Which had my belly fluttering.
The butterflies weren’t as scary as they’d been. Now, part of me wanted to run headfirst to him, and the other part wanted to run as far and fast away from him as I could get.
Not for my benefit. For his.
In this relationship, I was the one keeping secrets. I was the liar.
But maybe I could do what Simone and I had said we would. Maybe I could pretend it’d never happened.
Gwen;Probably just hanging around the ranch. And good morning to you too. I also hope you have a good day.
When I read it back, it sounded like an email to a work colleague. Emojis may have helped, but I didn’t have a therapistto guide me through every text interaction I had, so it would have to do.
I went about my usual morning routine. Showered, took Honey out to do her business, fed her, made a cup of coffee to go, tiptoed around Simone, and made sure to lock the door behind me. Today’s drive to work was much more peaceful than the last.
Did my stomach still turn when I drove over the bridge I’d dropped David off? Yes. Was I going to push that memory to the very back of my mind? Also yes.
I made it to work with fifteen minutes to spare. Good thing, because my homemade coffee tasted like garbage. I had just enough time to go behind the counter, make myself a nice latte—with pumpkin spice, since that was back on the menu heading into the holidays—and maybe a breakfast sandwich.
As I hung my coat on the hook, I eyed the pastry case to see if we had any croissants left over. Plenty of English muffins on the bottom shelf, half a dozen bagels, but no croissants. That was fine. A bagel would do.
I walked around the counter and grabbed a parchment paper to put it on. As I reached into the pastry case, Molly said, “Behind you,” and brushed past me. “That’s for you, by the way.”
Bagel in hand, I straightened back up. She stood in front of the espresso machine at the far end of the counter. As she fiddled with it, I looked around. Nothing caught my eye. “What’s for me?”
“That.” She pointed to a red gift bag by the checkout.
It was small, roughly four-by-six. Red tissue paper peeked out of the top. Sparkles covered every inch of it. I knew as soon as I picked it up, I would find pieces of glitter all over my clothing, car, and cabin for the next six months.
“Andrew said someone left it at the door yesterday. The tag has your name on it.”
I flipped over the tag on the ribbon handle. There it was.Gwen, in pretty calligraphy. “It doesn’t say who it’s from.”
“Probably one of the customers you made a cake for.” She shrugged and headed through the swinging, stainless steel door. “They start giving out Christmas presents at this time of year.”
Made sense. Some of the patients at my old job did that too.
I peeled back the tissue paper. Inside was a small box, covered in wrapping paper the same color as the gift bag.
I grabbed the whole bag and walked around the counter to sit at the booth in the corner. Wrapped gift in my lap, I pulled the paper back.
A pay-as-you-go phone.
My stomach sank.
I flipped it over and found a typed note on a plain white sheet of printer paper.
Your friend.
