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“You don’t know that. And now I guess we’ll never know.” He turns to get into his truck.
“Please give me another chance. Please.”
“You’re Beckett’s little sister,” he says. He shakes his head. “I can’t.” He gets into his car and peels out of the parking lot, cutting his way into traffic without so much as another look back at me.
I stand in the parking lot staring after him until he turns at the next block and drives out of sight, and then I close my eyes as a heavy weight seems to push down on my chest, as if it’s somehow cracking in half.
It’s ridiculous. I can’t be heartbroken over one night. I’m just the naïve girl who lost her virginity who’s standing in a parking lot up in her feels.
But it felt like more, and I know he felt it, too.
I was so excited for tonight, and now…
I blow out a breath as I force myself to turn around and head back inside.
I shouldn’t be out here with my Cravings apron crying in the parking lot, anyway, so I run into the employee bathroom, lock myself inside, and allow the tears to flow down my cheeks.
I hear a knock at the door, which means either someone wants to get in here or someone is checking on me.
“Occupied!” I yell through my tears.
It’s Cora’s voice that answers back. “I saw you come running in here, babe. You okay?”
I draw in a shaky breath and open the door.
“What happened?” she asks, locking the door behind her.
I never told her my brother knows Grayson. I never told her I slept with Grayson, either.
“It’s complicated,” I finally say.
“Did he hurt you?” she asks softly.
I shake my head. “This was my fault.”
“What was?”
I know better than to blab all this to her when I’m hurting, but that’s sort of the whole problem. I’m hurting.
Even so, I’m still not dumb enough to tell her everything. Still, I have to say something.
“Grayson and my brother go way back. I had a crush on him when I was younger, and I guess it’s just never going to happen.” I sigh after I admit a version of the truth.
Somehow the truth hurts far, far worse than breaking up with Colin did. That only tells me that I was more invested in Grayson than I ever was in Colin—even though we only shared one night instead of five years.
How could one night have meant so much to me?
And how can I feel so shattered now that he walked out?
“Oh no, Ava. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?” she asks.
I shake my head a little, not really sure there’s anything she can do short of calling up Grayson and getting him back here to give me a second chance.
He was pretty clear that wasn’t an option.
“Just…don’t say anything to anyone about this, okay?”
She nods, and she pulls me in for a hug. “Now get your ass back to work before Poppy starts asking questions,” she warns.
