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“It was worse than striking out. I’m pretty sure that waiting like I did just gave me more time to get used to living without me.” I shook my head in disgust and anger. “I don’t know who that angry, cold woman was because it wasn’t Brenna. Not my Brenna, anyway.”
Miles nodded and crossed one leg over his knee, posed in a thoughtful position. “Tell us exactly what she said.”
I gave the guys a blow-by-blow of the eternal car ride home with Brenna, ending with me telling her it wasn’t over yet. “She didn’t even respond to that, just peeled out of the driveway as soon as I closed the door behind me.”
“She sounds proper pissed,” Liam offered up. “It’s time to go big, my friend, or get off the pot.”
Miles laughed. “I think you’re mixing metaphors.”
“He knows what I mean, don’t you Grant.”
I nodded because I had been thinking the same thing. “It means it’s time for a grand gesture. Any ideas?”
“Yeah, skip the big gestures and just tell Brenna how you feel about her.” Miles’ no nonsense words were out of character and I looked up at him with a frown.
“I already tried that and she didn’t want to hear it.”
“No, man. None of this I care about you crap, tell her you love her. Tell her that she means the world to you and you can’t imagine loving another woman the way you love her.”
“That’s good stuff,” Liam insisted with a grin. “Listen to Miles.”
It was good, those words of his, but you couldn’t just poach a man’s words of love and repeat them to a woman, could you? “So I shouldn’t do a big gesture?”
Miles sighed. “You need to do something that will mean something to Brenna.”
I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out exactly what I needed to do in order to win Brenna back. Was back even the right word? She’d as much as admitted that we were nothing more than a casual fling, which meant I had a few hurdles to clear.
I thought about starting with flowers but that seemed too cliché, then again cliches were cliches for a reason and that was because they worked. Flowers were too obvious and she would probably just dump them in the trash or give them to one of her gray-haired clients.
But there was one thing in this town that I knew Brenna would find completely irresistible, Bread Box. I made my way over and just outside the doors, I prepared myself for Mara’s wrath.
“Next!”
I stepped forward, palms sweating and heart racing. “I’d like a dozen of Brenna’s favorites.”
“A dozen? I guess the rumors are true, you stepped in it big time.”
“Yeah, I did. And this is step one on the road to redemption.”
Mara grinned. “My pastries are good, but I’m not sure I put any redemptive qualities in any of them. Sorry,” she said not looking sorry at all.
“Then I guess I better come up with something witty and heartfelt to say to make that redemption happen.”
“Excellent idea, because as good as these pastries are, and they are damn good, you’ll need more.”
“I know. And I have a plan for that.” It was a little bit sneaky and yeah, a little underhanded too. But when you screwed up the way I did, you had to go big.
And now, armed with a dozen pastries, I had a plan.
Brenna
“You got a special delivery!” Mariana’s voice rang out above the chaos of the salon and I turned with a smile for the little girl.
“Yeah? Who has a special delivery?”
“You do, Brenna!” She jumped with the same level of excitement she reserved for ice cream, pizza and sleepovers. Mariana took in a deep breath to calm herself and then she slowly walked over to me. “This is for you, Brenna.”
I accepted the small but familiar pastry box with a smile. “This is for me? Thank you, Mari.”
“It’s from my Dad,” she said proudly and the entire salon went up in a chorus of awww.
“Well open it up, Brenna! We all want to see what her dad sent to you.”
I opened up the pastry box and smiled at the oversized red velvet cupcake. “Red velvet.”
“Oh, Mara is a genius when it comes to red velvet,” someone called out and I nodded absently.
My attention was focused on the small ribbon of paper inside the box. “Your laughter is my favorite sound in the world.” Damn, Grant was good. Really good. The question was, did one little pastry and a really great compliment mean forgiveness?
No. No it did not.
“Well, what do ya think Brenna?” Mariana looked up at me with wide, curious eyes, a smile teasing her lips.
I broke the cupcake in half and gave her part of it. “This is delicious. Be sure to thank your dad for me.”
