Page 104 of Return To You

Screw that. “I’m still running my business from here, so either Claudia or I will be with you. If you don’t mind.”

Amy waves a dismissive hand at me. “Whatever, Gracie. Get over yourself.”

Claudia’s jaw drops open at her rudeness, but I shake my head at her. No need to lose it.

They take their sweet time visiting the whole place, taking measurements, photos and videos.

It’s when they’re finally gone that I feel the world closing in on me. It’s getting real. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s Amy or someone sweet buying the house.

I need a new space, stat, or I’m going to have to shut down.

Feeling depressed by this turn of events, my instinct is to inform the Bitch Brigade. But they’ll march here and make a fuss. It’s the middle of the day, I have clients coming in. I can’t deal with this now.

Ethan? He’s at the farm, enjoying his family. I don’t want to ruin his day. He’ll take it even more personally once he knows it’s Amy buying the place. I’ll tell him later.

Kiara is who I need.

“There’s something to be said about starting over,” she says when she gets here.

“And here I was hoping for a bitching session.” I lick my fingers. Her maple fudge is about to send me into a sugar coma. Exactly what I needed.

“No, but seriously. Do you know that when I left my parents’, I slept in my car for two weeks, until I had enough to pay for a motel?”

I tear up at her confession. “I had no idea,” I whisper. “What-why…?”

She waves my concern away. “Doesn’t matter. Point is, I never, ever would have become a pastry chef without that. Sleeping in my car is what saved me.”

I frown, needing a little more than that.

“This big hotel was hiring night shift cooks. They’d give us the title of pastry chefs to make us feel good, but we really didn’t know what we were doing. Just blending mixes and trying not to burn the shit and being semi awake when glazing. The point is, I took the job because it was a night job, and I found out you can get away with sleeping in your car during the day. At night is where the trouble starts. Cops, other homeless people, overnight parking bans. So I took the first night job I found. And voila. Ten years later, one thing led to another, best chocolate maple fudge in the state—you’re welcome, by the way. Best macarons, best petits fours, best everything.”

“Why d’you leave your parents’?” I didn’t know this about my friend. From what she’s saying, this happened before we met at the incubator.

“Doesn’t matter. What are we going to do about you? Where’s your beau?” She looks around like Ethan should have been here the whole time.

“Oh—he’s with his family. At the farm.”

She nods. “I remember. Barbecue at the farm. So why are you here?” She frowns. “Isn’t he leaving like… tomorrow or something?”

“Day after tomorrow. It’s best this way. I… Ethan has his life with the service. He… we…” I swallow. “I think I need time to myself again.”

“I hear you. I couldn’t live with a man. Or anyone.”

My heart stutters. “See—the thing is, I can live with him. I want to be with him. So. Bad. It’s-it’s terrible.”

“Sounds like it,” she snorts, then looks at me. “Hey, Gracie. Sorry. I didn’t mean to… you’re a fucking mess, aren’t you?” She leans next to me, suddenly grasping that I’m getting way emotional.

“I’m trying not to be a mess. But he’s easy to get used to, you know? It’s going to feel so empty when he’s gone. I’m going to feel being alone. His toothbrush is next to mine, his favorite beers are in the fridge, his shoes are in the entrance—”

“He takes his shoes off?”

What? “Well, yeah… I mean…” Doesn’t everyone?

“You got him pussy whipped. Sorry if that’s not PC.” She laughs, hiding her mouth with the back of her hand. “Wait ’til Colton hears that.”

Colton? Think of it, Dad and Colton don’t take their shoes off. What does it matter? “Why would Colton… what does he have to do with it?” I am so confused with Kiara right now.

“Sorry for going on a tangent there. Back to you. So, bottom line, you’re happy he’s leaving because you were getting used to him. Makes sense. Makes perfect sense.”

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