She ignored him as she began setting the layers in place. A corner of the icing smeared, and an edible pearl bounced across the table. Great. Now she’d have to fix that with her touch-up frosting before she could leave.
But she couldn’t concentrate with him standing that close. “I’m really busy here, Will.” He was making her nervous, and she hadn’t even seen him in his tux yet. She fumbled for her piping bag.
“Look at me, Charlotte.”
No. She wouldn’t. Couldn’t. With shaking hands, she began piping the icing. And smeared another edge.
“I know you heard what I said about us at Melissa’s house. I was out of line.”
“No. You were just being honest.” Charlotte bit her tongue to keep back the tears as she ducked her head and painstakingly repaired the icing damage. “You said we were done, and ta-da. You were right. We’re done.” She tried to put a hardened edge into her voice that hadn’t yet made it to her heart.
She could feel him staring at her. Staring hard as she carefully cut a sliver of cake off the back that hadn’t baked evenly, then re-iced the gap and tossed the rejected piece into the box on her cart.
Rejected.
Tears pricked despite her efforts, and she blinked rapidly. If she could just hang in there another few minutes . . .
His footsteps shuffled nearer, nearer, until she could see the shiny leather of his black shoes in her downcast vision. He hadn’t touched her, yet the warmth of his presence seared her. “I was being honest last night, Charlotte—finally, totally honest for the first time in forever—but not like you think. The honesty part came later. You missed it.”
“How convenient.” She straightened, refusing to listen to his lies anymore. Had he just come over here to defend himself and offer excuses?
She finished the icing repair, capped the piping bag, and shoved it into the box on her cart. Done. Cake assembled. She could leave. At this point, she didn’t even care if she got paid. She just wanted out. Wanted to go back to safe and secure, even if that meant being alone.
It had to be better than this.
“I beg you. Hear me out.” Will reached for her arm, but she dodged his grasp, still avoiding looking at him dead-on, and began pushing her cart away from the cake table.
“Charlotte?”
She turned around slowly.
There he stood, feet braced apart, hands tucked in his pockets, shoving back the corners of his coat to reveal a black bow tie and suspenders. “I love you.”
He closed the short distance between them and pulled her into his arms. “I love you, Charlotte. I have since the moment you turned around in that apron and sold me my first snickerdoodle. It’s always been you.”
She allowed him to hold her, allowed her arms to hold him back. Allowed the tears streaming down her cheeks to pour like rain. But she couldn’t allow her heart to trust.
“You reminded me what it was to want to live again,” he said. “You inspire me, Charlotte. You make me want to be a better man.”
She closed her eyes as his words streamed over her. “I felt the same way, Will. You convinced me to trust again. You proved that men weren’t what I thought they were. But then you bailed. At the first sign of conflict, you disowned me.”
He shook his head. “I’m an idiot, Charlotte.”
She opened her eyes. “Yeah, I’ve heard that rumor.”
“Melissa told me she talked to you.”
She nodded.
“Charlotte, please believe me. I reacted last night out of fear and frustration. I was wrong.”
She wanted that to be true. So badly. Her fingers dug into his biceps, holding on for dear life. Afraid any minute she’d have to let go forever.
“What I hadn’t realized until last night is that I’ve been living my own version of safe. Seeing Melissa on the floor like that, helpless—it brought it all back. Her accident, me thinking all these years it was my fault . . .” His voice trailed off. “I snapped. But Melissa’s taught me something that I’m finally starting to let sink in.”
She felt her heart caving. Softening. Like butter in a mixing bowl. She wanted her hard edge back, but she was losing it. “What’s that?”
“She’s learned to find the good in the bad. All these years I’ve stayed focused on the bad, afraid to look for good. Afraid I didn’t deserve to find it.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “I’m a better man now than I was before her accident. I should be living up to that, rather than hiding from it.”
She searched his eyes. He was telling the truth. “You realized all of that last night?”
“I told you, you left way too early.” He ran a finger down her cheek. Even with the lingering remnants of anger and hurt, his touch still sent shivers down her spine. “Did you walk home? I called you ten times.”
“Julie picked me up.” She squinted up at him. “And it was actually a dozen.”
“Not that you were counting.” He pulled her close, his expression serious once more.
“Do you forgive me, Charlotte?”