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For an hour, he scrolled through messages and took notes, killing time, hoping to hear from her. Since it was the middle of the night, he hadn’t expected an answer. But that didn’t stop the bitterness of disappointment from crawling up his throat.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“How was your weekend?”
Hope glanced up from her computer screen to give Skyler a fake smile. There was no reason for Hope’s disappointment and foul mood to ruin everyone’s workweek. Skyler had thoughtfully arrived with gifts, coffee, and a pastry box bearing a name Hope didn’t recognize.
“After a lot of internal debate and much gnashing of teeth, I went with cupcakes,” Skyler declared. “I figured if the trip was wicked awesome, we could celebrate. And if it sucked, you’d need something more than a doughnut.” She walked in and placed the treasure on Hope’s desk. “How did I do?”
“You’re a savior.”
“Does this mean it didn’t go well with McHottie?” Skyler removed both coffees from their holder, then flipped up the top of the bakery box. Ooey-gooey sweetness wafted on the air, fresh with the promise of making her forget her sorrows. Hope hadn’t eaten all day Sunday, and now she was ravenous.
She picked up two napkins—one to use as a plate, the other to wrap around the tallest, thickest devil’s food cupcake topped with so much frosting that she didn’t think it could stand up on its own. Recognizing that it would make a mess unless she corrected the geometry to make it smaller, she did the sensible thing and took an enormous bite.
Deep inside, the sugar rush hit her, firing all the neural pleasure centers. She moaned in appreciation. Saturday evening, she’d arrived back in Houston during a torrential downpour. Even after a hot shower, she’d been unable to sleep. Her phone had been in her hand when Rafe’s text arrived.
She’d fought the temptation to answer. Instead, she’d blocked his number.
Sunday had dawned gray and dreary, ripe with humidity. The condensation running down her bedroom window had matched her mood.
Around noon, she’d forced herself from bed. After a cup of coffee, she’d checked her phone. There was a message from Skyler, saying the Saturday evening event had gone well. After that, Hope had morosely wandered her apartment.
Being so alone magnified her grief at leaving Rafe. Feeling as if a part of her heart had been ripped out, she’d forced herself to dress and leave the house. She’d dragged herself through the grocery store and managed her laundry through bleary eyes. Then she’d spent the afternoon on the couch, binge-watching television and shutting out the world.
After eleven, she’d hoped exhaustion would help her sleep well. Instead, she’d tossed and turned. At four a.m., she’d given up all pretext of getting any rest, worked out in her apartment building’s gym, then taken a long hot shower. She’d been at the office since six thirty, but she hadn’t gotten any work done. The cupcake sent her into a welcomed state of bliss. If she was lucky, she could stay there the rest of the day.
It wasn’t until she’d finished her second bite that she realized Skyler was staring at her. “What?” Hope asked around a mouthful of frosting.
“I’m waiting to hear what happened,” Skyler prompted.
“He’s not for me. Or I’m not for him.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m more invested in him than he is in me.”
“Did you fall in love with him?”
Her hand shaking, she placed the sweet on the desk so she didn’t drop it.
“Oh no, Hope. He doesn’t return the feeling?”
Hope blinked back tears. “Better to find out now, right?” Before she’d become one hundred percent ensnared. Hope brushed her hands together.
“He’s a rat-fink prickwomble. Wait. No. He’s a coward, rat-fink prickwomble.”
Hope tried to summon a smile and failed. Again and again, she asked herself how she could have been so stupid to allow herself to fall for him. He’d given her dizzying sexual encounters, and he’d offered marriage, but he’d been clear there wasn’t a happily ever after in her future.
