Page 19 of In the Arms of a Hero

And now, the two sisters were lounging in Belinda’s living room with a mostly empty wine bottle on the coffee table. Each was in a corner of her sofa, with their feet tucked under them as they faced each other.

“And to think he kept all twelve of those éclairs! I hope he choked on them!” Bess continued her tirade.

Belinda had spent the weekend thinking about her burgeoning relationship with Aaron and the fact that she already knew it would end. Even though they’d had sex—fabulous, impulsive, on-the-floor sex that she’d never experienced beforeand would likely now be ruined for any other man—she knew they had never declared a dating status. And it was so early in their relationship it would be ridiculous to take offense at what she overheard. He hadn’t broken any promises. So after some tears and a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream eaten in one sitting, she admitted only her heart was involved.

Looking at her sister’s indignant face, she offered a wan smile. “Well, I don’t hope he choked on his éclairs, but maybe if he devoured them all at once, he might have ended up with a stomachache,” she conceded. Sighing, she shook her head. “It’s stupid.”

“What is, Sis?”

“How much I crushed on him in high school. Not that I was seeing him to fulfill some unrequited teenage angst bullshit, but I really thought that the dates we had, the fun we’d had, meeting his family… I thought it was special. I thought we had what it took to build the blocks of a relationship. But that was all just stupid.”

The sisters were quiet for a moment. Belinda loved that about Bess—her sister would come to her defense in an instant but also understood when she just needed a little peace.

After a few minutes, Bess asked, “I take it that you haven’t heard from him since then?”

“We’ve texted occasionally over the last few evenings, but I kept it simple. We were both working. He knew you were coming home today, and I wanted to spend time with you.”

“So what are you going to do? I’m sure he’ll come to the bakery tomorrow morning. I’ve interviewed somebody to help out, and they’ll start this week so that you don’t have to be there if you don’t want to?—”

“No, I’m not going to hide.” Her chest fell with the heavy sigh that left her lungs. “I hate confrontation, and I’ll be polite. After all, it was only my expectations that got squashed. Butwith all my photography jobs between now and New Year’s, I’ll be slammed during evenings and weekends. And from what I overheard, as soon as we get into the new year, he’ll have to spend all his time studying for his detective examination.” She shrugged and took a long sip of wine, slurping up the dregs in the bottom of her glass. “It seems like a natural break-off point for us, anyway.”

Bess huffed. “Well, I still think it sucks.”

Belting out a laugh that sounded more like a scoff than lighthearted humor, Belinda couldn’t agree more.

Monday morning found Belinda behind the counter, with the customer line almost out the door. As busy as she was, she couldn’t help but glance at the door every time the bell rang. At first, she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed when Aaron didn’t come in. Chastising herself, she plastered a wide smile on her face and greeted the next customer in line, finally deciding he wasn’t going to stop by.Maybe he is going to ghost me.

Busy filling coffee and pastry orders, she was surprised when she turned her bright smile to the next customer and spied Aaron smiling back at her. She hadn’t even realized he was in line.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

Her heart twinged. She’d been wrong… she hadn’t heard him call her “sweetheart” for the last time. “Hey.” The word came out scratchy, and she cleared her throat. “Your usual?”

“Absolutely, beautiful,” he said with a wink.

Before, her heart would’ve warmed at how he looked at her, but now it twinged again. She couldn’t understand how much it hurt to know she was just in a line of many when they’d only gone out a few times.

Turning her back to him, she fixed his coffee and grabbed an éclair from the pastry shelf. She accepted his money for thepastry, returning the extra he’d given her for the coffee. He chuckled and tossed the returned bills into the tip jar.

“I feel like we haven’t talked much in the past couple of days,” he said. “What’s your week look like?”

“I’m working on an online business class in the evenings, and next weekend is slammed with photography jobs.”

His brow furrowed as his smile slipped. “I’m on days this week, so that doesn’t give us a chance to go out.”

She turned to the customer behind him, took her order, and then looked back at Aaron. “We can check and see what the next week is like.”

Her reply didn’t appear to offer him much satisfaction, but he nodded. He leaned closer and whispered, “I hope you have a good week, sweetheart. Take care, and we’ll talk soon.”

She nodded, but the gap between them seemed to widen with each second. Her gaze followed him as he walked out the door, and she sighed heavily. “Why do relationships have to be so hard?”

“I don’t know, honey, but if you find out, let the rest of us know.”

She was startled, not realizing she’d spoken aloud, and stared at the beleaguered expression of the female customer standing before her. Shaking her head, she chuckled and moved to fill the woman’s order.

The bakery continued to be slammed as though the holiday break had caused the customers to become desperate for Bess’s coffee and treats. Even though Aaron came in to see her, they barely had time to speak as she was quickly dealing with customers. Bess’s new employee had started and was a fast learner, but the only change Belinda made to her schedule was that she didn’t show up to the bakery in the afternoons.

Aaron worked the late shift the following week, so their texts slowed even more. Christmas was around the corner, and she felt unsettled instead of feeling the season's cheer.

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