Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

What is it about ignoring your cheating ex-boyfriend that screams keep calling me? What went through his head every time I pressed the ignore button? My brain was at its limit. I could feel myself on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I knew I could change my phone number to end his harassment, but I had a life attached to that number. It was the number all my work contacts had, and it would be a bitch to change. Besides, why should I make more changes just because Ashton cheated on me?

“Thou shall not let thy ex ruin thy life,” I ranted as I walked into Emma’s while I pressed ignore on another one of Ashton’s calls. This was ridiculous; he was giving me more attention now than when we were together. Like seriously, what part of “leave me the fuck alone” said, ooh, let’s win her back ?

“Jess, erase the quote of the day and go write that down on the wall.” I snapped my fingers at the moody teenager. I thought we were alone in the shop, but sadly that wasn’t the case.

That would be just too easy.

My life was anything but easy these days.

Sitting down by the back tables with his laptop open was Maximilian my-other-ex-Dunnett.

This was horrible.

I hadn’t seen him since Sunday, aka the day of my breakdown followed by a small pity party that consisted of stuffing my face with all kinds of baked goods. He was looking at me with an expression I couldn’t read, which made me feel an ache because I used to be so attuned to him that he didn’t need to speak for me to know what he would say. He never had much of a poker face.

Until now.

Maximilian opened his mouth, and if he was anything like I remembered, he would apologize and leave.“I wasn’t under the impression I had done anything to ruin your life, Freya.”

So, the guy was engaged. No big deal. He was marrying my high school nemesis. Good for him. It’s not like I cared or anything.

“I wasn’t talking about you, Max. I was talking about Ashton.” The word vomit just happened; I didn’t know how to make it stop. I saw Emma cringe.

I wanted to cringe.

“As far as boyfriends go, you were awesome.” Oh God, please someone kill me right freaking now. Max stopped doing whatever it was he was doing on his laptop. His wrist rested on the table, he tilted his head to the side, and he stared at me. And by staring at me, I meant his gaze was scalding.

“Freya, I need your help with the cookies,” Emma yelled, stopping me from making a bigger fool of myself.

“I’ll see you around, Max. I have to go help with the cookies.” I ran my ass to the back where zero cookies were being baked. I didn’t turn back to look at Max. What he had said and what he had implied… He was angry, wasn’t he? He had to be. There was a sick part of me that hoped he was.

“Cookies, Emma, really? Do I look like Betty freaking Crocker?”

“Sorry, I panicked!” She eyed me warily. “Besides, Betty Crocker wasn’t even a real person.”

She kept staring at me, probably wondering if I would have another breakdown, which I wasn’t going to. I had already met my personal quota on dramatics for the year. I noticed she was fidgeting with the strings of her apron. In the past few days, I had been trying to teach her to use her outer voice; she was the calm to my storm.

“Spit it out, Emma.”

“Is Ashton the reason you came home?”

I was about to answer yes, but then I stopped myself, because if I was honest with myself, something I hadn’t been doing in a while, I knew saying yes would be a lie.

“Yes and no. When I broke up with Ashton, it gave me the push I needed to get the fuck out of la-la land.”

“Have you always been this crass?”

“Yep. ”

Her shoulders sagged with acceptance, or maybe defeat, who knew. What I did know was I wanted an apron, and I had yet to get one.

“How come we didn’t talk in high school?” I asked.

“You were kinda… intimidating.”

“I was not.”

“You constantly got in trouble. You mouthed off to the teachers. You were like the anti-Christ.”

I gasped. I wasn’t that bad.

“Max left. It’s safe to come out,” Jess called, and Emma and I both looked at the now vacant space were Max had sat, just to make sure he was no longer there. Jess was no Emma; she wasn’t shy with her words.

“So, you and Max have history? That explains all the looks between the two of you,” she said.

“What looks? There are no looks,” I replied.

She snorted in a very unladylike manner. “Please. The way you look at each other, I don’t know if its longing or hate, but it’s something.”

“Do not.”

“Right, then why did he change the quote of the day?” Jess crossed her arms, daring me to defy her. Emma and I quickly looked at the blackboard. I immediately recognized his handwriting and felt foolish for not having done so before . “Distance sometimes let you know who’s worth keeping and who’s worth letting go.”

“What is he trying to say? That I wasn’t worth keeping? That it was okay to let me go?” Was I upset? Nope, not at all. I was livid, disappointed, and a little betrayed. I turned around, ready to go after him and demand an explanation, but Emma pushed me back.

“Think rationally. Think happy thoughts. Here, eat a muffin and have somecoffee. Or go clean that table. It’ll make you feel better.”

“Oh, I’ll feel better after I give him a piece of my mind,”I muttered.

Everything I did was for him, yet he had the audacity to say I wasn’t good enough? Unbelievable.

“Freya, let it go,” Emma whispered. She was right. What good would it do if I chased after him? Nothing good. So I stayed in the shop, fuming over what Max wrote, probably overthinking everything. Still, I did as Emma said and ate a banana muffin, had somecoffee, and cleaned tables all while I watched Emma do everything with such love and devotion. It got me wondering if I ever felt that way about anything.

Sure, I liked my job; it was a good job, challenging, but I was never passionate about it. My vacation was slowly ending, each day going faster than the next, and I still had no idea what my next step or what my new dream would be.

On the plus side, my grandpa and I were closer again, and I loved it. I couldn’t leave him again, but what was there for me to do in this small town? Could I live in the same town as Abigail and Max? I liked to think I could.

Maybe.

Possibly.

