I look at her with wide eyes. “What?” How in the hell?

“We heard all about what your fight was about.” Her hand rests on my arm. “You must be devastated.”

“Completely wrecked. I mean, she looks like it,” Mrs. Kannan comments.

I woke up ten minutes ago. What the hell are they expecting? I also didn’t expect a confectionary parade in my house. I rub my eyes, hoping it’ll cover the eye roll as well. I need coffee to deal with this.

Mrs. Hennington steps forward. “You’ll always be like a daughter to me.”

“Thanks. I think.” I shake my head. “We’re fine, though. I mean we’ll be fine, we just need to talk.”

They talk as if I’m not there. “Do you think she’ll find another man at her age?” Mrs. Kannan questions. “She’s still pretty and hasn’t gotten too many extra pounds, but she’s not a spring chicken either.”

“I’m right here,” I remind them.

“Zach looked terrible last night.” Mrs. Hennington sighs while turning back to her friends. “I was so happy they’d finally found their way.”

I stand here like a voyeur of my own life.

“We didn’t even get to enjoy their reunion before they screwed it up,” Mama says. “I swear that girl has always been too smart for her own good.”

“I heard she kept some big secret from him.”

“Hello!” I yell. “Can hear you!”

Mrs. Rooney looks over at me then back to their little hen meeting. “He wasn’t Mr. Perfect either though, Macie. I mean that boy of yours needed a good whipping a few times.”

I can’t listen to this but trying to get them to stop is useless. He’ll call today and then this can all stop. I look over at Angie who is stuffing her face. She shrugs unapologetically. “I want to hire all of these baking goddesses.” Gobs of cake fall from her mouth.

“You need a trough.”

I plop down in the chair next to her. “Have you tried this?” She shoves the fork in my face. “Eat this. It’s orgasmic.”

I take a bite of Mrs. Hennington’s cheesecake. I’d know it anywhere. It tastes like heaven. “This is why I bake.”

“This would be why I would be a thousand pounds,” Angie admits while popping another forkful in her pie hole. “God.” She moans. “I could die happy in this sugary heaven.”

I lean back and try very hard not to listen to what they’re saying. According to them, Zach never returned back home last night. Of course I slept with the phone in my hand, praying he’d call. I also went to the creek, but he wasn’t there. I feel off balance.

Me: Please tell me you’re okay. I want to talk sooner rather than later.

“You’ll be diabetic if you stay here.” I laugh through the words.

Angie eats while I wait for the phone to ring.

“Presley.” Mama takes my attention from the phone. “The town wants to do something nice for you.” She smiles at her friends.

“For what?” I’m so confused.

“Well.” Mrs. Rooney walks over. “For your breakup of course. No woman should go through being broken hearted at your age.”

The fact that I somehow manage to not make an outward groan should earn me a medal. “We’re not broken up. We have plans to talk.”

“Really?” Mama asks. “Then why did Macie rush over here to tell me that she saw Felicia moving boxes back into his place.”

My heart drops to the floor. He wouldn’t take her back. There’s no way. This is insane and wrong. “Mrs. Hennington.” My voice cracks. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sorry, dear.” Her gaze drops to the ground. “I asked her what in the hell she was doing, but she said Zach would be letting me know soon enough. I didn’t see him, but it was clear she was hauling her stuff back in.” She releases a sigh through her nose. “I have half a mind to throw him off my land.”

“How?” I manage to mutter. “I mean, there has to be a mistake.”

She rubs my back. “I wish there were.”

Well, fuck that. I’m not going to sit back this time. He can’t tell me he’s here for me, that he loves me and wants to build a house, and then go to Felicia after our first fight. There’s no way. She has to be confused. He wanted a day, well, I wanted a life.

Zachary

I STARE AT THE TEXT from last night and hate myself for not responding. After I sent the last text, I chucked the phone across the room. I didn’t want to see what she said. Between the throbbing headache from drinking so much and the ache in my chest, I knew I couldn’t.

Presley has no idea how crushed I am. A baby. Our baby. The one thing I’ve never given anyone else because I couldn’t imagine have a child with anyone but her. She never said a word to me, and for that, I can’t talk to her right now.

“You should call her,” Trent urges. Both of my brothers have been with me all night. I was so fucked-up, throwing things around the house, they didn’t trust me not to get in a fight with the rest of the furniture. So they brought me to Wyatt’s cabin where there’s less of anything, let alone anything breakable.

“And say what?”

“Tell her you’re sorry and that you love her. I don’t know! You cried all goddamn night about how much she means to you. You know that you’ll never stop loving her, right?”

I nod.

“Then don’t be a dick!”

“She lied!”

“So what?” Wyatt chimes in. “So fucking what? She’s Presley Townsend. The girl half the men in this town would give their left nut for. We won’t even talk about what that means to you.”

Trent hums in agreement.

My younger brother starts in again. “I’m not making excuses for her, I’m sayin’ you know her and the shit she’s been through.”

“You think it’s okay she kept this from me?” I throw back at him. “You’d be perfectly okay with knowing all this time spent . . .” I groan. “God! I don’t even fucking know what I’m mad at right now! I just know that my whole goddamn life I’ve spent trying to get over her.”

“So, you’re over her now? You don’t want her? Are you really willing to give her up?” Wyatt smiles, waiting for my answer. “Can you handle watching some guy’s hands roaming all over her while she dances at the bar?”

I see red. “Fuck you.”

“I don’t think so. If you love her, then stop being a bitch about this. She lied to you, I get it. She’s been in a really bad place.” He slips into a more neutral tone. “I didn’t know her husband killed himself. She must’ve gone through hell. It explains why she was afraid to tell you this too, man.”

I grasp all this intellectually, and then there’s the fact that she’s been pissed off at me for a long time. I’ve never doubted we’d work through this, but she has. She wasn’t sure that we would find the love we once had. Or if it was all in our heads. I knew though.

“What the hell does that mean? Afraid to tell me?” I ask him.