Page 12 of You Cake My Breath Away

Raised voices lead me to the swinging kitchen door. My name floats through the thin wood, Archer’s sharp tone urging me to put my ear against it to listen.

“When are you going to tell her?” Shantel whispers.

“When I’m finished,” Archer sternly replies.

“No, Archer.” Nora’s tone is brisker than I’ve ever heard it. “She needs to know now. For Pete’s sake, she spoke with a loan officer already.”

My heart thuds in my chest, and a sinking feeling ekes into my stomach.What are they talking about? Me?I look down at my feet, willing them to move from the spot where they’ve cemented themselves.

“She’ll want to have a say in it,” Shantel chimes in just as I’m about to confront them.

“I know what she’ll want, and it’ll get done.”

“What happens when you leave?” Nora talks over Shantel who says, “What makes you think you know what she wants?”

“She won’t care that I’m leaving,” Archer says. “I already pissed her off by missing her birthdaydinner last week.”

My brain short circuits and steals my breath. Blood pounds in my ears as I push through the door.

“You’re leaving?” I ask, incredulous. “To where?”

Three pairs of eyes focus on me.

Archer’s hands are perched on his hips, and he sucks his teeth in annoyance. “Tennessee.”

“For what?” A weird feeling slides into my chest, trying to find a place to settle. I shouldn’t care that he’s leaving. He’s basically been a ghost in my life since his sister’s wedding four years ago, and if I’m honest, since Jessie and I started dating, so why do I feel like he’s another person abandoning me?

My mom was my best friend, and cancer took her away before we had a chance to know each other as adults. It took Dad’s spirit with her. The man I grew up with, the one who supported and encouraged me, became a shell of who he was. He threw all his energy and attention into managing the restaurants he ran with my mother.

I never understood it until I lost Jessie.

Routine is key to keeping the grief at bay. You can almost trick your mind into thinking everything is normal, that your spouse is simply at the store or away on a business trip. It’s why it’s been so difficult to make his side of the bed, or to even consider removing my wedding ring.

When no one answers me, I demand again, “Why are you leaving?”

“I have an opportunity for a carpentry position,” is all he says, eyes filled with…is that regret?

“Oh, that’s great.” My neck throbs, pain accompanying the dry swallow I force myself to take. “So, what’s the issue?”

“Tell her.” Shantel’s brows rise to her hairline.

“Tell me what?”

Archer’s knuckles crack as he leans on the counter and silently hangs his head.

“Tell me what?” I repeat.

“Archer,” Nora pleads.

He curses and shakes his head like he’s being forced to give up the nuclear codes.

“Before Jessie…” Archer pauses and his shoulders lift with a deep breath. “Before he passed, he asked me to fix up your bakery.”

“I don’t have a bakery.” I add theyetinside my mind.

“You do,” Shantel says, a wide smile on her face.

Frustrated, I press my fingers into my temples and rub. My head throbs as I roll the tension from my shoulders and speak through gritted teeth. “Stop talking in circles and just tell me what you mean.”

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