Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 138881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Just admit it, man. Just tell her what you did.
But those aren’t the words that come out of my mouth. Instead of admitting my failure this morning, I try to put a positive spin on it all. “I’m sure you saved the day though, like you did the other times.”
And that’s not telling her the truth either, dickhead.
“Actually…” She breathes out hard, sets down the cleaner, and comes around the counter. “I was twenty minutes late to the luncheon. I got a speeding ticket along the way. Earlier, I had to cool down the cakes in the freezer with Saran wrap. I had to call for reinforcements from Clementine and Remy because Aisha had that doctor’s appointment, and Audrey wasn’t feeling well. When I returned here after the event, we didn’t have enough cookies and bars since I simply didn’t have time to make enough of everything. A few people left the store without buying anything because we didn’t have our usual stock.”
My soul sinks to the center of the earth. This is all on me. “Oh shit. That’s bad.” I drag a hand through my hair, needing to man up and tell her what I did.
She moves and straightens up the bakery chairs, tucking them in. The vases are empty on the tables. Another reminder.
“I didn’t get you flowers for today either,” I say.
She waves a hand dismissively. “It’s no big deal. Like I said, I should have done a better job at everything. Including paying attention to my alarm.”
“Mabel,” I say, heavily, regret and guilt swirling into a cocktail in my gut. “I turned off the alarm.”
She stops cleaning, peers at me like that doesn’t compute. “What do you mean?”
“I heard your alarm go off this morning, and I was tired, and I thought I just snoozed it but I must have turned it off. I wasn’t thinking. It was my fault.”
She shrugs listlessly. “It really doesn’t matter though, Corbin. These things happen, and I need to handle them. I even got tagged in a meme today about me not getting my act together. It was posted by somebody who came in here and couldn’t get what they wanted. I should have had a second alarm set.”
I hate that she’s taking this all on. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is though. Ultimately,” she says, returning to the display cases and arranging the cards in front of the empty trays. “I’ve been trying to get attention for this bakery, and I should have been more diligent.”
“It’s my fault,” I say, stabbing my chest, wishing she’d let me take the blame. “That’s what I’m trying to say, and I’m so sorry it came down on you. That’s not fair.”
“Some days are just not in your favor,” she says, and she sounds broken.
It hits me like a piano falling from the top of a building—this is exactly what I worried about when I signed up for the bakery.
This is why I wanted to wait until retirement. Because all this—this fledgling, wonderful new business—is too much to handle. I have a demanding job. I have responsibilities. I added another job on top of that, and on top of being a dad, and then tried to add a romance too. Look what happened.
I kept sliding down the slippery slope of mistakes.
It’s not fair to this ambitious, bighearted, funny, kind, incredible woman who I absolutely adore. Who I love madly. “Mabel,” I say heavily.
She looks at me, her gaze wary. “Yes?”
I don’t want to do this, but I can’t keep hurting her. “I can’t take a chance of this happening again to you. I almost ruined your business. I did hurt your reputation with your mom. You got a speeding ticket. You had more online harassment. And I pushed you into this romance and into everything when you wanted to take a break.” I’m shaking my head, disgusted with my actions. “This is so unfair, what I did to you.”
“What did you do to me?” she asks, taking a step back.
I blow out a breath, scrubbing a hand across my chin. “Even though you’d told me you wanted to take a break from romance, even though you told me you made a promise to yourself to not date, I still decided I was going to convince you that I was the best boyfriend possible. I didn’t listen to you. I decided to give you the full-court press and get you to fall for me even when you wanted to take a break from romance.”
“You think you manipulated me into…what? Liking you?” she scoffs.
For fuck’s sake, now I sound like a douche. What the hell has happened to me? I shovel my hands through my hair. “Point is, I didn’t listen to you. You wanted a break, and I should have honored that.” It breaks my fucking heart to say the next thing, but I have to. “I should have listened to you. I should have given you…space.”