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My feelings will ruin everything in our unconventional normal life. So much is at stake—Mom, Ray, and their happiness. I have made a mistake of putting myself above others once, and where did it lead me? I can’t do that again.
Zach vowed on our wedding day all but love.
“Hope, are you listening?” She grabs my ice-cold hand, shaking on the table. “It’s bad, right?”
I don’t say anything, because for me it’s not bad, it’s fucking awful.
I’m still trying to convince myself that this is not true when the bell on the front door rings and my pulse starts to race.
I try to take a few measured breaths as a foreign warmth fills the cafe. He’s here.
“Hey, Sue. How’s Bob?” Zach’s baritone voice reaches me.
I can’t hear Sue’s response but there’s no missing Zach’s hearty, lofty laugh.
“Enough about my casual relationship. The love of your life is here.” Holly grins before getting up and walking to my husband. Her mood is much better now, but my hands shake and my heart speeds like a fast train when I turn around in my seat.
Zach is surrounded by Sue and Holly, and even Owen, our new hire who mostly likes to stay in the kitchen, is outside to greet my husband.
Finally, with a plate topped with three slices of pie and a giant cup of hot chocolate, Zach settles before me.
“I don’t blame you for wanting to spend more time at the bakery now. You have an amazing staff, Hopper.” His eyes shine as he digs his fork into the custard pie. “What happened? No arguments that this is my bakery and not yours.”
When I look down, away from his smirk, which I know will make me fall more for him, he grabs my hand. “Hey, what’s the matter?”
I shake my head.
Get it together, Hope. What the hell are you doing?
Instead, I turn my attention to his almost empty plate.
“This is too much sugar! You’ll get diabetes someday.” I’m about to snatch the last half piece of pie from him, when he grabs my face with his long fingers.
“I’ll die a happy man eating your sweetness.” His eyebrows rise and I half register a snort from Sue who is refilling the sugar bottle at the next table.
My heart twists in my chest when he leans forward and places a kiss straight on my lips. A moment later, he pulls back but doesn’t go far. “Hey, what’s up?” His thumbs run back and forth on my cheeks, making my pulse wild.
“Nothing. I’m just…having a headache.” I lean back in my seat and Zach follows suit.
His eyebrows remain furrowed as he watches me carefully before typing something on his phone. Finally, he looks up at me.
“I was here to tell you something,” he says when the above-door bell dings.
I look at the door as a woman in a corporate suit walks in. The lunch crowd is starting to fill in.
“I’m going out of town for a few days.”
My head jerks back to Zach and my heart starts to race. “When?”
“Today. In fact, William is packing my bag right this moment.”
“W-why didn’t you tell me before?” He grabs my flailing hands.
“Hey, Hopper. It’s not a planned trip. One of the companies that I’m interested in has suddenly decided to sell due to some family conflicts. I need to go there in person to close the deal.”
My throat constricts, knowing he won’t be here every day. “For how long?”
Zach rubs his chin back and forth with a constant frown on his face. “I…am not sure. It can take two days…or even a week.”
