ile lawyer's office after that

hings over" with hi

he word "wait" echoin

we met. It wasn't a grand ba

ng the annual Fall Festival. I wasn't selling pies that day

ace in his expensive coat, had been

over a display of my grandmothe

g jars, laughing. "Car

an intensity that made my breath catch. He bo

eberry Girl" for

e'd find my little bakery, "Sarah's S

coffee, eating whatever I'd

dusted with flour or that my hand

most authentic per

as relentless,

hundreds of sunflowers because I'd

tried to help me knead dough once, ending up covered in

different universe. A universe of u

ching because I already knew I was falling for him

orld," he'd said, his eyes

rying to fix a loose shelf in my bakery, stubbornly refusing my

ore than any grand display, wa

ted then, so carefu

lked about my grandmother, her r

on my palm and tell

ah, you're my anchor

ul ones – an antique baking tin he'd found, a rare spice he th

tten with his at

office, the memory of his pa

pleaded with me to "wai

another. I laughed, a

e of his love, so confident i

get out

ery building, blinking in t

the apartment he'd r

ir. I need

few blocks away. My head throbbed fr

was a tension heada

clinic. He must have called the apartment,

ry when he saw me. "Sarah! W

gnited. Maybe he'd changed his mind. M

orry was still there, but something el

s voice tight. "You shouldn't h

air," I said,

aid, running a hand through his hair. "But you

in love with was fading, replaced by someone caught in a web of his own making. "You

like that. It's not... it's

hand. "I hate this, Sarah. More than you know. But my f

egy." It all sounded s

mpletely. I pul

to go,

id, his voice softer now, trying to coax me.

could make me unders

on my knee, his thumb stroking my s

orting anymore. It

the door of the small apartment. "I'll c

fiancée to appease, a f

ed for a moment before he straightened them,

ed the

," I whispered to the empty

the air, a final,