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“Which she was, and it aggravates me because I shouldn’t have to worry about her any longer. She’s not my wife so stop putting her in my life.”
“You wouldn’t be this angry that she’s upset if you didn’t care about her still,” Julia argued. “You told me yourself you’d messed up that you gave her up for something that wasn’t close to what you had with her. If she’s not married…”
“No, stay out of this.” Avery turned towards the doors unable to stay and talk about it, about Colleen a moment longer without breaking.
“Why?” Gabriel asked. “If it’s true and you regret your choice, if Colleen isn’t married and there’s any chance she could forgive you…”
“There’s not, is that what you all want to know?” he questioned flipping around to stare at the three of them. “She hates me for what I did, and I have no one to blame but myself. I know that and I knew even if she were single, she would never forgive me.That’swhy I didn’t want to find her, to knowanythingabout her. Knowing she’s here in town is worse than living in our home in Philly. I moved here to stop missing her constantly and now I know she’s here…I know exactly where to find her and it’s a bigger hell than not knowing. She wants nothing to do with me so for the love ofgod, leave her alone.”
“You’re still completely in love with her,” Addison said covering her chest with a hand. “You would give up anything to have her back, wouldn’t you?”
“I would crawl on my hands and knees and beg her if I hadanychance of getting her back, but I don’t and it’s pointless to fool myself into thinking I do.” Avery nearly shook with his anger over his mistakes. It was killing him, knowing with a single search he could know exactly where to find her, where to go to see her every day. “She would never come back to me. If I had any illusions about that, it was shattered today when she sent her lover to pick up their check. She’s moved on…and knowing who it’s with is worse than not. It’s killing me so next time I tell you to leave something alone, you’d better damn wellleave it alone!”
Julia gasped as he stormed towards the door, slamming it behind him as she tried to decide what to do now. She had to apologize to Colleen. She just didn’t know how she would be able to do it without hurting Avery further.
Chapter 3
Julia walked into the bakery pausing to smell the sweet air of freshly baked goodies. It pulled her back to the days she would stop by Avery and Colleen’s home and smell the new treats she had made or the delicious dinner cooking for Avery to get home and enjoy. They had been so happy, and her son had destroyed all of that by being stupid. Somehow, she would fix this. She just needed to see how much it would take to get Colleen to forgive him.
“Can I get you something?” the girl behind the counter asked and Julia couldn’t resist from buying a sweet cherry tartlet and latte. “Anything else?”
“Is Colleen here? I was hoping to see her,” Julia stated as Meredith came back into the bakery.
“She’s not available today,” Meredith said, overriding what the girl was about to say as she took over brewing the drink. “Please don’t take this rudely, but don’t come back here. Leen’s moving on with her life but the intrusion into it is not helping her any. We’re extremely busy with catering events and she needs to focus on her work, not on your family’s drama. So tell your son and your daughters and anyone else who might decide to just drop by…to let her be. She’s been through enough hell and I won’t let anyone put her through more. I love her too much for that.”
“I see…and how much do I owe you?” Julia asked taking out her wallet.
“It’s on the house. I know how much you enjoy Leen’s tartlets, so if you would like to order some please feel free to callmeand I’ll put in an order that can be delivered.”
“And you are?”
“Meredith Thomas, Leen’s partner,” she answered with an easy smile that surprised Julia entirely, but explained Avery’s fury and pain well. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to make sure today’s deliveries get handled.”
“Can I at least leave a message for Colleen?” Julia asked knowing she was being ran off quite clearly.
“Mrs. Montgomery, that truly isn’t a wise idea right now. Leen’s upset about yesterday still and she has a wedding cake to decorate for this weekend. I’m sure a woman of your status understands that a newer bakery and caterer needs to put their best presentations forward if they hope to succeed. Leen doesn’t need a reminder of her history, for her thoughts and actions to be jaded because her happy ending didn’t materialize while trying to create something for another bride who still feels that glow.”
“At least let her know I never referred her to Avery’s assistant to hurt her, I’d hoped that Avery would realize the mistake he’d made letting her go. I have always loved Colleen as a daughter, and was devastated when she and Avery parted. Even thinking she’d left him for someone else…I still loved her and hoped she would come home,” Julia said with a half-smile as she took her bag and started to leave.
“Julia,” Colleen said coming out of the back room as she wiped her hands clean.
“Colleen,” Julia said in surprise giving her a full smile. “You look beautiful honey.”
Colleen shook her head giving her a light smile coming around the counter. “I look like I haven’t slept in days because I haven’t.”
“Leen, honey,” Meredith said trying to stop her.
“It’s fine Mere.” She gave Meredith a reassuring nod, trying to calm her friend down as she showed Julia into the back where she could sit down with clients to discuss catering options.
“This place is amazing Colleen, it makes you feel right at home,” Julia told her as they sat.
“Thank you; it’s where I live ninety percent of the time.”
“How did you manage to open it?”
“I won baking contests all over the area, saved every penny and after I won the city’s cake contest last year I managed to get a loan for the rest. This place was a bakery already which reduced remodeling costs and I was able to use part of the extra on the aesthetics.”
“It’s incredible what you’ve done by yourself.”
