasks ahead of me.
“I can’t think of anything more perfect than this for you.
I mean it. You’re going to transform this place and bring people together in this community.
You were never meant to sit behind a desk crunching numbers or whatever you did.
” We both laughed because no matter how many times I explained it, Penny never understood my financial job.
We walk around a bit more, as I show her some inspiration images for the space.
“Do you have a name yet?” she asks.
“I thought of a few, but none really fit. I’ll know when it’s right.”
The contractor and his crew arrive as Penny is heading out, so I thank her for coming and hug her goodbye. I plan to stick around. It’s finally a renovation project that I'm fully invested in.
By noon, the framing of the walls takes shape. I step outside for a breather, letting the warm sunshine wash over me. The air somehow feels different here; crisp, clean, as if it carries a kind of clarity I hadn’t noticed before.
Main Street is calm, the quiet broken only by the faint chatter of mothers pushing strollers, and the shuffle of customers filtering in and out of nearby businesses.
I settle onto a bench along the sidewalk and people watch.
I’m still waiting for the fact that this will be the view from my new ‘office’ to sink in.
A few feet away, an older gentleman stops, leaning heavily on his cane.
He stands there for a moment, his gaze fixed on the papered windows of my shop.
“Good afternoon.” I put my phone down and smiled at him. He nods at me, still leaning on his cane.
“Do you know what they’re putting here?” His gentle eyes are full of curiosity. I bought the building under my LLC, so it hasn’t publicly been announced I’m the owner yet.
“I've heard it’s going to be a bakery,” I say, waiting for his reaction.
“Hmm.” His lips twitch into what I think is a tiny smile.
“I hope they have cinnamon rolls.” He turns to face me.
“My wife, Glenda, loves them. She’s in a wheelchair, so it’s hard for her to go places, but I used to get her a cinnamon roll every Sunday after church.
She’d love it if I did that again. Maybe this place will have them.
” He shrugs and an unexpected lump forms in my throat.
Pinching my lips together to prevent the tears from spilling, I clear my throat. “I bet they will have cinnamon rolls. When this place eventually opens, you’ll have to bring Glenda in. I bet she’d love it.”
“Alrighty miss, I will try.” He smiles, nodding at me and continues slowly down the sidewalk.
My heart doesn’t recover from the interaction right away, so I close my eyes and let the early fall breeze blow across my face.
I hope someone loves me that much in fifty years.
What happens next isn’t a decision. It’s an unstoppable pull, something I can’t fight. I break into a jog across the street, slide into my car, and grip the steering wheel, driving down Main Street, leaving the bakery behind.
My heart thunders, each beat reverberating in my chest as I cross over the railroad tracks.
The narrow road, lined with cornfields, feels endless, but there’s no time to think. I let my heart guide me toward the one person I can’t bear to be without for another second.
The large oak tree comes into view as my tires slide into the driveway, kicking up gravel as my car skids to a jolting stop right in front of the house.
Don’t think. Don’t think. Just tell him exactly what you feel.
Rhett’s truck sits in front of the workshop, and the barn doors are wide open. He’s so close, he’s right there.
My feet hit the ground with a quick, steady rhythm, and I don’t bother shutting the door behind me. Each moment feels more important than the last as I make my way toward the back of the house. My body moves instinctively here, my feet on the soft grass, as the quiet rush of adrenaline fills me.
“You tryin’ to get yourself killed out there?” Rhett's voice echoes across the yard, halting me in my tracks. I stumble forward, my green rubber boots slipping on the grass as I grip the fabric of my blue cotton dress, fists clenched at my sides.
My heart hitches in my chest as I turn to see Rhett standing at the edge of the meadow. His favorite baseball hat on his head. The worn white cotton shirt spans across his chest, a rag in his grip.
The yellowing leaves, tall dry grass, the blue sky; it all fades behind him.
Because all I see is him.
My throat goes dry, and my eyes sting. Blinking away the water collecting on my eyelashes, all the emotions I’d suppressed for weeks bubble to the surface.
