by Boyd, Eliza
“And you’re sure it has nothing to do with your ex-husband?” her aunt astutely asked.
Absently, she kept picking at the nonexistent lint on the covers. “It wouldn’t matter anyway. Remember why we got divorced? We were never right for each other,” she said in a quiet tone.
Aunt Shirley sighed down the line. “You kept saying that after the divorce, but that’s not how it was before things got bad and you know it. So it’s okay if you want—”
“It’s not that,” Hailey said over her. “Maybe we used to be right for each other, but we’re not now. Not while I’m trying to ha—” The words caught in her throat, so she cleared it and adjusted the bag of peas behind her shoulder. “I just have a lot going on right now. It wouldn’t work, so I’m going to focus on baking these cupcakes and staying away from him while he takes care of the dog for me.”
Another long silence settled over them before her aunt finally said, “Okay. Focus on your business and healing your shoulder. But don’t keep yourself closed off forever, okay?”
“I’m not, Aunt Shirley,” she sighed.
“Oh, Hailey. You haven’t dated since you two split up. You threw yourself into baking and haven’t lifted your head for a breath since. And if you’re insisting on staying, then maybe this could be the closure you and Jared needed before. This could be good for you two, you know? Maybe taking care of you now could be his way of apologizing for before.”
It’d occurred to her when Jared had brought the peas to her—he’d changed. He was visiting Rachel, even though she wasn’t there, which meant he was taking time off work. That had been unheard of before. She didn’t want to think about that with everything else going on though. Between her business and waiting for the doctor, she had her hands full.
“Maybe,” she admitted to her aunt. Though that was mostly to end the conversation.
She’d remember that he was there to take care of the dog, not her. Those had been his words. So she’d keep her head down, her shoulder healthy, and her eyes on the prize.
And she’d do her absolute best to keep her heart out of it entirely.
4
After giving Hailey the bag of frozen peas, Jared went back downstairs to the couch. He’d slept there the night before. When he’d put Hailey to bed and felt that confusion, sleeping on the same floor she was on didn’t feel right. He needed space—as much of it as he could give himself. If things felt better later, he’d migrate to the master, where the only other bed was. At least for his back’s sake. They couldn’t both be injured, and that couch wasn’t going to do him any favors.
He used the heels of his palms to rub his eyes. All he could think about was how often Hailey’s phone had rung the night before. He’d taken her purse up to her room when he’d had enough. Not of the ringing, but of the wondering who it was. Did she have a boyfriend now? A husband? He hadn’t noticed a ring, but not everyone wore one. Especially someone who baked cupcakes for a living—if that’s what she did. He’d gathered as much, but he hadn’t gotten up the nerve to Google her. That felt like the work of a stalker, and with her right upstairs, he figured he should ask her himself instead. It’d give them something to talk about.
If she’d open up to him.
He wouldn’t blame her if she chose not to. He’d put her through enough on his quest to follow his dreams of proving his parents wrong. She didn’t owe him a thing. But he felt like he owed her after everything they’d been through, so if he could, he’d help her navigate this week. Even if he had to blame it on the dog.
Why had he said that? He’d wanted her to agree to let him take care of her, but the moment he’d opened his mouth, he’d known she’d be stubborn about it. At least, with Otis’s care hanging in the balance, he knew she wouldn’t refuse. She loved that dog—had from the moment Rachel had gotten him eight years ago. He was one of the things Hailey said she’d miss the most.
The thought of that smarted. She’d missed the dog more than she’d missed him. But that was his own fault and he knew it. He’d blown it with her, but it wasn’t like he’d moved on. He’d practically married his business for all the time he spent working. He didn’t regret what he’d built, but if he was honest with himself, he’d realize how much he regretted losing her.
Not that it mattered. She was clearly not interested. And perhaps in a new relationship. He needed to put that behind him.
When his own phone rang, he shot forward to grab it. Anything to take his mind off of his ex-wife when he couldn’t rely on work to do it for him.
Vacation was a nightmare.
“Hello?” Jared asked, sounding more out of breath than he’d like.
Thomas chuckled down the line. “I hope you sound like that because you’ve been out for a jog or something.”
Jared’s frustrated exhale was quiet, but Thomas heard it.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“No,” he reluctantly answered, leaning forward on the couch to rest his elbows on his knees. “I’m not sure why anyone takes time off of work.”
“It’s been twenty-four hours, my friend. And you have a whole six days to go,” his COO reminded him. “I thought I’d check in on you, see how it’s going. Not good, I take it.”
Jared didn’t know how to answer that. Were things not good? Hailey was hurt—that wasn’t good. But Hailey hadn’t fled the moment she’d realized they were in the same room. Granted, that was because she was injured, but still. She’d agreed to make it work while they were essentially stuck together. That felt like a step in the right direction after almost a decade of silence.
“I can’t tell if your lack of an answer is actually an answer,” Thomas said. “So, what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Jared said. “How’s it coming along with Nourish Fresh? Are we still on for Thursday?”
Thomas didn’t answer right away, but then he let out a frustrated exhale much like Jared had earlier. “Like I was trying to tell you yesterday, I’ve got it. Do I need to remind you that you’re on vacation?”
