His mouth opens in mock hurt. “It’s like you have no faith in me.”
“When it comes to women, I don’t,” I laugh.
He clinks his glass against mine. “Fair enough.”
I spend the nightchatting and drinking with Eli until he gets an obvious booty call and gives me a ‘what are you gonna do’ look. The girl lets him know that she’s already on her way over and that she may have forgotten to wear underwear, which I take as my cue to head out.
I check the time when I arrive home and debate whether it’s too late to call Juliet. I pour myself another glass of whiskey,hoping it’ll prevent me from dreaming of a certain blonde, before I decide to try and dial Juliet.
“Hello?” My sister answers on the third ring, sounding out of breath.
“Everything okay over there, Juliet?” I ask, taking a sip of whiskey, letting the burn roll down my throat.
She sighs. “Terra has been in a mood all day. You know she threw a chair at me?”
“I doubt your two-year-old daughter is that strong,” I snicker.
“Don’t remind me how fast she’s growing. I swear I’m buying her new clothes left and right. But she threw her little plastic chair at me, smartass.”
“Is she small but mighty?” I ask.
“She’s angry, is what she is. The terrible twos are no joke.”
I can hear my sister whisking something in a bowl, but I don’t hear anything from my niece. “Baking late again?”
Another exhausted sigh. “I got a last-minute order for a kid’s birthday party tomorrow. It was enough money that I couldn’t really turn it down.”
“Do you need?—”
“No, Ash, I don’t need anything. The mixer you sent me was already too much.” I can tell by her tone that though she’s not in a position to turn down the mixer I sent, she’s not happy about it either.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “But you know you can always come to me if you need help, right?”
“I know, I know. But I don’t need any help right now.”
Despite her reassurances, I still worry about her. She’s a single mom, all alone, working overtime at her bakery. I wish she’d let me help her. Or that she’d reach out to our parents and finally let them visit her and their granddaughter.
I listen to the sounds of her baking, then remember my conversation with Elijah about how Juliet had just up and run away from the only life she’d ever known. “You know who I was just hanging out with?” I pipe up, breaking our silence.
“Who?” she responds, but I can tell she’s distracted.
“Elijah.” The sound of her whisking immediately stops. Weird reaction since she knows that Jared and I see him pretty frequently. “He asked about you, actually.”
“Did you tell him anything?” she asks slowly.
“Just that you own a bakery and that you’re doing well.”
“Did you mention Terra?” Her voice has a hint of nerves to it, and a warning flag goes off in my head. To my knowledge, they interacted infrequently when he and I became friends. She shouldn’t be this worked up about Elijah asking about her well-being.
“She didn’t come up. Why?”
“No reason. I just don’t want a bunch of people back home knowing about my business, that’s all.”
“Why?”
She pauses. “I just… like my new life. It’s good, and happy, and safe, and I don’t want anyone possibly ruining that. I’d like to keep my life private.”
A sharp pang echoes in my chest. She won’t even risk her own family ruining her new life.
