“What?” I said into my phone.

“I just don’t think it’s gonna work,” Calder said for the third time. “I’m sorry.”

And he hung up.

I stood in the back of my bakery in shock, staring down at my phone as if what’d just happened was a dream.

“Rori! We need some more blueberry muffins out here, STAT!” Jerry called.

“Get them yourself!” I yelled back. Then breathing in deep and blowing it out, I marched through the door—where upon seeing me, Jerry started to say something but shut up when I gave him a glare—and out past the counter and into the flower shop. When I saw Mara preparing a bouquet, I screamed, “That motherfucker just broke up with me!” then plopped down into Snuggly Chair, curling up into a ball.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mara said coming over to the chair.

“Nope. He just called and told me we’re through. I made him say it three times.”

“Wow. I’m really sorry, Roar. I seriously didn’t see this coming.”

“I didn’t either. And we finally had sex last night,” I shared. Then it hit me. “Oh, my God! He thinks I suck at sex! That’s why he broke up with me!”

“That’s not it at all,” Mara said. “He’s a pussy who got scared. I think he’s in love with you and his pansy ass can’t deal.”

I didn’t cry. I wouldn’t. Ever since Roark and I talked, I’d had a totally different outlook on things. If Calder Castleman didn’t want to be with me then so be it. If he didn’t value me, I valued myself and that was all that mattered. It stung, boy, did it sting, and I knew I’d eventually cry and be hurt for a while, but I’d get over it and move on.

“That’s such a healthy outlook, Roar. Damn,” Mara said, and I realized I must’ve said that all out loud.

“If I go home, can you cover?” I asked.

“Of course. Go. Don’t worry about anything here. I got it.”

I don’t remember driving home. I don’t remember going up to my apartment. And I don’t remember crawling in bed.

What I do remember is waking up crying and my room was dark.

A week went by. Then two.

“I’m doing fine,” I said to Mom over the phone. “Yeah, I will. Okay, love you too. Bye.”

This had become a daily occurrence since my family had found out about my breakup. The funny thing was, they hadn’t even known I’d been seeing someone in the first place. But, yeah, every day, someone called. Mrs. L even got involved and the phone tree rotation continued.

Yippee.

The good thing is, no one mentioned his name. They were upbeat and “just checking in,” and that was fine. It was nice to have a support system.

And everything had gone great until she walked in the bakery.

I really think there should be a “Dun dun dun!” there, don’t you?

Anyway, there I was, working away when I heard a woman say, “Excuse me, but are you Rori?”

I looked up to see the female version of Calder and I sucked in a breath.

“I’m sorry to bother you at work, but do you have a minute?” she asked.

Wiping my hands on my apron, I said, “Sure,” and walked out from behind the counter. “Would you like some coffee?” I asked.

“I’d love some,” she said and when I turned to go back and get her a cup, she said, “but I’ve already had my six cups today.”

I turned back and walked to a table with her.

“I’m Carson Seeley, by the way,” she said, holding her hand out.

“Rori Flannigan,” I said shaking her hand.

We sat and she pushed a stray lock of dark hair off her forehead. “I’m sure you’ve figured out I’m Calder’s sister.” I nodded. “My brother is such a dumbass! I could kick his stupid ass all the way to the White House!”

Wow. She didn’t pull any punches.

“Sorry. I’m really mad at him right now as you can tell.”

“I see that,” I said with a chuckle.

“I don’t have much time because the neighbor is watching my kids, so I’m just gonna say it, okay? Rori, I think you fucked up.”

I jerked my head back in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“That didn’t come out right. Let me try again.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “What I mean is, my brother is very confused. He talked to me several weeks ago about you.”

Huh. “He did?” I asked.

“Yes. It was the day he bought cinnamon rolls from you,” she added.

The day of the night we’d finally had sex. Yay.

“He was asking me about love and marriage and how do you know a person’s the one. He was so confused. And you know what happened the next day after you had sex?”

My eyes got big at and I flinched that she knew about it.

“Sorry. Calder was so upset, he showed up and just started rambling. Anyway, I’m here to tell you what happened hoping you might be able to fix things.”