Squeezing his eyes shut, Jared said, “You don’t. But that’s not stopping me from making that call.”
“You need to learn the definition of time off, man. You’ve been like this since we were kids, and I get it, but it can’t keep going on forever.” Thomas stopped speaking, and Jared almost cut in, but then his friend spoke again. “You were laser focused for a while there, and that’s what you needed then. But it’s been a long time. The string of nonstop months and years has taken its toll, Jared.”
He leaned back on the couch, taking Thomas’s words in. They made his limbs feel heavy with the weight of their truth. Even Jared knew he needed a break, but a break meant failure. A break meant giving up. A break could lead to a separation, which led to divorce. His past experience told him that. And he wasn’t divorcing again, even if it was only from his job.
“Then just let me make this call on Thursday to land the deal, okay? I promise to stay away from work besides that.”
“I’m going to hold you to that promise,” Thomas said.
“I wouldn’t expect any less from my COO.” Jared let out a deep breath as he tried to think up a loophole. Maybe a way to mask whenever he’d log into his email to respond to clients. He’d need something to keep him from spending the whole time thinking about Hailey.
As if Otis could read his mind, the dog perked up, raising his head from his pile of blankets in the corner of the living room, and stared at Jared.
Okay, he needed something to keep him from constantly thinking about Hailey while taking care of Otis. This wasn’t going to go well if he couldn’t focus on work too.
“I should take the dog for a walk now. I’ll talk to you later,” he said into his phone, rising from the couch.
Otis stood too, anticipating what was to come.
But Thomas was confused. “That’s what you’re doing on your vacation? Walking your sister’s dog?”
Jared opened his mouth to explain, but he didn’t want
to tell Thomas what was really going on. He also didn’t want to lie. So he just said, “It turns out she had to leave, so I’m watching the dog while she’s gone.”
There. That wasn’t a lie. In fact, he didn’t even know where Rachel and Brad were. It wasn’t like them to leave and not say anything, especially when he’d been telling her he wanted to come for a visit. As he thought about that, though, he realized she probably hadn’t taken him seriously. He’d only been saying that for, oh, the last seven years. He’d never followed through until now. Of course he’d have picked a time when she was out of town—and having Hailey watch Otis.
“So you’re all alone for an entire week? Dude.” Thomas chuckled. “This is priceless.”
Jared’s stomach churned. Priceless didn’t even begin to describe what this was really like. He needed to get off the phone before he said something he’d regret.
But sooner than he could end the call, a yelp sounded behind him. Jared twisted around toward the stairs and found Hailey grabbing the rail with her left hand and sitting on the bottom step. The bag of peas lay discarded on the floor.
“What was that?” Thomas said into Jared’s ear. “I mean, who was that? I thought you said you were alone.”
“Are you okay?” Jared asked her. Then he rushed over to her, holding a hand out for her to grab. “Here, let me—”
“I got it,” Hailey said, her stubborn streak showing. She rose from the stairs and bent to snatch up the peas. When she got halfway there, she moaned in pain.
“I’ll get it.” He knelt to pick the bag up and handed it to her. “I’ll go get your prescriptions now too.”
She didn’t reply to that. She simply took the bag of peas and headed into the kitchen. In there, she put the bag back into the freezer so she could use it again later. At least he hoped she would. She couldn’t be so stubborn that she would completely refuse to take care of herself, right?
With his phone pressed to his ear, Jared scrubbed a hand down his face. He didn’t know what he was going to do about her.
Then Thomas said, “Whoa. Is that Hailey?” and Jared didn’t know what he was going to do about that, either.
Deflating, he let out a long exhale. “It’s a long story.” Then he rushed to add, “But it’s not anything like what you’re thinking. Total coincidence.”
“Ha. Coincidence. Right,” Thomas said, each word slowly released. “Or…it’s divine intervention.”
Jared swung his head in the direction his ex-wife had walked, his elbow poking out as he held the phone to his ear. “It’s not like that. It’d never work,” he said quietly, walking toward the front door. “She has some kind of cupcake business she’s focused on. She probably still lives in Maine, but Easy Chef is in New York, so I spend most of my time there now. And you know what our major hang-up was before.”
“Oh,” Thomas replied smartly, “you mean that thing about how you were always all about work?”
Jared grunted out, “No, the other thing,” as he gazed at his feet.
Quietly, Thomas said, “Yeah, I know. But maybe she’s changed her mind about having kids?”
As much as Jared wanted to think so, he was the only one to see how serious she’d been when they’d talked about having children. It’d been totally out of the question. There was no way she’d changed her mind about that—especially with this new cupcake venture of hers. He sure hadn’t switched his own position on that topic, either.
Never one to be too serious, Thomas cracked a joke to lighten the mood. “I mean, if you’re on an actual non-working vacation, anything is possible.”
Jared found the humor in that, but the memories were still painful. Still, he decided to cling to Thomas’s words. Maybe he was right. He and Hailey were, after all, in the same house after all of this time.
Perhaps anything was possible, indeed.
5
It’d never work.
