“Wait, you’re leaving?”
“I am,” I told her as I strode to the door and yanked it open. “You’re not in the mood for company, and I’m not in the habit of sticking around where I’m not wanted.” She gasped in shock as if my words were surprising given her behavior the past fifteen minutes and I stepped onto the porch, out into the uncharacteristically warm night with a sigh. I knew what I had to do.
Move on. For real. For good.
If an almost-kiss had her reacting this way, what would she have done if I’d actually kissed her? Probably run for the hills.
I got in my truck and pulled out of the driveway, putting her little blue house in my rear view mirror for a while. We could still be friends, nothing would change that, but I needed to take a step back from her and our friendship. It was the only way I would be able to move on without ruining things between us permanently.
I turned towards downtown Pilgrim and called Xander. “You busy?”
“If you count making Mara shoot daggers at me, yeah incredibly busy. What’s up?” The smile in his voice told me he’d rather have daggers from her than heart eyes from anyone else, and I reminded myself to ask him again what was going on between him and the quiet baker.
“I’ll meet you there.”
“Excellent,” he said, laughter ringing out as I ended the call.
At least one of us was having a good time, and I knew it was Xander because when I walked into the Bread Box, he was leaning over the counter with a predatory smile in place, as if Mara wasn’t giving him her best death glare. When she spotted me, Mara pushed him away and offered up a bland smile for me.
“Shouldn’t you be at movie night?”
That was the bad thing about small town living, everyone knew your business whether you wanted them to or not.
“Change of plans,” I practically growled at her. “Sorry. Can I get a coffee with caramel in it?”
Mara tilted her head to the side just a little, and studied me for a long moment before she nodded. “Coming right up. Have a seat and take this one with you, I’ll bring it over.”
“Sweet Mara, you wound me,” Xander teased and stepped back, watching her with longing in his eyes for just a brief moment before he turned back to me, teasing smile back in place. “Man you look like hell, what happened?”
We took a table near the back wall for what passed as privacy inside the small bakery, and once my ass hit the seat, I told Xander everything from the walk back from The Mayflower to the almost kiss.
“And when I showed up for movie night, she forgot. Acted like I was bothering her and she didn’t want to talk bout it. So, I left.” In hindsight it might not have been my best move, but at the time it felt like it. “What do you think?”
Xander sat back in his seat and let out a low whistle, the smile he wore anything but amused. “You’re not gonna like it.”
“Tell me anyway.” That’s just how desperate I was.
“Do the best thing for your mental health and try to move on. Trust me.” His words held a wisdom his advice usually lacked and I sat forward, intrigued. “There was a girl once. I was over the moon for her, hell I probably still am if you want the honest to god truth about it. Back in the day she did a huge solid for me, like really big. It’s the reason I have the career I do, but as you can imagine she wants nothing to do with me. Not one damn thing. I’m a lost cause man, move on before it’s too late.”
There was so much information contained in that advice. “Who’s the girl?”
“Focus, Stone. That’s not the important part.” He sighed and smiled up at Mara as she made her way to the table with two cups and a plate of pastries. “Coffee? For me?”
Mara nodded, a sickly sweet smile on her face. “On the house. Don’t mind the glass,” she told him and set the caramel scented drink in front of me with a hint of a glare. “Enjoy, boys.”
I savored the bitter coffee with a hint of sweetness, waiting until Mara disappeared through the swinging doors before I leaned forward and asked what I really wanted tot know. “You think it’s hopeless? I mean she wouldn’t even look at me, it has to be hopeless. Right?”
Xander sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “Sounds like she’s running scared to me, and pushing her won’t help. What does an animal do when scared and backed into a corner?”
“Attack.” The word was thick with resignation because I knew he was right. “I won’t push. I’ll do what you said and move on.” I had to. “That way we can keep our friendship.”