Page 73 of Friends That Heal Us
Wow. What a cliché moment that just played out right before my eyes.
“I should go now so I can let you all finish everything.” Ezra turns to me. “I’ll see you at home,” he says softly, hesitantly stepping towards me, placing a kiss on my cheek.
“Okay,” I say, tilting my head down in shyness. Does he feel the same way as I do, not knowing how to act when we say hi or bye—like we’re back in high school, nervous around each other when we would catch one another staring.
The jingle of the bells rings out as he steps outside. Both Haley and Liv are staring back at him as he walks to his truck.
“Okay, you can stop staring. He’s going to see you,” I announce, staring at him getting into his truck that’s facing us.
Both of them turn back towards me. Haley’s mouth is parted open, and Liv is biting her bottom lip.
“He’s cute,” Liv says.
“Yeah. Girl, what the hell? You never told me how hot he is,” she says, bumping my shoulder, and the balloons sway again.
“Who is he?” Liv asks.
I stay quiet, my thoughts tangled. Truthfully, I don’t even know what he is to me anymore. Besides my best friend. But even that even feels different now. There’s something unspoken sitting in the space between us. He’s more than a friend now. I think, anyway?
I avoid all the eyes on me. “Ugh…” I pause. “It’s complicated.”
“The way he looks at you tells me you need to uncomplicate things and keep him around,” Haley says.
“She’s right. I think he’s in love with you,” Liv says.
Love?
What does she know about love?
But then again, maybe she’s right. If she can recognize it at such a young age, maybe it’s because it’s written all over his face. And I never allowed myself to see. I know we love each other; we always have, but that love has always been more of a caring type of love, not an in-love. At least, that’s what I told myself after high school.
“Okay, everyone back to work,” I say, returning myself to the kitchen, ignoring their googly eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
VIOLET
Today’s the day.It seems like it was so far away from when I set the opening date for the bakery. But now that it’s here, it seems like only an hour has passed since I set the date. I spent all day yesterday baking away. With Liv and Haley’s help, we got everything prepared and ready to open.
“How are you feeling?” Ez questions. I jump, startled as he walks into the bathroom and stands behind me.
He had some work to do at his shop this morning before coming to the opening.
I look up at his reflection in the mirror. “So nervous. I can’t even put my mascara on without getting it on my eyelids with how shaky my hands are.”
I’ve been so nervous since last night. I barely got any sleep because I kept rerunning everything through my mind to make sure I missed nothing. And now something is eating at my stomach with how twisted it feels.
“Everything will be great,” he confirms, running his hands up and down my arms.
“Is this how you felt when you opened your shop?” I ask, cleaning off the mascara on my eyelids with a Q-tip.
He rubs his hand through his hair with a questionable smirk on his face. “Ugh.”
My brow draws in deep from his expression.
“I didn’t have an opening like you are having. So I can see why you’re a little more nervous.”
I swivel in my rolling vanity chair so I can face him. “Really? What kind of opening did you have? Or do mechanic shops not do something like that?”
