Page 57 of Sweet Rivals
“Well, he certainly was handsome,” she said with a lift of her eyebrow, oblivious to the emotions waging war in my gut. “He was tall with sort of long, messy dark hair.”
I pulled up my phone and quickly googled Jared Wallace. “Him?” I asked.
“Oh yes, that’s him. Nice fella,” she said with a wink.
“Yes, thank you,” I said.
“Of course. I am looking forward to the bakery opening.”
“Us too,” I said. “See you around.”
When she walked away, I couldn’t breathe. I worried my feet wouldn’t even carry me home. He had cheated. In my favor. I leaned against the closest building, which happened to be a bed-and-breakfast, and cried. When my tears dried up, the rage found its way in. I stood, turned around and marched back to Jared’s house where I slammed on the door with my fists.
“Back so soon?” he said with his smirk.
“You liar!” I shouted.
His eyes grew wide before his whole demeanor changed. His shoulders slumped and his head hung heavier. “Come in.”
“You cheated!” I shouted as soon as the door closed. My body vibrated with rage so powerful, it might spill over and desolate the entire town.
“Jenna,” he said calmly, reaching out to grab my shoulders, but I shrugged off his hands.
“Don’t.” I pointed my finger in his face. “Don’t you dare. You cheated.”
“I just wanted to make sure you won,” he said.
“Because you don’t believe in me!” Tears pooled in my eyes as some strange, uncontrollable mixture of anger and sadness took over all the processes of my body and mind. “You didn’t ever believe I could do this. I am done. Forget all of this.” I shouted as the sobs tried to drown out my voice. I turned to leave before stopping. “Why? Why did you have to come here? Why Cape Shore? Why did you have to come ruin my life?” I whispered with the last of my energy before walking out his door forever. I never ever wanted to see his face again.
Chapter Forty
TheBakingChick: I never want to see his stupid face again.
PotatoBake888: He sounds like a real asshole.
TheBakingChick: He is. He is awful. He is terrible. You know what? I’m never leaving my room again. I am holing up with my cats, my TV, my Kindle, and my coffee and never leaving again. Nothing good comes from being out there.
PotatoBake888: I’ll keep you company. We can watch Night of the Living Dead.
TheBakingChick: I’m not watching scary movies either.
PotatoBake888: Why not?
TheBakingChick: I don’t like them. They keep me up at night. Besides, Jared liked them too. Or at least he liked them enough to reference them.
PotatoBake888: Makes sense. We can’t do anything that Jared likes.
TheBakingChick: No, we can’t. I don’t ever want to think about him ever again.
There was a long pause in the messaging.
PotatoBake888: Did you like him?
TheBakingChick: No, I hated him.
PotatoBake888: Kind of seems like maybe you liked him?
TheBakingChick: Your sixth sense is misfiring then.