Page 100 of Exchange of Heart

‘Look, sweetie. You need to pull yourself together. I’ll tell you what, my sister owns a bakery not far from you. I’m going to text you the address, and I want you to head down and see her. Put on a romantic movie, eat your feelings, cry as hard as you want. You need to let it all out.’

‘I can’t afford cake,’ I cried.

‘She always has cakes she can’t sell the next day, I’m going to call her and let her know you’ll be there to take one off her hands.’

I sniffed. ‘Thanks, Hayley.’

I walked through the door into what I can only assume heaven smelled like.

‘Elsie?’ I asked.

Her limp, white-blonde hair whipped around with her body as she turned to face me. She looked at the clock on the wall and grinned. ‘You must be Nora.’

‘How’d you know?’

‘Well, it’s closing time.’

I kicked my toe against the floor. ‘Oh, right.’

‘I’ve got two that won’t last another day. I’ll package them up for you.’ She opened the fridge and scurried through the plastic curtains to the back room.

A couple raced through the front door, red faced and panting.

‘We made it,’ the blonde lady gasped to the man as she shifted the toddler on her hip.

Their fingers linked together, and they grinned at each other with dopey eyes. Dopey eyes I recognised all too well.

‘Nora?’ Izzy’s dopey eyes widened with shock at my unbrushed hair.

‘Oh, hey.’ I ran my hands over my tangled locks and wiped at a stain on my grey shirt.

Grey. Because it reminded me of his eyes. Tears filled my eyes at how pathetic I’d become. Now not only was I embarrassed by how disgustingly dirty and ungroomed I was, but I was also crying. In public. In front of Corey’s brother. Wait…

‘Corey’s brother?’ I accused with an outstretched chipped nail.

‘You know Corey?’ Izzy tilted her head in question.

‘They were seeing each other. I’m assuming not anymore, though.’ Ben kept his gaze on my eyes. ‘Explains why Corey was in such a mood last night.’

Genetics were a bitch. As Ben stared at me, all I could see was the shape of Corey’s face. His lips with the same dip, his nose. Underneath the mask of Ben, I could only see Corey.

‘You’re Izzy’s ex? Corey’s an uncle?’ My mind whirled.

‘Yeah, he was a little shocked last night, too, when he finally met Izzy and Jess. Guess it was a shitty secret to keep from the family.’

‘It’s what you said to me the other week. You can’t let early judgements stop you from second chances. How we’re all buried under assumptions, and sometimes the person beneath can be enough to steal your heart. To want to fight to change everything, because they’re worth it.’

She’d obviously confused me with someone else, because I did not say that.

She gave Ben a gooey smile before turning back to me. ‘You were right. And once I worked through everything with Ben, I couldn’t ignore how happy he made me. How well we worked together when I wasn’t riddled with the fear of the unknown.’

‘What else did I say?’ I stared at the chipped corner in the ceiling, willing myself to breathe normally.

‘Have you forgotten already?’ Izzy laughed. ‘You said you’d never loved before, but you were pretty sure you were well on the way.’ Her smile dropped as Ben nudged her.

‘Considering Corey refused to talk to anyone except Jess last night, I’d say things aren’t going so well anymore,’ Ben whispered to her.

The ceiling blurred.