“I need to say a few things,” I start, well aware I’m shouting across the yard, but I can’t get my feet to move, so Rhett takes a few steps toward me.
From behind him, Mabel comes barreling through the tall grasses, right into me.
Her nose finds my hands, and I run my hand down her back, but I can’t take my eyes off the man slowly approaching me.
He doesn’t stop until he’s so close that I have to tilt my head back to look at him, straight into his icy, blue eyes.
The eyes that warm to the color of the sea for me.
He wears a few days of unshaved stubble, lining his square jaw, his narrowed eyes gazing down at me.
“Audrey, what are you doing here?” His voice is low, rough, strained. My name on his lips giving my heart the courage to say what’s etched on the surface of my skin.
“You were wrong, Rhett.”
He cocks his head, lips pulling back to reveal a smile that causes my lungs to squeeze. He might be the most stubborn man I ever knew but I was not going to let him get away without hearing everything I had to say.
“You been holding onto that sentence for a month now?” he growls, but I catch a sparkle in those eyes.
“Yeah, I have.” My voice gains confidence as he drags his eyes painfully slow over me.
“You going to tell me what I was wrong—”
I cut him off, stomping my foot in the grass, pushing my finger into his hard chest.
“I liked those creaky stairs,” I state loudly, and Rhett goes still.
“And I like your senseless old truck, and the way you say my name.” I choke out my words, as tears start streaming down my face with every admission, but I can’t stop.
“And I like the way you dance, and the way you pretend you don’t care about anything. I know you care.”
I gulp in air, shaking my head, but Rhett wears a small, crooked smirk. “You think I want a big life, but I don’t want anything but this. I just want this. I want your loud, crazy dog. And your family. And you.”
“Audrey…” Rhett’s eyes cast down, his head tilting towards me, and I want to run my thumb across those full lips.
I yearn to bury my face in the space between his neck and shoulder where I fit perfectly, but I haven’t told him everything yet, and I need him to know all of it.
Even if he never wants to see me again, even if he tells me to leave and never come back.
I need to tell him the truth, every piece of it.
“I did think, at first, this thing between us was going to just fizzle out. I thought I could move on from my old life and use you as a bridge. But what I didn’t know…is you would become the most important thing to me.”
He bites his lip, his eyes growing the slightest bit misty.
“I quit my job Rhett, because you were also right about that. I thought I knew what I wanted, I thought I knew exactly what my life was supposed to look like.” His touch surprises me, sending a shiver down my spine as he gently nudges my face up to his.
I can’t breathe but I have to go on. I have to get it out.
“I waited to tell you all of this because I needed to be someone you deserved. I needed to be who I deserved. I needed to get to know myself first.” His eyes focus on me so intensely that I fear my legs may collapse, the columns of my throat growing weak, but I continue as he waits silently.
“But Rhett…what I discovered was the more I got to know me, the more I missed you. Because without you…I’m not me.
” Hot tears spill down my face, and his hand cups my jaw as his thumb gently brushes a tear away.
“I know I hurt you, and it kills me every day, but it doesn’t make it any less true that I’m in love with you. I love all of you and—”
This time he doesn’t let me finish my sentence before closing the gap between us, his fingers sliding into my messy chocolate hair, gripping me tightly to him.
He pulls me close, holding me against his chest, and as our lips meet, a wave of warmth floods through me.
I remember what it feels like to be so safe that I can simply let go and melt into him.
Mabel lets out a howl and the world grows smaller around me, until it’s just Rhett and I. He grabs the back of my thighs, lifting me up, never letting us part as he kicks the back door open, carrying me into the house.
Our fingers trace the contours of each other's clothing, pulling at the fabric with a quiet urgency, revealing the warmth of our skin beneath. There’s a fire burning rapidly between us, one I hope to never put out.
But as my hands hold the man I love close, his eyes never leaving mine, he pauses, pulling back slightly.
“I love all of you, too, darlin’. Will you please come home?”
My eyes well along with my pulsing heart, and I silently nod, pulling him back to me, feeling every piece of who I was, and who I am now, welded together by a man who feels like home.