“Cordelia, it’s not a good idea,” Larissa said.
Alarm bells started going off in my head. Why was she changing her tune all of a sudden? It seemed to me that we had only just decided it was definitely, absolutely a good idea. Now she didn’t think so anymore?
“Why not?” I asked. “You literally just told me that I should ask him out.”
Cooper Clark seemed to notice us then because he started walking over. I sat up a little straighter. This was it. This was my chance. This was the moment I’d been practicing for. I was going to do it. The very worst thing he could tell me was no. He wouldn’t make fun of me in front of other people. He wasn’t that kind of person. No matter how much we’d fought privately, and no matter how much we’d argued in the past, I knew he wasn’t going to do something that would totally humiliate me. He just wasn’t that kind of person.
“I know what I said,” Larissa said, but I was hardly listening to her because my eyes were fixed on the prom. I had a mental image of myself in a lovely pink dress, dancing around with my friends, and I had a mental image of kissing Cooper. What would that be like?
I stood up and smoothed my skirt. He was getting closer, and he was smiling. He raised his hand and waved, and I waved back, but Larissa had leapt to her feet. She gripped my hand and pulled it down.
“What are you doing?” I asked, turning to her.
“Trying to tell you something,” she said.
Suddenly, my heart sank. She was going to tell me something bad, I realized. She was about to tell me something horrible that was going to change everything. I just knew it.
What could Larissa possibly have to say to me?
“Hey ladies,” Cooper suddenly said. He was there, right in front of me. I turned back to him and the scent of his body wash filled my nostrils. It smelled good, and I got goose bumps on my arms as I looked up at him. How the hell hadn’t I noticed how cute he was before?
“Hey,” Larissa said.
My mouth went dry. I opened it to say hello, but that was when I realized Cooper hadn’t stopped moving. He reached for Larissa and pulled her into a hug. Then she pulled away, and Cooper slung his arm over her shoulder. They both looked at me.
Why was his arm over her shoulder?
He never did that.
Not to Larissa.
What had I missed?
I felt dizzy, and like I was going to throw up at the same time.
“Larissa?” I asked.
“I tried to tell you,” she shrugged. She didn’t seem like she really cared. “But you weren’t exactly in the listening sort of mood.”
“What did I miss?” I whispered out loud.
“Cooper asked me to go to the prom with him,” she said, smiling brightly. The smile didn’t match the suddenly somber feeling that was washing over me. “Of course, I accepted.”
“We can double date,” Cooper said. “It’ll be fun.”
“Larissa?” I felt my face pale. I stared at my friend. Was this really happening? Was this real life?
Cooper seemed to suddenly notice that something was wrong, because he cocked his head the way he always did when he was analyzing something or someone.
“What’s going on?” He said. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“Oh, it was nothing,” Larissa laughed shrilly, a little too loudly. “Cordelia here just had this silly idea that she should ask you to the prom. Can you imagine? A girl asking a guy,” Larissa shook her head, as though she couldn’t believe what a truly funny joke it was, but Cooper was watching me carefully.
I felt the entire world go silent around me. Suddenly, I couldn’t hear the other students, or the birds flying around. I couldn’t hear laughing or talking or bells. I couldn’t hear the cars driving by the high school. I couldn’t hear anything at all.
And all I could see was the look on Cooper’s face.
Larissa kept talking, but I didn’t hear what she said. I turned and ran. I dropped my backpack. I didn’t need it. I’d find it again later.
And I just ran.
And ran.
And ran.
And I never looked back.
1.
Cordelia
Present Day
THE BAKERY DIDN’T LOOK as bad as I expected it to. It was a little run down, sure. The paint was kind of worn, yeah. The paintings that lined the interior of the little shop were slightly crooked, but it could have been worse. All of it could have been worse. I ran my finger over the top of the glass display counter and looked at it. There was a little bit of dust, but not much. It was well-worn, but this place had been very, very loved.
“I’ve done my best to keep up with things since Hannah fell ill,” my Uncle Ray said. “But it’s been rough.” His voice held pain, and he sounded close to tears.
“You’ve done a good job,” I told him, turning around. It wasn’t a lie. He’d been doing everything he could to take care of the bakery since my aunt was diagnosed with cancer, but her treatments had been rough on both of them. Chemo didn’t just take it out of you physically. It also took it out of you emotionally, spiritually, and even mentally. My uncle was a carpenter. He wasn’t a baker. Savored was my aunt’s passion project: not his.
Still, he’d done everything he could to keep the place running. He had been doing his very best trying to keep it all under control, but it finally hadn’t been enough. That’s why he’d called me last week. He’d asked me if there was any chance I’d be interested in coming to help with the bakery. The truth was that my aunt couldn’t handle things with the business anymore, and neither could my uncle. Neither one of them wanted to see Savored close, though. That’s where I came in.
I didn’t tell him at first, but the timing of their offer couldn’t have been better. I was more than ready for a fresh start, and working at Savored was the perfect way to forget my troubles. I needed something new in my life, and running a bakery was something I’d dreamed about once upon a time.
“I really appreciate you coming,” he told me, wringing his hands together. He didn’t need to worry. I wasn’t going to let anything happened to Savored.
“It’s not a problem,” I said. “You know I’d do anything for you and Aunt Hannah.” I owed them so very much.
“I know,” he said. “But she feels bad taking you away from your life in the city and asking you to come here.”
Leaving Kansas City to move back to rural Ashton was probably the best decision I could have possibly made. Working at a digital marketing firm had been fun for a few years, with lots of intensity and passion and chaos. Then Jake and I had broken up, my boss had been replaced with someone young and new who wanted to prove their worth, and the entire firm had gone downhill seemingly overnight.
I had turned in my two week’s notice last week, but the firm had been happy to let me go early. I knew that I wasn’t going to miss my life there. Kansas City had been a lot of fun, but I had also experienced a lot of pain and a lot of loss. After the breakup, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do next. Coming back to Ashton hadn’t been in my plans like, at all, but I was going to make the most of it.
Besides, my family needed me, and I was going to do whatever it took to help them. Aunt Hannah and Uncle Ray would have done anything for me. I could do the same for them.