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He smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.I don’t get the chance to ask what’s wrong before he has me wrapped in his arms.He inhales my scent, holding me for what feels like forever before the oven timer goes off, and he lets me go.
Colton sits at the counter and watches me as I take the tray of cookies out and place them on the cooling rack.
“We need to talk,” he finally says, and I feel like I am dying inside.
“You do know that is the most hated sentence in the English language, right?”I try to lighten my mood before what will surely be a painful conversation.
It takes him a minute but when it finally dawns on him what I meant he looks horrified.
“No.Babe, come sit.This isn’t a conversation about us.It’s about the fire.”
I want to feel relieved, but he looks so sad that I can’t.I sit in the chair facing him and wait patiently as he tries to figure out a way to give me bad news without hurting me.
“Do we need to have the band-aid conversation again?”I ask only half joking.
“Sasha set the fire.”
“Excuse me?”I ask way too loudly.
“I went down to the station to get an update only to be told that she had already confessed.”
“My sister burned down my business and my home with me in it?”I feel like I am stuck in the damn twilight zone.“Why would she do that?”
“Benjamin says she hasn’t been the same since she lost the baby.”
“Baby?What baby?”I’m yelling now.
My entire life has just been thrown off its axis and nothing is making sense anymore.Sasha would have told me if she was pregnant.
“Echo, I’m so sorry.”He lifts me from the chair and carries me over to the sofa where he holds me tightly while I cry.
“What’s going to happen to her?”I ask when I finally stop sobbing.
“I told the police you don’t want to press charges.”I go to say something, but he kisses me quickly before continuing.“I know that you won’t be able to get anything from the insurance, but Benjamin said he would pay for the repairs.He feels guilty because he didn’t see how sick she was before.”
“And Sasha?”
“She’s going to need more help than any of us can offer her.Benjamin found a great place on the south coast that’s willing to take her as soon as she is released.They will help her.”
I rest my head on his shoulder as I work through everything he has said in the last five minutes.It’s a lot to take in but it explains things now that I know the truth.
“I feel sorry for her.If she had just come to me,” my words taper off.“I still love her, even if she is bat shit crazy.”
“When she’s better we can all get together.Maybe it’s time for all of us to sit down and mend fences.”
“Yeah,” I agree as I kiss the man I love.“Maybe it’s time to unbreak some hearts.”
Epilogue
The Grand re-opening
Two months later
Colton
I’m running late off of last night’s shift because of a forest fire we were called in to assist with.It’s my job and I love it but of course, it would be today of all days.Echo is finally reopening Cake My Life and I need to be there to show my support.I have fifteen minutes to get home, scrub the soot and smoke from my body and get back to the bakery.I will be cutting it close, but I will be there.
I am racing against the clock when I finally get my ass back in the truck smelling like my girls’ favorite cologne, but it will be worth it to see her smile.When I pull into a parking space across the street, I can see how all our friends and neighbors have come to show their support and it warms my heart.
