Chapter 7
The next morning, the bakery was filled with a celebratory energy,
and Tara brought a copy of the city’s society magazine to the shop.
Our photo from the museum gala was printed beautifully on the third page,
with the caption naming us as the most elegant couple of the evening.
My mom looked at the picture with tears of pure joy in her eyes,
and she immediately framed it and hung it next to the register.
As we were opening the morning mail, a small pink envelope appeared,
and the sloppy, dramatic handwriting on the front belonged to Khloe.
It was a long, pathetic letter filled with frantic excuses and tears,
and the paper was wrinkled as if she had intentionally dropped water on it.
She claimed that David had completely ruined her life and abandoned her,
and she said she was facing absolute bankruptcy from her legal share.
She begged me to meet her at a coffee shop near the train station,
promising that she had a vital secret to tell me about David’s family.
I stared at the pink paper for a moment, feeling a wave of deep disgust,
realizing that her manipulative tactics would never change until she died.
She was still trying to play the tragic orphan who needed a savior,
and she was hoping to use my old curiosity to draw me back in.
I walked over to the large industrial trash can in the commercial kitchen,
and I dropped the pink envelope inside without reading another single word.
I did not care about her secrets, her financial ruin, or her fake tears,
and I refused to grant her even a single second of my valuable attention.
She had chosen her dark path when she sent that text message to David,
gloating about how easy it was to push that idiot Kate aside.
Now she was trapped in the very pit she had dug for our wedding day,
and she would have to claw her way out without any help from me.
An hour later, Harrison stopped by the bakery on his way to the hospital,
bringing a large bouquet of fresh yellow sunflowers for my mother.
He wore his clean scrubs and a warm, bright smile that lit up the room,
and he leaned over the counter to give me a gentle morning kiss.
He asked if I was free for a weekend trip to a coastal cabin he owned,
where we could spend two days hiking, resting, and watching the sunset.
I smiled and looked at my mom, who was already waving her hands at me,
telling me to pack my bags and leave the bakery operations to her.
I told Harrison that I would absolutely love to escape the city with him,
realizing that my life was becoming more beautiful with every passing day.
We were moving at a healthy, respectful pace that felt completely natural,
and I was finally allowing myself to trust a man with my vulnerable heart.
He was a man of action, honor, and absolute clarity of purpose,
and he had proven his devotion to me in a hundred different ways.
May you like
As he drove away, I looked at the sunflowers sitting on the counter,
knowing that my life was blooming into something truly magnificent.