Those words rang in Hailey’s ears as she found all of the ingredients she needed for a test batch of cupcakes. She’d basically said the same thing to her aunt, but it was different to hear Jared say them. She wasn’t even sure who he was talking to, which almost made it worse.
It also made her think about his situation at home. Had he moved on? Was there a new Mrs. Jared Brantley in the world? She didn’t know and she didn’t care to find out. It wasn’t any of her business.
Her only business was making these cupcakes.
Doing everything one-handed was a challenge, but Hailey was determined to make it work. She hadn’t let anything else get in her way up to this point, so a silly thing like a dislocated shoulder wasn’t going to stop her. Not when she was so close to putting CumberCakes on the map.
On the counter, she had flour, dates, coconut sugar, applesauce, ground flax, and coconut milk. As she sifted through the pantry items to find more ingredients Rachel had stocked for her, her mind floated back to Jared’s conversation. Total coincidence. Not what you think.
Who had he been talking to? Why had he felt the need to talk about her and explain their situation? Things had been over between them for so long, so it wasn’t like anyone needed that explanation. Of course it wasn’t like that anymore.
Hailey scolded herself. She needed to forget about Jared and his handsome face. Those lips she’d kissed a million times in another life. Those hazel eyes that could see right through to her soul.
Yeah, she really needed to forget about those.
It’d be hard while they were stuck in the same house. He couldn’t leave because he needed to take care of the dog while she couldn’t. And she couldn’t leave because where would she have everything she needed in a kitchen somewhere else in a city she wasn’t familiar with? So it’d be tough. But she’d do it. Her business needed her.
So, where was the darn blender?
Bending, Hailey checked a cabinet next to the stove. There it was, hiding behind a rice maker. When she blindly reached in with her left hand, her fingers landed on the base. But when she tried to pick it up, it was more weight than she could manage in the awkward position. Grunting, she readjusted her body to find more purchase on the blender. She managed to move it to the side of the rice maker, but it was still in a tough spot to get it one-handed. So she reached her bad arm in to pick it up and howled in pain.
Big mistake. For a few reasons.
One was the obvious: the agony. This dislocated shoulder was becoming an issue. She needed to bake these cupcakes and bake them well. Otherwise, she’d blow the contract and have to find a new opportunity. This one had taken her three years to come by, so she desperately wanted to make this happen. But the second mistake wasn’t so obvious until it happened.
Jared rushed into the kitchen and found her on the floor, yet again, digging for the blender. Otis followed behind, trotting over to Hailey and sniffing her hair, as Jared tossed his phone onto the table. When Jared reached her, he knelt in front of her.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
As tears pooled in her eyes, she felt even more stubborn about doing this herself. She didn’t want to look weak in front of Jared, like she’d spent the last seven years without him barely functioning on her own. It was humiliating. She curled her good arm around the blender, dragging it toward her.
“Here, let me,” he insisted, stretching an arm into the cabinet to help.
“I’ve got it.” Hailey pressed the blender against her hip for leverage.
Jared cocked an eyebrow. “And how are you going to stand up now?”
She rose onto her knees and squeezed the blender to her leg, but the moment she bent one knee to stand, it was clear this wasn’t going to work. She huffed out a breath and sat back down. “This is ridiculous,” she mumbled.
Jared’s chuckle grated against her nerves. “I don’t mind helping, Hailes. Let me.” Then he reached around her and scooped the blender up.
Hailey tried to back away, but she wasn’t fast enough. Her fingers were still wrapped around the base, and between the bru
sh of his skin against hers and that ancient nickname, she was blasted to the past, back to a time when they were happy and young. When they didn’t know what was going to become of them.
That same spark she’d always felt when Jared would touch her zipped up through her wrist and into her arm. The shock of it must have been affecting him too, because he didn’t move away from her. It was like he was stuck on pause, and she could feel his gaze on her, burning a new hole in her heart, but she didn’t dare look at him. That’d be far too much to handle when she was supposed to be focusing on cupcakes.
Cupcakes, not being a part of a couple.
Cupcakes.
That reminder helped her spring back into action. She didn’t actually want to, which was what scared her the most. The memory of his touch made her miss it more than she should, but she chalked it up to missing the familiar—not necessary Jared himself. Yeah, she’d go with that and get out of the way. If the man wanted to remove a blender from a bottom cabinet, she’d let him.
When she backed up, it broke the bubble and Jared cleared his throat. Then he took the blender out of the cabinet and set it on the counter.
And Hailey groaned.
“Isn’t that what you were trying to get?” he asked, furrowing his brow.
“Well, yeah,” she answered, “but not really.”
The crease in his forehead deepened. “I’m not sure I understand that answer.”
Hailey went to the island to pick up the package of dates. “I use these to sweeten my cupcakes,” she explained. Then she pointed a finger at the offending appliance. “That thing will never blend these.” She let the dates fall to the counter with a thud. “I should have been more specific with Rachel when I asked about her blender.”
“Ahh.” He nodded, but she wasn’t sure if he really understood. As someone with a million dollars or more, he probably never made his own food. “So, what kind of blender do you usually use when you bake?”
