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Great. So even he knew about the big fight.
“Yeah.” She smiled. “I’m fine.”
“Life’s too short to pretend to be fine when you’re not.” He picked up the bag and backed up toward the door. “If it makes you feel any better, he looks worse.”
With that, he winked at her and left.
The door closed behind him, and she shook her head. It was an hour till closing, but she was done. She needed to go home, and be alone. The bell rang again, and she forced a smile. “Can I help—? Oh, hey.”
Daisy smiled back at her. “I was walking by and smelled apple pie. Did you just make some?”
Lauren laughed, walked to the door, flipped the sign to say closed, and locked the door. “I did, and lucky for you, I was just about to close early. Want to share a piece?”
“Heck yeah,” Daisy said, dusting her hands off and coming around the counter. She was petite and redheaded and too gorgeous for words. And single for the same reason as Mark. They would be adorable together.
Maybe it was the fact that her own life was a freaking wreck, but seeing the two of them happy…maybe together…would make her feel a lot better. “I met someone.”
“Already?” Daisy asked, clearly taken aback. “You and Steven just—”
Lauren held a hand up. “God, not for me. For you.”
“Not even talking about it.” She shook her head. “Not yet. Maybe another day.”
“Too soon?” Lauren asked sympathetically. Daisy had lost her boyfriend to a car wreck a year ago. They had been in love, and happy, but that’s why she and Mark made sense. They’d both loved and lost and would understand what the other went through. “It’s been a year…”
“Way too soon.” She crossed her arms. “Let’s talk about something else. Anything else besides boys. Please.”
Lauren cut into the pie, and nodded. “How’s work?”
“Long. Boring.” Daisy was a cop. She might look small and helpless, but she was kick-ass. “No one’s robbing anyone or causing trouble. It’s been quiet.”
“Poor you.” Laughing, Lauren slid a plate over. “You’re ridiculous.”
Daisy laughed, too. “Whatever.”
The rest of their conversation focused on work, and life. Anything but love, and broken hearts, and it was great. By the time Lauren left the bakery, she’d made tentative dinner plans for the next day with Daisy, and she felt a little more alive. A little more whole, too.
She’d survive this. Whatever didn’t kill you made you stronger.
Even Kelly Clarkson agreed.
She trudged down the sidewalk, hugging her purse to her chest, and tried not to think about him. Tried not to ruin her happy little buzz. So when she pushed her door open, she froze in shock. Either her mind was playing tricks on her and she had gone completely crazy…
Or Steven had just come out of her bedroom.
She gripped the doorknob. “Uh…”
He froze midstride.
Mark was right. He looked awful. His cheekbones were gaunt and his skin was an ashen green. He had huge dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept since he walked out of her life without looking back. He also appeared to be hungover.
Neither of them spoke.
After a while, he tugged on his hair and cleared his throat. “I was getting my stuff out of your place and trying to come up with a good speech for when you got home. I thought you wouldn’t be home for another hour or so.”
“I left early,” she replied, keeping her voice as flat and even as his.
“Yeah, I guessed as much,” he answered, hugging his balled up clothes to his chest. His gaze dipped down her body, leaving a blazing trail of heat in its wake, and her heart sped up. “You look…good.”
