Three weeks later on a Saturday morning, Patrick was sitting at a table in Tea for Two, pretending to work on his laptop.

He was mostly watching some guy flirting with Carol and trying not to snarl about it.

She was helping out behind the counter this morning since they were busy, and some overdressed guy had come in and made a beeline for her. Patrick had to assume the guy knew her because Carol had beamed as soon as she saw him and gave him a hug like he was an old friend.

The guy wore khakis, leather shoes, and a button-down Oxford. He also had on a flashy watch, and his teeth were unnaturally white. Everything about his appearance seemed designed to impress people, and Patrick had always been annoyed by men like that.

He was definitely annoyed by the way the guy kept hanging around Carol, even though he’d gotten his coffee and she was obviously busy serving customers.

Patrick scowled at the screen to his laptop. If Carol didn’t stop smiling at him that way, the guy was never going to leave.

For the past few weeks, Carol had turned into some sort of social butterfly. She’d never been like that before. She’d always been the type to stay home or to go out in a group with her friends. Naturally she’d dated occasionally, but she was looking for someone serious and had never wanted to waste her time with guys who’d only wanted to hook up.

Something had changed though. She was going out with three or four guys a week, and she didn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

It was making Patrick crazy.

Of course he knew he’d handled things badly with her. Of course he knew he never should have had sex with her—much less twice in the span of an hour. He also knew he’d not done a good job explaining to her that a relationship between them was hopeless.

He kept repeating to himself it was better this way. Carol would never have been happy if she’d settled for him, just because they were the only two of their group left.

And Patrick cringed every time he imagined how he would feel a year from now, two years, five years, ten years, when Carol realized he wasn’t what she really wanted.

It didn’t matter if Carol thought it was fun and fitting that they get together. It didn’t matter that the rest of their friends all acted like it was perfectly natural.

That wasn’t the way relationships were supposed to work.

So Patrick had done what he’d believed was the best—as clumsily as he’d bumbled through it—and he was prepared to deal with the consequences.

He’d assumed the consequences would include Carol being sad and fragile for a while.

He’d never dreamed she would decide to set out on some sort of dating frenzy.

She was giggling now, and the obnoxious guy was staring openly at her cleavage. There was a brief respite from the crowd of customers, and Patrick prayed for a big group to come in.

Anything to take Carol’s attention off that guy.

She seemed to really like him.

She seemed to like the way he was leering.

She seemed to want to see even more of him.

Patrick had a sudden visual of Carol in bed with that guy—soft and warm and passionate and uninhibited—and his stomach twisted into a sickening knot.

Sex with her was better than any sex he’d had in his life.

And he somehow knew nothing else would ever rival it.

He’d never been a particularly adventurous guy. He was smart and serious and hardworking and kind of boring.

He hadn’t felt boring with Carol.

He’d felt like he’d become the man he’d always wanted to be.

He clamped down over the memories. He couldn’t indulge them. It was wrong, and it would only serve to torture himself.

He couldn’t have Carol, so he needed to stop thinking about her.

She could go out with whomever she wanted.

It wasn’t his business anymore.

It never really had been.

He was making a concerted effort to focus on the work he had pulled up on his laptop, and he was concentrating so intently that he wasn’t aware when someone came over and sat down in the chair beside him.

He jerked slightly when he realized it was his sister. She was giving him a very strange look.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked, scanning his face with sharp scrutiny.

“Nothing. What do you mean? I was just working.”

“You weren’t working. It looked like you were mentally stomping someone into bits.”

“I wasn’t doing anything of the kind,” he grumbled. “I was working.”

Emma raised her eyebrows, obviously skeptical, but she didn’t pursue the topic. She smiled when Carol came over with a mug full of tea and set it down on the table.

“Here you go,” Carol said. “We just got this in, so you need to tell me what you think.”

Emma took a sip and smiled. “Wow. I like it. It’s really different.”

Carol nodded and looked like she was about to respond, but then she glanced back at a line forming at the counter. “I don’t know why they always come in big batches,” she murmured before hurrying over to help the college student who was also behind the counter.

