“Fuck the reunion. Let’s stay in bed all day,” I said, pulling her tighter against me and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “There’s so many things I haven’t done with you yet.”
Her expression shuttered, her mouth curving into a frown and her eyes narrowing. “Listen, you know I have feelings for you, obviously, but that doesn’t change our situation. You’re stuck with me, and I have no way of knowing if your emotions are genuine."
I scowled, opening my mouth to correct her.
“I’m sorry, but we have to resolve the whole coat thing. And then if you still feel the same, then we can be together.”
She’d fallen for me. The pure, unbridled joy in my chest swirled with guilt and fear. I should have told her the truth long before this moment.
“Juniper, can we talk about it? There are some things I want to tell you.”
“Honestly, I can’t deal with this right now.” Her voice was thick, as if she was about to cry. She pressed her palm to my chest. “I’m dreading the reunion today, and that’s already too much to handle, and I just need things to be okay between us.”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Okay, sweetheart.”
She leaned back, her eyes searching mine. “You really are remarkable. Whoever you end up with some day will be really lucky.”
It was like she punched me. She really believed what we had wasn’t real, and she was already saying goodbye. The thought made me sick.
Before I could figure out what to say, Juniper rolled out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom. Numbly, I climbed out of the cooling sheets and headed to the hall bathroom.
My chest ached walking away from her. There was no way I’d let her go. Maybe I could let her “lose” my coat successfully and then show her that I still loved her. But more deception wasn’t the answer. I needed to confess everythingand beg her forgiveness.
Later.
But until then, she needed my support to face her family.
I shoved down all my fear and hurt and focused on Juniper. It only took a few minutes to clean myself up and pull on fresh clothes. I went for a white button-down shirt so I’d make the best possible impression on her family. Sighing, I rolled up the sleeves and pulled on the expensive watch I usually only wore for business meetings.
Juniper didn’t speak to me as we met in the living room and then headed to the waiting car. It took a couple of trips to load all of the welcome totes into the trunk.
The drive to the bakery was another cold silence.
Fuck, this is going so badly. What can I say?
We left the bakery with two boxes of cupcakes and a three-layer pink-and-orange monstrosity. I stared at it through the clear plastic windows built into the box.
“So who ordered the cake?” I asked.
Juniper wrinkled her nose. “My mom, I think? Honestly, I don’t care. But it is really…”
“Unique?” I suggested. “It looks like it’s for a Dunkin Donuts-themed wedding.”
That earned me a snort of laughter. The tension in Juniper’s shoulders loosened.
“I’m glad I can be there with you,” I said. “I’ll make sure to only introduce myself as your boyfriend.”
Her smile was brittle. “Thanks.”
“What do you want to do tonight?” I asked, eyeing my coat folded on the seat beside her. She hadn’t tried to abandon it at the bakery, and I wasn’t sure what that meant.
“Tonight?” she asked, staring out the window. My eyes traced her profile, the gentle curve of her nose, her perfect lips, and her soft chin.
“Yeah, after the reunion. We should do something fun as a reward for getting through it.”
“Oh…” She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip, still not looking at me. “Whatever. I’m sure we’ll be tired.”
I didn’t know how the night before could have changed so much between us. She clearly regretted it. I couldn’t wait until later to talk about this.
