Green liquid pooled at the bottom of one of the cups, and my bottom lip began to wobble. Gideon had gone out of his way to buy matcha powder for me and give it to Caroline, just so I could have my favorite drink when I moved to his town. It was the most thoughtful thing anyone had done for me.
In the past week, Gideon hadn’t bought me a single one.
My legs collapsed from under me, and I sat on the kitchen floor. I buried my head in my handsand cried.
GIDEON
The world was a flat, gray wasteland. I’d seen this coming all along, and yet my devastation turned my lungs to stone, made it impossible to take a full breath. She was leaving me, and once she was gone, she wouldn’t be back.
No matter what she said, if she drove out of this town, it would be the last time I ever saw her.
My mother had left me as a child. My father had died when I was on the cusp of young adulthood. My fiancée had abandoned me when I was at my lowest. My grandmother had blackmailed me. Lola, Glenn, and Connor had proven that even after I’d given everything to my family, they just didn’t care about giving anything back.
Even after all that, I’d let her in. Allowed her to hurt me like this.
I deserved all the pain I got for being such a fucking fool.
TWENTY-EIGHT
SADIE
My last stop was Life’s a Stitch. I unlocked the door and stepped inside, trying to ignore the lump in my throat at the sight of the sewing machines sitting dormant on the worktables.
This could’ve been my fresh start.
But maybe that had just been a silly dream. Nothing good could come of an arranged marriage. I’d come to this town out of desperation; that was no way to start a new life. I shuffled over to my own machine and started packing it up in its case. I moved on to my sewing paraphernalia next: pins, needles, measuring tapes, shears, seam rippers, trim, extra muslin fabric, zips, fasteners, and all the other items that needed to be put away.
When I was finished, I looked at Lola’s dress hanging on the dress form. I’d have to finish it in the city and ship it over. She could find someone else to do alterations if needed.
The practical side of me knew it was the best way forward, but the thought still sent a dagger of pain stabbing through mychest. Creating Lola’s dress had reignited my love of design. It had made me feel part of the town, the family. It had been the first thing that had feltgood, other than being in Gideon’s arms.
All that was gone now.
“Knock knock!”
I turned to see Caroline walking into the doorway carrying two mugs; one of them had a green tinge that told me she’d made me a matcha latte. She handed it over, and I wrapped my hands around the warm ceramic.
“You look like you’re about to cry,” she said.
“I am.”
“Oh, God. Should I leave?”
I let out a watery laugh and shook my head. “I’ll pull myself together.”
Her gaze was incisive. “I noticed the bags in your car outside.”
Bottom lip trembling, I nodded. “I’m leaving.”
“Oh.”
“It’s not… It didn’t work out with Gideon.”
Caroline, my one good friend in the whole world, dropped her shoulders and sighed. “That sucks.”
I huffed and sipped my drink. The taste of it made me want to cry; the only reason she’d been able to make it was because Gideon had bought the supplies. “It’s okay. I got a big commission from a bride in the city. It’ll be enough to get the business going again.”
“Get it going…over there? Not here?”
