Chapter 19

 

Gabe is in my bakery. It’s not just some figment of my over-caffeinated imagination, drawing up a mirage of the guy that’s been in my mind all these days. It’s real. He’s actually here, skin and bones, and muscles and bright blue eyes.

I look at Livi and find myself suddenly unable to speak. Lee takes a bite of his shortcake and doesn’t even know what’s going on between my best friend and me. As far as he knows, he’s the only guy on my mind right now, and for that I feel very, very guilty.

“Should I tell him to wait?” Livi says all sweetly like it’s not a big deal. She’s probably trying to make sure Lee doesn’t realize something crazy is happening right now.

I clear my throat and attempt to wrangle my thoughts into submission, and when I look back toward the front of the bakery, he’s gone. I glance around, but then I see his retreating form crossing the road.

Dammit.

“I guess it doesn’t matter now,” I say, nodding toward the door.

Livi turns around and curses under her breath.

“What’s going on?” Lee asks.

I smile at him. It’s too quick, and too big, and too fake, but he doesn’t seem to notice or care. “Nothing,” I say quickly. “But, we should probably wrap this up soon because I’m about to have to close down the shop for the day.”

“Oh sure, no problem,” Lee says. He shoves the last bite of his food in his mouth and washes it down with coffee. “I can’t believe I’ve never been here before. Your food is amazing.”

“Thank you,” I say, the sound barely audible over my pounding heart.

“I’ll have to bring my mom and aunt here because they love places like this.”

“That would be great,” I say. “I’ve been here for two years but a lot of locals still don’t know the bakery exists.”

Man, I’m good at small talk when I’m internally freaking out. It’s like my body can take over while my brain just screams and jumps up and down and wonders what the hell Gabe is doing in Mable Falls.

He saw my Facebook post. He had to. That’s the only reason he’d show up, right?

And, oh God, he saw me with another guy and he left. It’s like the stars aligned and the universe wanted to give us another chance and I freaking ruined it.

Lee is nice and even talks more than usual as he says his goodbyes, and I think he says something about meeting up again soon. I think I mumble something in agreement just to be nice.

And then he’s finally gone. I look around for Livi, but she’s not here either. Maybe she’s taking out the trash. I glance outside but I don’t see Gabe through the windows. I have no idea what kind of car he drives, so he could be gone by now, or still sitting in his car for all I know. He’s probably gone. I had my chance and I ruined it by being on a date with another guy.

This is what I get for trying to do something against my good judgement. I didn’t like Lee, and I didn’t want to date him but I forced myself to give him a chance. And because of my dating charity, I lost out on seeing Gabe.

I could cry, but I’m too angry to let tears fall. I clean up the tables and close out the registers, and stuff an entire leftover strawberry shortcake in my mouth on my way back to the kitchen. There’s a ton of cash in the register but I don’t even feel like counting it up right now. Who cares how much money I made when I lost out on seeing Gabe again.

Livi appears, and she’s talking on her phone. I guess she stepped out to take a call or something. She helps me take out the trash and clean up the kitchen while she rambles on to whoever is on the phone. It sounds like maybe a college advisor judging by the content of her call.

Finally, when everything is ready to close up, Livi gets off the phone. She turns to me, eyes wide. “That was insane.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I say. The tears I’d been refusing to cry are still lingering in my eyes, waiting to spill down my cheeks. I can disguise my emotion with anger and rage and annoyance and even apathy, but deep down I know what I feel. I’m absolutely devastated that I lost Gabe again. I’m freaking out that he showed up in my little town, that he made the drive from wherever he lives and wanted to see me again. And then he just left.

After all of that, I still get nothing. If I could go back in time, I would have stayed in Gabe’s hotel room. I would have woken up next to him and let the rest of the day play out the way it would fate would have let it. Maybe we’d have gone our separate ways eventually, but maybe he liked me enough to try to make things work. Now I’ll never know.

“I can’t believe he just showed up here,” I say with a sigh.

Livi snorts. “Really? Because I can. I saw your Facebook post and it was pretty damn obvious.”

Despite everything, a grin appears on my lips. “You think so?”

She nods. “And it’s been a few weeks and the boy was still looking you up online. That’s a good thing.”

“Right?” I say, a little more excited now even though Gabe is gone. “I wish I hadn’t been here with freaking Lee! Oh my God, Livi. This is the worst.”