Patrick looked over and was displeased to see the flashy guy was still lurking, just waiting for his turn to pounce.

When he turned back to Emma, Patrick immediately realized his mistake.

Emma looked from him to the flashy guy and back again, her face relaxing with enlightenment. “Oh.”

Patrick scowled. “Oh what?”

“You had your shot with Carol and you blew it,” Emma said lightly. “You can’t be sulky that other guys are interested in her.”

“I’m not sulky.” Then Patrick caught up to what she’d said. His spine stiffened. “What do you mean, I had my shot with Carol? What did she tell you?”

He hadn’t thought she’d told anyone about them. He certainly hadn’t, although both Noah and Ryan had asked a few leading questions as if they were trying to nose around. His only comfort in this whole torturous situation was that no one except him and Carol knew what had happened between them.

But Emma obviously knew something.

She rolled her eyes. “Give me a little credit, would you? Carol didn’t tell me anything. Carol, who can’t keep a secret to save her life, kept it to herself. Just think about that and you’ll know why we’ve all been wondering. But we know something happened. She was into you, and then she suddenly wasn’t. And now she’s dating like her life depends on it. Something happened even though neither of you will tell us what it is.”

Patrick just stared at his sister. She had brown hair and brown eyes just like him, and she was two years younger than him. Right now she seemed older and wiser somehow, and Patrick felt like an absolute fool.

God, what a mess he’d made.

He’d known better, but he’d made the mess anyway.

“Shit, Patrick.” Emma’s expression had changed into something worried, urgent. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he mumbled.

“Why the hell didn’t you do something when you had the chance?”

He had done something. Even knowing it was a mistake.

That was the problem.

“I said I’m fine,” he said with a growl in his tone. He knew his sister loved him and that she was concerned about him, but he really wanted this conversation to be over.

“If you just tell her how you feel, I’m sure you two can work it out. She was really into you.”

Patrick swallowed hard. He hated the past tense in her words. Hated it.

But he knew that whatever Carol had felt for him before wasn’t real, wasn’t what he really wanted.

And the proof was in the way she’d rebounded immediately, jumping right into the arms of any number of other guys.

Hopefully she wasn’t actually in their arms, but still…

“I don’t feel anything,” he lied. “And it’s better this way.”

Emma shook her head, her expression confused and resigned. But she didn’t say anything else, and soon Ginny and Ryan came in to join them so she didn’t have the chance.

***

An hour later, Carol was pulling a tray of cinnamon rolls out of the oven in the back.

She was usually done with all the baking by now, but they’d been so busy earlier that they’d run out of cinnamon rolls, so she’d come back to whip up another batch.

She smiled down at the warm, golden goodness, pleased with how they’d turned out.

She was also pleased that Tom, whom she’d met for coffee earlier in the week, had stopped by Tea for Two. He’d obviously stopped by just to see her.

While she didn’t think there was much of a future with him—he was a little too smooth and superficial for her taste, and she was still working on getting excited about any man except Patrick—it was still nice that Tom was interested.

Patrick wasn’t the only man in the world.

Patrick wasn’t the only possible man for her.

Her happiness and well-being weren’t dependent on him, and she wasn’t going to act like they were.

She’d done pretty well for the past three weeks. She was proud of herself for moving on with her life and not brooding about Patrick, no matter how much it had hurt to lose even the possibility of him.

She was doing well, and she was going to keep doing better every day until it didn’t even hurt her to see him.

People got their hearts broken every day. It was something you could get over.

She was reviewing all that in her mind when a voice from behind her made her jump.

“Hey.”

Patrick. He was looking particularly sexy and adorable this morning with rumpled hair, a wrinkled shirt, and a thick five-o’clock shadow.

She composed her face quickly and smiled at him. “Hi.”

“I’m taking off,” he said, his eyes running up and down her body quickly before returning to her face. “Just saying bye.”

