“I thought maybe we were… you know. Getting somewhere.”
She waited.
“And now I’m not sure.”
She walked over and handed me a spoonful of cookie batter. “Taste this. Tell me if it needs more cinnamon.”
I stared at her.
“Is this some weird sisterly wisdom test?”
“No. I just don’t trust my palate this early.”
I took the spoon. Tasted. “Perfect. But also very sneaky.”
She smiled. “Okay, now tell me what happened.”
I set the spoon in the sink and rubbed my forehead. “He got a phone call. Got weird. Said he couldn’t do dinner. And suddenly it’s like we’re strangers again.”
Violet leaned beside me. “Sounds like it shook him.”
“Yeah. But why does it feel like it shookmemore?”
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, “Because you want it to mean something. And when you want something to mean something, it’s terrifying when the other person suddenly acts like it doesn’t.”
I blinked at her. “When did you get so wise?”
“Somewhere between managing breakfast service and being wildly in love.”
I rolled my eyes, but I smiled too. “You and Owen are ridiculous, you know that?”
“We are,” she said proudly. “Ridiculously happy.”
There was no trace of smugness in her voice. Just warmth. Gratitude. Like she knew how rare it was and didn’t take it for granted.
“I want that,” I admitted before I could talk myself out of it. “Not necessarily the lemon-apron muffins-for-two part, but something real, with someone I can rely on. Laugh with. Kiss under questionable camping circumstances.”
Violet leaned her head on my shoulder. “I think you deserve that. And I think… maybe Ben wants it too. He just doesn’t know what to do with it yet.”
“Yeah, well,” I sighed. “I’m not a jigsaw puzzle to be solved.”
“Nope,” she agreed. “You’re a treasure map. And if he’s smart, he’ll figure out how to follow it.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, grateful and aching all at once.
She straightened and went back to her muffins. “Want to help me prep the breakfast board? Sienna swiped all the good fruit again, so we’re improvising.”
“Only if I get first dibs on the fresh raspberries from outside.”
“Deal.”
And just like that, I felt a little steadier.
Still bruised, but standing.
Because even if Ben was pulling away…
