Trying my best to look like I was busy in the kitchen while Owen was out in the front—me actually doing nothing useful at all, of course—I decided to keep my hands occupied and started checking cupboards, because trying to look for nothing in order to look like you weren’t interested in what the other person was saying was always a fun idea. “What are you talking about?”
She waited until she had my full attention, and my heart had started beating too quickly to ignore her until she gave it up on her own.
“I’m talking about him leaning against his car and just standing there, right now.”
I didn’t have a single word to say to that other than rushing to the doorway and trying to spot him.
“Are you going to talk to him?” Sally asked, coming to stand next to me—out in the open, like a normal person. Owen glanced at us and then, after seeing us craning our necks, shook his head and kept chatting with a customer, talking about the times the coffee shop was the least busy.
“No.”
“Have a heart, woman. It doesn’t look like he’ll budge.”
“It’ll be a long and cold night for him then.” I pressed my lips together to hide my ridiculously pleased smile.
“Oh, come on. Can I at least take him some coffee? It’s freezing out there.”
“It’s his coffee shop. He paid for it, after all. If he wants to come in, I can’t stop him, but I’m not going to roll out the red carpet either. I don’t care if you take him coffee or not.”
“Rose—”
“I love him, Sally,” I admitted, cutting off whatever she was about to say. “I love him, but I’m not ready to act like what he did didn’t hurt me or that it wasn’t wrong. I need him to understand what he did. I need him to take the time to think it through, and if that means he wants to come and wait outside or something, he is free to do whatever he wants.”
“So it’s not over. It’s over for now, but it’s not over.”
I thought her words over as I watched Jack talking to someone on his phone. He didn’t see me watching him, taking in my fill, but his eyes were definitely on the coffee shop.
“I miss him,” I conceded into the silence.
Sally pushed her arm through mine and rested her head on my shoulder. “Owen?”
He looked at us over his shoulder.
“I need you to start being romantic now,” Sally ordered, and my lips tipped up. She still hadn’t given up on him, and I thought Owen secretly enjoyed her attention.
I cleared my throat before they started their usual back and forth. “If you happen to or decide to take coffee to Jack, don’t forget Raymond. Jack likes my—the lemon bars, and Raymond likes the triple chocolate brownies.”
Sally snorted. “Right. I give it a week before you cave.”
I gave her a murderous look. “Keep dreaming.”
An hour later, I wasn’t sure if I was more annoyed with myself because my eye kept wandering over to where Jack was standing, or if I was just annoyed with him for breaking my focus at work. I decided to head to Sally’s place so I could cook us dinner as a thank you for letting me stay with her.
The second I stepped outside, my heart started pounding in my chest. Jack straightened up the moment he saw me. I stood just a few feet away from him as we studied each other. If he had walked forward and said something, I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done. Maybe, like Sally had said, I would have caved, but he didn’t. So, I did…sort of, still leaving a healthy amount of space between us, enough for four people to easily walk through, actually.
“What are you doing here, Jack?” I asked, raising my voice just a little.
“Wanted to see you.”
I opened my arms at my sides. “Now you did. Goodbye.”
He was about to take a step forward when a group of girls walked between us, successfully blocking him.
“How are you feeling?” he asked when it was just us again.
“Oh, perfect. Just perfect. Having the best time of my life.”
“I meant your head, your nose. Are you still getting dizzy? Headaches? You look tired.”
I tilted my head to the side, narrowing my eyes. “Thank you. As you know, it’s my default to look bad. You look like hell yourself.”
His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking visibly. “You need to take better care