“Um, he broke up with me, so if anyone should do the fixing—” I began when she interrupted.

“He was scared, Rori. And I know you probably were too, but you have to know that my brother is kinda weird. I mean, he’s been like this since he was little. So competitive and doesn’t stray from whatever goal he sets in front of him. And he had this five-year plan where he didn’t want to get married until he turned thirty-two.”

I stared at her.

“I know! See? You think it’s weird too! I told him you can’t schedule love, but like I said, he gets so fixed on things that he can’t even see around it.”

Boy, she was a fast talker. And loud. And I guessed her neighbor really hadn’t given her much time.

“I know I’m rambling but you have to hear me out, please! He’s miserable without you, Rori. When he came to the house the day after you had sex…”

Oh, my God. If she said that one more time I was gonna leave because she was talking so loudly, people were looking at us funny. Ergh.

“He told me that some of the guys at the fieldhouse were ragging on him about you. Well, not you in particular because they didn’t know about you, but they were teasing him about sleeping with you. They didn’t know it was you. They just knew he was sleeping with someone. And he was already on the fence about things because he always does stupid shit like that and talks himself out of stuff, and their comments just pushed him over the edge. God, I guess I shouldn’t have had those six cups of coffee in a row, huh?” she said chuckling.

I finally cut to the chase. “What is it you want, Carson?”

“I want you to find him and tell him you love him. You do love him, right?”

“Uh…”

“You have to! I know you do! So find him and tell him you love him. Beat the hell out of him if you have to because I know he loves you too, he just doesn’t quite know it yet, you know?”

I was gonna have to take a nap after this. Damn.

She looked at the clock on the wall. “He’s home right now, and if you could go to him and tell him what I told you, I know you’d fix things!”

“Let me get this straight. You want me to go to his house and tell him that he loves me, right?”

“Right! That’s all you have to do!”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Carson, but he broke up with me. If he wanted me, he’d come get me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Rori!” She sat and looked at me for a moment. “Do you love him?”

Oh, gosh.

“Do you?” she asked again.

I nodded. “I do.”

“Then go get him! I know he’s the one who broke things off, but if this story were reversed and you broke up with him, I know he’d come after you. I know it! I mean, I read all these romance books, my husband loves it, by the way, but in every single one of them, the man hunts down the woman and tells her how it’s gonna be. Isn’t it time for the woman to do that to the man?”

I stared at her because this was all just crazy.

“I know I sound crazy.”

She read my mind. Eek!

She went on. “But this is the twenty-first century and we’re strong, independent women who go after what we want, right? And if you want my brother, I say go get him, girl!”

“Yeah, go get him!” Mara said from behind me.

I turned and looked at her. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough. Mara Lewis,” she said, leaning over me and holding out her hand for Carson to shake.

“Nice to meet you, Mara.” Carson’s eyes came back to mine. “What do you say?”

I twisted my mouth in thought. “This is pretty risky. What if I do all this and he still turns me down?”

She shrugged. “Then you’ll know for sure. I know he sprung the breakup shit on you and you’ve had questions, so it would at least give you closure?”

It was a stretch, but she was right. “Does he have a fax at home?”

She gave me the number and standing said, “I have to get back. But you’re gonna do it?”

I nodded and stood too. “I’ll try. I either end up with The BFD in my life or I become The BFD of my own life, right?” I looked at Mara. “That was cheesy as hell and you let me say it.”

They both laughed then Carson grabbed me in a hug.

“Please do this. I love my brother and want him to be happy, but sometimes he needs a swift kick in the balls to make him see straight.” At the look on my face she said, “Yep. I had to do it a few times until he finally learned. It’ll be metaphorical now, though.”

“Yeah,” I drawled.

“Thank you again! It was so nice meeting both of you! Good luck!”

“Wow,” Mara said after she left.

“I know,” I muttered just as Carson came running back in.

“Take this! It’s the remote to his gate. ‘Kay, bye!” and out she went.

Mara looked at me. “We doing this?”

“We?” I asked hopefully.

“Of course, we. I wouldn’t let you do this alone. Besides, if you beat the shit out of him, I wanna watch ‘cause he definitely deserves it.”