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Callie grinned and waved.
“What are you doing here? I thought you had to work,” Skye said. Her friend was a realtor in town, and she was always busy with clients.
“I do. I just told them I had a quick errand to run. I wanted to tell you something.” Callie looked around. “Can you take a minute?”
“What is it?” she asked, handing her friend her favorite cookie.
Callie looked around. “I’ll tell you, just not in front of anyone.”
Skye waved to Leslie. “I’ll be right back.”
They walked into the back room. Skye turned to her. “Now tell me.”
Skye watched her friend get anxious and started to worry. “Callie…”
“My boss just sold a house on the outskirts of town. The old Benson place on Twenty-second Street?”
“Yes, I know the place. No one has lived there in a while.”
“You’re right. It needs work, but it has good bones,” Callie said.
Skye curled her hand. “Okay. Tell me.”
“Jared is the one that bought it.”
It took a moment for Skye to understand. “You mean my Jared?” A month or so after Jared had left town, Skye had broken down and told her two best friends. They were shocked, to say the least, but they also knew how attracted she was to him. There had never been a time in the last several years that she’d regretted giving her virginity to Jared. He’d been extremely gentle with her. It was a night she’d never forget. To this day, she hadn’t wanted another man to touch her because she was afraid it would tarnish her memory of Jared. She tried to fix it so she could move on with her life, but nothing had worked so far.
The last sight she had of Jared was him getting dressed in her bedroom. He’d been quiet because he had thought she was sleeping. She almost cried out when he bent and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Take care, my little Skye. I will remember you always.”
She listened to him walk down the stairs and the front door open and close. She heard a car down the street start and drive away a moment later.
She remembered the first sob that caught her by surprise. She cried until she had nothing left and lay there until the sun came up, unable to sleep. She knew she’d never see him again, so little by little, she had tried to get over him enough to move on with her life.
She graduated from high school two years after he left and then started working full-time in the bakery in town. She had always loved baking, so it was a nice fit, and when the store owner, Leslie, decided to retire, Skye would buy the place. It sounded like it would happen sooner rather than later because the old owner had arthritis and a few other illnesses that slowed her down and tired her out quicker every month.
Callie touched her arm, bringing her back from the memories.
“Why is he back?” Skye asked. “He said he’d never want to live in this town again.”
“All my boss told me was that he was injured pretty badly, and the Navy discharged him because he could not do the job anymore, and he didn’t want the desk job they offered him.”
“Yeah, I can’t see Jared sitting behind a desk,” Skye said. “But why come back here? I thought he hated it here.”
Callie shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“I wonder what injuries he obtained.”
“Listen, I have to get back, but call me later if you want to talk. The three of us need to get together with wine, popcorn, brownies, and a movie.”
“I love that idea. We’re all so busy we don’t get a lot of time to hang out anymore.”
They hugged, and Skye waved as her friend walked out of the bakery.
Leslie touched her arm. “Is everything okay, hun?”
Skye inhaled and nodded. “Yes. It’s not a big deal. Just an old friend that moved back to town.”