“Okay. You busy today?” He usually hung around on Saturday mornings for longer than he had today.

“Y-yeah. Got some stuff to do.”

“Okay.” She glanced down at her tray of cinnamon rolls, feeling strangely awkward and stiff. She and Patrick used to be able to have casual conversations. He’d obviously stopped by here now to be friendly and natural. He clearly didn’t want anything tense or uncomfortable lingering between them. She didn’t want that either, so she needed to try to act normal. “Emma, Ginny, and I are trying on dresses this afternoon.”

“I know. Emma told me.” Patrick stood in place and looked at her for a minute, and she couldn’t read his expression. He adjusted the strap of his leather saddlebag on his shoulder.

She shifted from foot to foot, wondering why he wasn’t leaving. She didn’t know what to say.

“So that guy,” he said at last.

She frowned. “What guy?”

His casual face was quickly becoming something else, something more normal for him. Serious and slightly grumpy. “The guy you were flirting with out there.”

She gasped. “I wasn’t flirting!”

He arched his dark eyebrows.

Carol’s awkwardness had completely evaporated. She curled up her lip. “Don’t you give me that obnoxious look. Whether or not I flirt with someone is none of your business.”

“You just said you weren’t flirting.”

“I wasn’t! I was just being friendly. But if I decide to flirt, then I can do it without getting some sort of interrogation from you.” She’d squared her shoulders and straightened her spine. She couldn’t believe the nerve of Patrick, after he’d screwed her and then dumped her, acting like he had a right to know what was going on in her personal life.

“I wasn’t interrogating you. I didn’t even ask a question.”

“You did too. You said, ‘So that guy.’”

“That’s not a question.” His eyes were holding hers with a bland look that was almost defiant.

How had she had ever thought this infuriating man was someone she actually wanted?

“You were trying to question without really questioning, and both of us know it.” She was pleased that her voice was clear and controlled and unbreaking. “You saw Tom flirting with me, and you wanted to know what was going on. But it’s none of your business. You made it very clear that you didn’t want me.”

Patrick opened his mouth like he would object to this, but she didn’t let him.

She continued, “You made your decision, and I’m fine with it. But you don’t get to skulk around now and act jealous because a guy might be interested in me.”

“I’m not jealous,” he said, a lot of gravel in his voice.

“I’m not saying you are. I’m saying you’re acting jealous—for whatever reason. Because you’re a guy and guys don’t like their territory invaded even if they don’t want what’s on that territory.”

Patrick’s expression changed, and he took a step closer to her. “Don’t talk about yourself that way. You’re not territory, and it’s not that I didn’t want you.”

Carol froze for a moment at his earnest words. Her eyes widened dramatically.

Patrick seemed to realize what he’d said because he cleared his throat, dropped his eyes, and took a step back. “I just mean what happened had nothing to do with you. It’s just that it wouldn’t work. With me.”

She didn’t know what exactly that was supposed to mean, but she knew he was serious. He didn’t want her thinking that anything was wrong with her. He didn’t want her to think it was her he’d rejected.

It had been her—no matter how he tried to couch it—but it was still sweet of him to worry about her feelings.

Despite everything, he was a good guy. It was why she’d fallen for him in the first place.

“Okay,” she murmured. “But still. What I do in my personal life isn’t connected in any way to you. So you don’t get to ask about it. You don’t get to care about it.”

His brown eyes were strangely conflicted, almost sad. “Aren’t we still friends?”

“Yes. But we’re going to have to take a step back from being close for a while. I’m not mad. I’m really not. That’s just what happens.”

He took a deep breath and let it out. Then he said softly, “All right.”

He looked wounded somehow, and Carol’s heart went out to him.

She wished it didn’t. He was the one who had chosen against them. She was the one who was most hurt by what had happened. She shouldn’t have to feel sorry for him, even as she was trying not to feel sorry for herself.

Licking her lips, she glanced back down at her tray of cinnamon rolls. “You want one?” she asked.

Patrick blinked. “What?”

