Page 72 of Sweet Escape
Chapter 18
Decaf Coffee is for Quitters
?Make You Mine - MaRynn Taylor
Olivia
Wakingup in Wilder’s house for the third day in a row still feels like a fever dream. Once I got my car back from the mechanic, I made a few more trips to the diner to finish bringing my things to the farmhouse. I’ve spent the last few days making myself scarce, unpacking what little belongings I have in the guest bedroom. My executive dysfunction has me stopping and starting the process multiple times, and I fear I may never finish.
The late-in-life ADHD diagnosis caught me off guard, but it helped me put together so many of the little puzzle pieces of my personality that never made sense to me in the past. Like why I’m always going on little side quests and can never finish what I start, or why I can eat the same meal for a week straight and suddenly be repulsed by it mid-bite. I still struggle to cope with certain things, but I’ve learned to curb my expectations. Still, being off my meds has been a challenge.
Sitting crisscross in the middle of my bed, surrounded by piles of color-coordinated shirts, I pull my phone out of my pocket and check my notifications. I have a few messages from Grammy, checking in about the pregnancy and the move, but I still haven’t heard from my parents. It’s disheartening, but I have to believe they’ll come around.
There’s a notification from the pregnancy app, a reminder that I have cupcakes to make for a client tomorrow, and a text from an unknown number. I tap into the text, and my entire body stiffens.
Unknown: We need to talk.
It’s either Amber or Jake. I delete the message and swipe over to my socials. When I log into my account, the first thing I see is Amber’s new profile photo. She’s standing at Red Rocks with her hand held up for the camera, a massive diamond on her ring finger as Jake kisses her cheek. The proposal of my dreams between the man I thought I would marry and the woman I believed was my best friend.
I didn’t think I could be more devastated than I had been when I caught them together, but something about seeing Amber live out what I thought were my dreams is far worse than when I thought they were just fucking. Did he love her the whole time I thought he was loving me? While we were making plans for the future, were they laughing together behind my back?
A potent mix of heartbreak and fury threatens to consume me. If I let myself give in to the sadness, I’ll never come up for air, so I lean into the anger, letting it carry me down to the kitchen. The house is empty, but there’s a Post-it note on the counter.
Liv,
The coffee in the pot is decaf.
Fresh muffins in the case.
Don’t forget to take your meds.
Have a good day,
Wilder
Decaf coffee sounds like my own personal hell, but I know he means well. He’s just looking out for the baby. Begrudging my pregnancy just a little bit, I pour myself a cup and hope it acts as a placebo.
I smile softly to myself. How the hell did I end up here? Part of me is still hurt by what Amber and Jake did, but there’s another part—a much bigger one—that’s hopeful for the future. Wilder’s simple kindness is comfort in the chaos, so I pull out my phone and send a text message.
Olivia: Thanks for breakfast. xo
Wilder: You’re welcome. How are you feeling?
Olivia: Me and the littlest Hayes are doing okay. ??
Wilder: Good. Make yourself at home.
As I sit at the kitchen island with a cup of fresh hell and a blueberry muffin I wish were filled with an ungodly amount of chocolate chips instead, my mind travels back to the photo of Jake andAmber. Sue me, I’m feeling like a mug-half-empty kind of bitch today.
When did it start? How long into our relationship did they wait to maul each other?
I met Jake on a dating app, and we hit it off quickly. He was my rebound from a catfishing incident that left me in a self-pity spiral of epic proportions. A month later, I moved to Denver to see if we could make a go of it. That’s when I met Amber through Jake’s best friend, who she’d been dating at the time.
We went on too many double dates to count, and Amber and I formed a bond that I thought was unbreakable. About a year and a half into my relationship with Jake, they broke up, and Jeff stopped coming around as much. In hindsight, I never could get a clear answer as to why they split. Now I can’t help but wonder if Jake had been biding his time, waiting for her to be free.
Maybe I’d been the consolation prize all along.
Wilder