“Nah, it’ll be okay.”

Livi unties her apron and hangs it up on the rack by the back door. “I’m gonna head home and jump in the pool.”

“That sounds great. Can I join you? If I’m all wet then my tears won’t show.”

Livi rolls her eyes. “Yeah, of course you can, but first you need to go see Mason. He told me had something for you.”

“Like what?” I say, confused.

Livi shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but he told me to send you over after work.”

“Okay, I’ll go see him then I’ll meet you at your house. Cool?”

Livi nods. “Sure thing.”

The traffic is always worse at this time of day when everyone gets off work. It takes me a few minutes before I can safely jog across Main Street to Mason’s motorcycle shop. The sign on the door says closed, but I walk inside anyway. I’m related to the owner so the rules don’t apply to me.

The store is empty, and not even Travis is hanging around like usual. “Mason!” I call out as I make my way toward the door in the back that leads out to the shop. “Mason! I’m coming into the forbidden employees’ only zone!” I say, which is a joke because he used to tell me to stay out of here when I was a teenager. I always thought he was afraid I’d get hurt on the tools or something, but I found out much later that the mechanics who used to work here when we were in high school all had a crush on me. He was saving me from guys he thought weren’t good enough for me.

I slip through the plastic swinging door and step into the shop, which is eerily silent now that everyone has gone home. The rock music that usually plays is off, and there’s no more sounds of tools clanking together or motorcycles starting up.

“Mason?” I call out once more. I walk up to a motorcycle that’s raised up on a lift. It’s shiny black with pink pinstripes and I find myself thinking that if I ever got a motorcycle, I’d want pink pinstripes like these.

“Alexa.”

A chill runs up my spine. I turn around to face the voice. My breath catches in my throat, and I’m surprised even though I’d recognize his voice anywhere. It’s Gabe. Standing right here in front of me. Livi has the world’s best poker face. She knew all this time that he was here and she played it cool to get me over here. I could kill her. And hug her.

I’ve never been more excited in my life, and yet over all of the crazy amazing thoughts running through me, I blurt out something stupid. “Where’s Mason?”

“He left,” Gabe says, taking one slow step toward me. “He said you know the lock code so we can lock the doors when we’re done.”

“Done?” I say. What exactly are we supposed to do in here? Tune up some motorcycles? I swallow, and Gabe takes another step, closing the gap between us even further. Now we’re just a few steps apart.

“I hope it’s okay that I came here,” he says, his eyes watching mine so intently that I forget to breathe. “I don’t know if your Facebook post was meant for me, but—”

“It was,” I say. “It was just for you, and no one else.” I want to apologize for Lee and explain that it was all wrong and stupid and I never even wanted to have coffee with that guy instead of Gabe. But my voice isn’t catching up with my brain right now. Maybe it’s because of how handsome Gabe looks against the backdrop of a pegboard filled with Mason’s tools. Maybe it’s that amazing smell of his cologne, the smell that lingered on my clothing long after I’d left him in his hotel that morning.

Maybe it’s because he’s taking one more step toward me.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I say, my voice barely a whisper.

A slight grin tugs at his lips. He takes a step closer, and I do, too, finally closing all the space between us. His arms part and I slip inside of them, feeling every nerve ending in my body relax when his warm hands embrace me.

Gabe’s lips come down to mine, and I tip my head back to meet them. Our kiss is soft at first, careful as it tiptoes over the fragments of our last time together. My mouth knows what to do on his, and soon our lips part and our tongues dance and I can breathe him in, exactly the way I’ve been wanting to every single night since I saw him last. We lose no time together, our bodies knowing exactly how we melt perfectly into each other. My hands tangle in his hair, and his beard tickles my neck as he kisses a trail from my ear to my collarbone, his hands holding tightly to me as I turn to a puddle in his arms.

“This feels real,” he whispers against my hair. “You’re not a fling. You’re real.”

I nod, unable to speak. I just wrap myself closer against his chest and revel in the feel of his fingers sliding through my hair. “Go out with me,” he says.

I lift up and look at him. “When?”

“Now.” He grins.

“I’m dressed like a baker,” I say, glancing down at my outfit of old jeans and a Sweets Bakery polo shirt.

He kisses my forehead, then slides his hands into the back pockets of my jeans. “I happen to love bakers.”