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With school in session, the parking lot in front of the Death by Chocolate was packed. I had to circle the block twice to find a spot and idle until the person backed out. I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed inside. It smelled like sugary goodness and looked like a Wonka creation, like I could eat everything in sight.
I stepped across the black-and-white tiled floor, past a group of undergrads lingering over their laptops at one of the French macaron–inspired tables and fruit-tart chairs. Noise-canceling headphones dangled from their necks while they chatted and had their heads in their phones. It did nothing to detract from the minty-iced walls. I headed straight to the bar that was decorated as powdered-sugar countertops and lemon-bar cabinets. It was hard not to stare at all of the elaborate wedding cakes in glass boxes or the glass case of sweets. My stomach grumbled.
“Hey there!” Kimber said cheerfully, coming out of the back.
Kimber was Emery’s older sister and the brains behind the establishment. She’d taken Sutton on part-time after Maverick died, and Sutton had found her passion in baking. They were a power team now.
“Hi, Kimber.”
“What are you in for today?” she asked, wiping flour off her hands onto her apron. “Chocolate mousse? A chocolate torte? Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache?” She grinned ear to ear.
“Undecided,” I told her. “Is Sutton back there with you?”
Kimber nodded. “Let me go get her while you think about dessert.”
Sutton appeared a minute later, coated with a light layer of flour. Her smile brightened when she saw me. “Annie!”
“Hey, Sut.”
She frowned. “What’s going on? You look sad.”
I sighed heavily. I wasn’t sure if Helene had shared the information with the rest of the Wright family yet, but I was about to have to spill. “Jordan’s mom has cancer again.”
Sutton stared at me for a second without moving or blinking. When she’d found out three years ago, she’d dissolved into a puddle. It had been too soon after Maverick, and the uncertainty had wrecked her. I could see her fighting her instincts to save herself.
“That’s…that’s terrible,” she finally breathed out.
“It is.”
“How are the boys holding up?”
“Well, that’s kind of the problem. Jordan has dropped off the face of the planet. I tried to see him at work, and he, like, quickly made me leave. I haven’t seen him other than that since it happened.”
“Oh no,” she breathed. “He must be hurting so much.”
“I know. I want to be there for him, but he doesn’t seem to want me to do that.”
Sutton sighed and put her shaking hands on the countertop. “That is a defensive mechanism. It isn’t personal.”
“I hope not. But this week has kind of been crazy, and I feel like I should be talking to him about it. I know he has a lot on his plate with the party this weekend and the soccer complex and his mom…”
“That is a lot,” she agreed.
“But I thought our relationship was going really great, and now, I’ve been cut out. I’m not mad. I’m concerned. And I have things I need to tell him, but he won’t see me.”
“I’m glad you’re concerned and not mad because he’s going to need you once he finally lets his guard down.” Sutton was definitely speaking from experience. “What do you need to tell him anyway?”
I bit my lip and looked down. “Well, for one, I made my rank-choice selection.”
“That’s amazing,” Sutton gushed, leaning forward over the counter. “Seattle?”
I swallowed and shook my head.
“No? But wasn’t Seattle always the top pick? You said you loved it, and that Jordan would move with you.”
I gave her a searching look. “How could I ask him to after he found that out about his mom?”
“Oh, Annie…you really love him, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, swiping away a tear. “I guess I do because I chose Texas Tech as number one. So I could stay…and be here for him.”
Sut clutched my hand. “That’s a very generous and selfless thing to do. And you haven’t told him?”
“No, I meant to, but I haven’t seen him. And…I don’t know. Something else happened.”
“Oh boy,” Sutton said, interpreting my apprehension.
“Chase declared his undying love for me.”
Sutton’s eyes rounded. “Fuck.”
I laughed. “Yeah, pretty much. He only did it because I’m serious with Jordan.”
“Isn’t that what you’d been trying to do all this time anyway? Make him jealous enough to see what he was missing.”
“Well, yeah, but it’s different.”
“So, now that it’s worked…how do you feel?”
I winced. I’d always hoped it would work on Chase. Now though? “Terrible. I basically told him to fuck off. That if he was only going to pick me because his safety net was closing, then it wasn’t good enough.”
Sutton broke into a smile. “That’s amazing. Damn, I wish I could have seen that. What did his face look like?”
