Page 9 of Seeing You

“Your father really enjoys the coffee cake. I just took one out of the oven. I can grab a couple of pieces if you’d like.”

“Seriously, Billie, what the hell are you doing here? This is what you gave up our lives for? To come back to this god-awful town and bake? You were brilliant with finances! Why would you give that up to do…this?” And yeah, now he was openly sneering at her. She could feel all the anger and animosity coming off of him, and honestly, she wasn’t prepared for it. She was trembling slightly and starting to sweat, but she refused to let him make her feel bad about herself.

With a careless shrug, she told him, “Iwasbrilliant with finances, but it was sucking my will to live and I felt myself dying a little each day. When I finally walked away, I started embracing my love of baking. At first, I did it as a casual thing—you know, just for family and friends—but then word of mouth had me considering doing it full-time. By then, Jade was getting ready to open Books & Beans and I applied for a job with her. Within a few months of us being open, I invested.” Another shrug. “And I’ve never been happier.”

She was proud of how calm and cool she sounded—and confident. Surely, he had to respect that.

“You’re insane,” he said with a snort of derision. “You could be traveling the world right now, living in a massive home and having everything you want.”

“But I have everything I want,” she replied, even though it wasn’t entirely true. “My life is so much more than I ever dreamed it could be. On top of that, I have peace of mind. Can you say the same?”

If anything, his scowl deepened, but he didn’t seem to have a response.

“Now that we’ve cleared that up, have you decided what you’re going to order?” And yeah, she was just a tiny bit condescending in her tone.

After several long moments, he nodded. “I’ll take a couple of pieces of the coffee cake, two brownies, two blueberry muffins, and three of the oatmeal raisin cookies.”

“Outstanding. Jade will take your coffee order while I go get those cake pieces for you.”

As calmly as she could, she walked back to the kitchen and let out a long, shaky breath, resting her hands on the cool stainless steel prep table. Thankful for the reprieve, she allowed herself a minute to wrap her head around the fact that the only man she had ever loved—a man who had broken her heart into a million little pieces—was standing on the other side of that door. The conversation was definitely more acrimonious than she would have liked, but given their history, there was probably no way it could have been any different.

Sadly, now wasn’t the time to think about it. She needed to get him the cake and then get him the hell out of the shop.

Cutting two pieces of the still-warm cake, she gently wrapped them before carrying them back out to the counter. Then she boxed up the rest of his order.

“He’s all paid and ready to go,” Jade quietly told her.

Putting a smile back on her face, Billie turned and handed him the box, but wasn’t sure what to say. Wishing him a nice day just seemed…weird. And it definitely hadn’t been good to see him, so what were her options?

Marcus was studying the display case. “Um…I know this is a strange question, but…the banana chocolate chip muffins. Are those the same ones you used to bake? The same recipe?”

She used to make them for him every Sunday morning.

Swallowing hard, she nodded. “They are.”

“Can I add one to the order? I’ll pay for it separately.”

But just as she was taking it out of the display case…

“Or maybe you can give it to me on the house. You know, since you threw away our lives and everything we’d worked forso you could whip up your old family recipes for people who wouldn’t give up anything for you.”

It was a long statement and it spoke volumes. The biggest takeaway she got from it was how he wasn’t taking any responsibility for what happened between them. So, she silently vowed to be the bigger person and take the high road.

Just as she was about to put the muffin in a bag, he added, “Your parents must be so proud that this is what you did with your big college degrees. Bravo.”

“You know what, theyareproud—even prouder that I walked away from an uptight asshole like you.”

And with that, she smashed the muffin right in his smug face.

“Have a nice day! It was so great to see you!” Turning, she slammed the door to the kitchen open and stormed through it. “The high road can suck it.”

“Was I right?” his brother asked the moment Marcus stepped into the kitchen and placed the tray of coffees down. “I can tell by the amount of crumbs on you that you must have devoured a muffin on the drive home.”

The sound of the box dropping onto the table was as loud as a gunshot. Both Max and his father stared up at him.

“If this was your way of making me want to stay, you both failed miserably,” he warned. “Why onearthwould you encourage me to go to that…that place? You had to know I’d see Billie!”

They both looked at each other before looking up at him. “It was time,” his father quietly said as he reached for the box. “Seems to me you talk a big game about how much better your life’s been since the two of you broke up, but we’re not seeing it.”

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