“A cinnamon roll. They just came out of the oven. You want one?” She carefully slid a utensil beneath the biggest one and placed it on a small paper plate.

“Yeah.” His expression had relaxed, and his mouth had softened, and she loved that expression so much. She wanted to just swallow him whole.

She handed him the plate, and he it took it like it was precious.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

“You’re welcome.”

He cleared his throat and stood there for a minute. “Have fun trying on dresses this afternoon,” he said.

“We will.”

Then he finally turned around and walked away.

***

Blacksburg wasn’t a particularly large town, and it had only one bridal shop.

Carol, Ginny, and Emma spent three hours there that afternoon.

Emma’s wedding was in just a few weeks, so the dresses were already picked out. But they’d come today to pick out Ginny’s wedding dress. Ginny and Ryan’s wedding was still several months away.

Picking out Ginny’s dress didn’t take multiple weekends and a trip up to Roanoke like Emma’s dress shopping had. Ginny fell in love with the first dress she tried on, and she’d refused to waste her time looking at any others.

Since they were at the shop, however, they decided to look for the bridesmaid dresses, and that wasn’t nearly so easy.

Emma was small, fit, and brunette. She wasn’t as naturally slim as Ginny, but she was compact. Carol wasn’t. She had a lot of curves and didn’t look nearly as good in cute little dresses as Emma did. She also had red in her hair and pale skin.

It wasn’t an easy job to find a dress that would look great on both her and Emma.

Ginny’s wedding dress was simple and stylish and not extremely formal, so she didn’t want full-length bridesmaid dresses.

Carol didn’t like how she looked in knee-length skirts. She wasn’t used to showing any amount of leg. But she dutifully tried on whatever was given to her and tried not to cringe when she stepped out of the stall to show it to the others.

She was trying to zip up the tenth dress she’d tried on when Ginny asked through the door. “How is that one?”

“Eh. I don’t know.”

“Well, come out and let us see it.”

Carol opened the door and came out to discover Emma was already wearing the dress and looking absolutely gorgeous with the slim, fitted shape, square neck, and sleeveless cut.

By comparison, Carol felt like she was spilling out of hers all over.

“Oh, that’s good!” Ginny exclaimed.

“You look great!” Emma agreed, smiling and eyeing Carol from top to bottom.

Carol frowned down at herself dubiously. “I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know? It looks great.” Ginny leaned over to pick up a pair of heels she’d brought to try on her dresses. “Here, put these on, and you’ll like how you look a lot better.”

Carol sighed and stuck her feet into the heels. Ginny wore a size larger than she did, so the heels slid on easily enough. She turned to look in the mirror, relieved when her legs did look a lot better.

Maybe the shorter skirt wasn’t as bad as she’d feared, and the fitted shape looked better than she would have suspected. The navy blue looked good on her—much better than pinks and purples would have.

But still…

“My arms aren’t really made for sleeveless tops,” she said, frowning at her upper arms, which were very white and not particularly slim.

The woman who had been helping them turned to open the top drawer in the set built into the wall. “Here,” she said, pulling out what looked like a bunch of black lace. “These lace toppers are really popular lately. They basically just add pretty sleeves to dresses, which a lot of women really like. We can get them in blue to match the dresses.”

She shook it out to reveal what looked like a tiny lace jacket with three-quarters-length sleeves.

“Okay, try that then,” Ginny said, looking interested in the idea.

The saleswoman helped Carol put it on over her arms and pulled it up over her shoulders. When Carol turned to check herself out in the mirror, she smiled in pleasure. The lace looked like it was part of her dress, covering her upper arms and her shoulders but still leaving the simplicity of the dress and neckline. If it was blue, it would look perfect.

“Oh, I really like it!” Ginny exclaimed.

“Me too,” Emma agreed.

Carol was relieved both that they’d found something all of them liked and that she wouldn’t have to show her upper arms at the wedding.

They changed back into their regular clothes and finished up the last details with the saleswoman. Then they left and went to a cute little café in the shopping complex to get something to eat.

