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I’d like to give him a smile, but it hurts too much. And the fact that these two showed up here right after I got to work and have been hovering ever since just makes me want to frown even more. At least Quinn and Emily listened to me and got lost when I told them to a few hours ago.
“I’m fine. You guys don’t need to babysit me,” I remind them for the hundredth time.
“You’re right; we don’t. So how about you go home and let me finish up here,” Wren says again. “I’m supposed to be taking over the business, remember? You shouldn’t be stuck closing anymore or be up here all the time. That’s my job now. You’re supposed to be relaxing and enjoying your life.”
What life?
I don’t realize I said that out loud until Wren lets out a sad little whimper from next to me, wrapping her arms around me while mine hang limply down by my sides.
“Why don’t you just text him?” she asks softly with a tight squeeze.
I haven’t said anything to Wren about Dean since I got to work, but I didn’t have to. She could see it all over my hideous face, and I heard her whispering to Tess and Emily all day when she thought I wasn’t paying attention. And the fact that he didn’t pop by the stand to annoy me or send me a text to make me laugh while I was here was all the proof Wren needed to realize he was gone.
“What the hell would I even say?” I scoff. “Oh, hey, I’ve been miserable since you left. I’m sorry I was such an idiot. I miss you; please come back.”
Out of instinct, I glance back over my shoulder, almost expecting him to be standing right there, eavesdropping on our conversation. My heart falls when there’s nothing but an empty parking lot behind me, and I look back down at the picnic table.
“Um, yeah. That sounds good. You should do that.” Wren nods as I shrug out of her arms and toss the rag in my hand into the bucket of water on the ground.
“That sounds ridiculous,” I tell her, even as I’m pulling my phone out of my back pocket with shaky hands.
I pull up his name in my text messages, my heart clenching as I glance through our old messages, my finger hovering over the area to write a new one.
“What do you have to lose?”
“Her dignity?” Tess answers Wren’s question for me around a mouthful of ice cream.
“Don’t listen to her,” Wren argues, giving Tess the finger without looking away from me. “Just text him, and then I’ll leave you alone and never annoy you again.”
I laugh, knowing the chances of that happening are slim to none. Taking a deep breath, I quickly type a simple I miss you, and hit Send before I can change my mind.
A ding echoes through the air a few seconds later, and I look at my phone in confusion when I don’t have any new texts.
“Well, that’s certainly good news.”
My phone slips right out of my hand and clatters to the cement as I whirl around.
Dean looks up from his phone a few feet away with a grin on his face, and I don’t even hesitate as soon as I see him standing in front of me. I launch myself into his arms before he has a chance to finish sliding his phone back into his jeans. A sob flies out of me as soon as I feel his arms come around me. He squeezes me to him as tightly as he can, the solid weight of him holding me against him and his heart pounding against my chest letting me know this is real, and I’m not dreaming, and he’s here.
“Hey, sugar, why all the tears?” Dean asks softly when I just can’t seem to stop crying as he rubs his hand up and down my back.
Pulling his face back, he bends his knees so he can look me in the eyes. He lets go of me to hold my face in his hands, swiping away my tears with his thumbs, while shock replaces the concern on his face.
“Oh, shit. Did you… did you think I left? For good?”
“You did!” I fire back at him, a little bit of anger starting to replace my sadness as I sniffle.
“Wow.” Dean chuckles as his hands slip from my face, but the sound is filled with annoyance, making me want to punch him in the mouth. “You must really think I’m an asshole. You honestly thought I would leave the island without saying goodbye to you?”
Okay, now I feel like an asshole.
“You checked out of your hotel,” I mutter pathetically.
“Yeah… to move into my new cottage.”
And now I feel like I might faint.
“What?” is all I can manage to whisper in shock.