It wasn’t like I pictured Max pining for me. Although that would have been nice. I knew he might have moved on. Now I needed my brain to get the memo. I tried to evade all thoughts Max related, but that didn’t work so well. My time went fast between thinking of my next move and what Max had meant by that cryptic quote. I should ask him, right? I mean, we were both mature adults. Acting civilized shouldn’t be a problem.

“Bye, guys,” I hollered at Emma and Jess at the end of my shift. My grandpa was picking me up today, except when I walked outside, it wasn’t my grandpa’s car parked and waiting for me. It was Rusty’s. He was sitting on the hood of a very shiny, black Ford that, if I wasn’t mistaken, was a now beautifully restored Bow.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Rusty drawled as soon as he saw me.

I had been avoiding him ever since I found out he was married. I was butthurt about it and still trying to process the factthat my best friend got married and didn’t invite me. Sure, I left, but come on, he was like my brother, and he was a guy. Weren’t guys supposed to be like less sentimental or something, or was I being sexist?

“Grandpa isn’t coming, is he?”

He shook his head, not feeling an ounce of sympathy for me.

Asshole.

“I’m not avoiding you, but I’m also not seeking you out. Does that make sense?” His eyes flashed with annoyance. I had to admit, it wasn’t one of my finest moments.

“At the risk of sounding pathetic, selfish, and egotistical—how could you get married and not invite me! I get that I left, but it’s not like I was out there getting engaged, getting married, or popping out babies.” My hands were waving like crazy because I was mad. Maybe I didn’t have a right to be mad, but that didn’t matter because I was hurt. Scratch that,it cut deep. Out of everyone, the last person I would have thought would forget about me was Rusty. “I feel like I didn’t even matter. ‘Oh, Freya left, so guess I won’t invite her to my wedding.’ Out with the old and in with the new.” My voice shook, so I shut up before I cried. Rusty was staring at me with an expression that could be pity, and he wasn’t talking. “Well, say something!”

“You never reached out. I thought after a year, you would have called or texted me, but the years went by, and I figured you left this town behind you and wouldn’t want a reminder. By the time I got married, I’m not going to say I wouldn’t have wanted you there, but I think it was for the best you weren’t there.” I flinched at the last part. My eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “You blew this town, not caring about the mess you left behind. I needed you that year, but you weren’t here. Eugene was miserable without you, but for some insane reason, he said it was for the best, and don’t even get me started on Max.”

“Please stop,” I pleaded. I couldn’t hear more of it. It would kill the mental image I had created for myself, but Rusty wasn’t kind. I didn’t deserve kindness right now.

“Max, he fucking lost it. I saw him shatter right before my eyes. I saw him turn into something that would have disgusted you. Then when you finally become a childhood memory, you stroll back into town thinking everything will be just like you left it. I got news for you, Gabby, just because you left doesn’t mean the rest of us stopped living our lives waiting for your return.”

My face was wet, tears streaming down my cheeks. It was a cold, hard truth, and Rusty was the kind ofperson who never shied away from telling it like it was. Rusty took a deep breath, calming himself, then walked up and wrapped his arms around me. I completelylost it and cried even harder, despite telling myself I had met my drama quota of the year.

“I’m sorry, Freya. Please stop crying before you make me feel like more of an asshole.”

“You are an a-a-ass-h-hole, b-but you’re l-lucky I love you.”

“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t come here to fight with you. My wife wants you to come over for dinner. She also told me to get my head out of my ass and make it good with you. Now thatwe both shared our feelings and you made me feel like I grew a pussy, can we get back to normal?”

And there it was, the elephant in the room, or in this case, the wife in the room, and she wanted to meet me. This worried me. What if she didn’t like me? Rusty had forgiven me, and I him, even if I would never forget he got married without me. What could I say? I wasn’t a saint.

“I guess. I mean, I always thought I would be your best man or best woman. I could have worn a killer pantsuit, but thanks for depriving me of that moment.” He rolled his eyes at me and walked us to his car to take me home. “To make it up, I can be the godmother to your first child.” It was the least he could do.

“Actually, that might be sooner than you expect,” he said with a silly grin on his face. Wow, this was crazy. Not only was Rusty married, but he would be a father. I waited to freak out, but it didn’t come. I guess I was making good on my drama quota.

“Wow, dude, that’s crazy. How that happened?” It was a rhetorical question. What I meant was that life went on, even when I left to live a life I didn’t want so far away from my home. Time, it waited for no one.

“I guess Eugene didn’t cover the birds and the bees talk. Gabby, when two people become intimate—”

“Ew, dude, stop. That’s so not what I meant. Tell me the name of the poor girl you conned into marrying you. What was the color scheme at your wedding? I hope it wasn’t pink. I feel like it’s tacky. I mean, it’s okay for your sweet sixteen, but a wedding? Who was the poor sap who took my place next to you at the altar? How did you propose? How long after you met her did you know she was the one?”

“Gabby, take a breather. Why don’t you come over for dinner tomorrow, and I’ll answer all your questions?”

“I guess,” I said as I jumped out of his truck. “Two more questions.” I raised my index and middle fingers.

“I have a wife waiting for me. Make it quick.” I could tell Rust was getting annoyed with all my questions. I rolled my eyes. “One, is this Bow? ’Cause I got to say, she’s fly. And two, do you think your wife and I will get along?” Rusty did nothing to ease my fear; he laughed and shook his head .

“Have a good night, Freya. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at Emma’s.” I opened my mouth again to ask one more question but immediately closed it. Instead, I waved goodbye to him. I wanted to know what he had meant about Max becoming something that would have disgusted me, but the answer scared me. I was hoping Rusty said it in the throes of drama, but it wasn’t his style. It was hard to picture Max being anything other than what he had always been. Perfect. At least to me, he was. Once upon a time.