Carol was happy. She always had a good time with her friends, and she was glad Ginny had found a wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses like she wanted. She had no problem spending hours talking about her friends’ upcoming weddings.

Sometimes it made her a little sad though.

Emma was going to be married in less than a month and Ginny a few months after that.

Then Carol would be the only one of the three without a husband.

Without even a man.

She’d never believed in putting her self-worth in being coupled up, but it made her feel a little lonely. She, Ginny, and Emma had always done everything together—ever since they were ten years old.

But now they’d be moving on without her.

“Are we talking about the weddings too much?” Emma asked out of the blue, putting down the fork to her salad and her brown eyes focused on Carol’s face.

Carol straightened up. “No! Of course not. You know I’m excited for you both.”

Ginny frowned. “You have to tell us if we get obnoxious.”

“You’re not being obnoxious. Really. I know before I was acting like… like I thought it would work out for me too. That the three of us could… But it didn’t. And it’s really fine. I’m happy for you.”

Emma and Ginny exchanged a significant look that Carol could read very easily.

“I’m not down in the dumps about Patrick,” Carol said, giving her friends a defiant look.

“I know you’re not,” Emma said quickly. “But you are a little… sad, aren’t you?”

Carol swallowed. “Yeah. Yeah, I am. But it’s not the end of the world. Maybe I was just… romanticizing. All of us ending up with our older brothers just seemed so… Anyway, it didn’t work out. I’m fine.”

Out of respect for Patrick and concern about their intersecting relationships, she hadn’t given her friends any details on what happened, even though it still felt like it was just on the edge of spilling out of her.

“So what did happen?” Ginny asked bluntly. “It never made sense that you wouldn’t tell us.”

“Nothing,” Carol said, dropping her eyes. “Nothing important. It just became clear that it wasn’t going to work out.”

“Are you sure?” Emma asked, her voice much more careful than Ginny’s had been. “Because I know for a fact that he’s not indifferent to you. Maybe you should have given it a little more time. He’s not like Noah and Ryan, you know. He’s not… super-assertive. He’s kind of shy really. He might want something and still not… go after it.”

Carol had to swallow again over the lump in her throat. She still couldn’t raise her eyes. “That’s not it,” she said. “He told me straight out that it wasn’t going to work.”

“What?” Emma’s voice cracked slightly in her obvious surprise. “He told you?”

“Y-yeah. He knew I wanted it, but he didn’t want it. So he told me. I can be silly sometimes, I guess, but I’m not a fool, and I’m not completely spineless. I’m not going to waste any more time swooning over a guy who doesn’t want me.”

“Of course not,” Ginny said quickly, reaching out to put a hand on Carol’s forearm. “You did exactly the right thing. If he’s that much of an idiot, then there’s nothing you can do about it. You’ve got tons of other guys interested in you.”

“Well, not tons.” Carol raised her eyes to meet Ginny’s with a little smile. “But thanks.”

Emma was still frowning. She looked confused, disoriented, like something just didn’t make sense to her. She was Patrick’s sister. The situation had to be a little awkward for her.

“It’s really fine, Emma,” Carol said. “I don’t want things to get weird. We made it through you and Noah, and we made it through Ginny and Ryan. We can make it through this embarrassing little interlude too.”

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about,” Ginny said. “There’s nothing wrong with being interested in a guy and letting him know it.”

“I know.” Carol felt embarrassed anyway. Embarrassed and sad and like she’d suffered a loss. She wasn’t going to let it keep her down though. She turned to Emma, who was still frowning thoughtfully. “It’s really okay, Emma. I’m fine, and Patrick didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Finally Emma shook off whatever she was brooding about and smiled. “Anyway, we haven’t heard much about that guy who was hanging all over you this morning. Tell us more about him.”

So Carol told her friends about Tom and tried to be excited about him.

He seemed like a decent enough guy, but the problem was he wasn’t Patrick.

And no matter how much Carol was trying to get over him, he was still the one she really wanted.