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“A guy like Ben wouldn’t like to be kept in the dark.”
He’d wanted to help me and be part of the decision-making process, but I’d treated him like a competitor, when he hadn’t been that in a long time.
When I didn’t respond, Hailey said with a disapproving look, “I’d better go inside in case anyone needs anything.”
Hailey headed inside, smiling and greeting my customers, doing what I should have been doing, but I was incapable of moving from my spot on the sidewalk.
The joy of the reveal and the party gave way to exhaustion. I’d worked so hard to come up with a solution to my problems that I’d messed things up with Ben. Probably irreparably.
I was still trying to protect myself. I’d acted like Ben was Levi. Like I needed to protect myself from him instead of trusting him with my plan. Maybe he could have helped, too.
Standing in front of the store, I felt small and alone. Ben could have been by my side, but I’d ruined everything. I hadn’t trusted him as I should have.
I could apologize, but would it change anything? I didn’t trust him, and I wasn’t sure I’d decide differently in the future. Maybe I was irrevocably broken.
With a sigh, I moved inside, greeting the customers and accepting their praise and good wishes. A part of me felt like I didn’t deserve the good that came from it because I’d lied to everyone about it. I hadn’t even trusted my Shops on Main friends with my plans. I still set myself apart from everyone. I didn’t rely on many people other than Hailey and Abby.
At the end of the night, most of the customers had filed out, leaving just Zoe, Remi, Hailey, and Sophie. Savannah went home because her son, Miles, had been waking up in the middle of the night with bad dreams, and she wanted to be there in case it happened again. She had someone to go home to. All my friends did. I was the only one, besides Sophie, who didn’t have a significant other. And I had no one to blame but myself.
Hailey handed me a glass of champagne.
We lifted our glasses.
“To new beginnings,” I said, because it was expected, even though the sentiment felt hollow.
“To new beginnings,” everyone parroted.
Then Hailey added, “To worthy chances.”
“To finding happiness,” Sophie added softly.
She sounded just as melancholy as I did. “Is everything okay?”
“Mark is moving back home.”
I remembered Sophie saying something about an ex that had gotten away when Remi and Colton had some bumps in their relationship. But I couldn’t remember the details. “Your ex, who’s in the military?”
Sophie nodded. “He wants to raise his daughter here.”
“What happened between you two?” Maybe I shouldn’t pry, but I was curious about other’s relationship problems.
Sophie sat on one of the bar stools. “He wanted me to marry him and move wherever he was stationed. I couldn’t leave my family.”
I remembered her mother died when she was young, and she’d helped her father take care of her four younger sisters.
“I held out hope that he’d reach out and suggest we try long distance, but he moved on to someone else. She got pregnant.”
“You still like him?” I asked.
Sophie nodded miserably. “I think I’ll always wonder if he’s the one who got away, you know?”
“I’ve never dated anyone that I’d want to even be friends with again.” To be fair, my only serious boyfriend ended up being fake.
“Sounds like the timing was off,” Zoe said softly.
Zoe knew all about timing. She was dating her best friend from childhood. She’d worried making a move would ruin their friendship, and it almost had until Max had gotten his act together.
“And sometimes our memories are enhanced, making us think things were better than they actually were,” Zoe continued.
