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“Except for what?”

She shook her head, the apology written all over her features. “I’m so sorry, Liam. I… I was so caught off guard by the whole thing, I didn’t think. I invited her to come to Westwood’s, so I could show her my bakery.”

Pain hit the center of my chest. “And?”

Jules shrugged. “I don’t know. She didn’t say whether she’d stop by. But I thought you should know it’s a possibility.”

I didn’t know what to think.

I wasn’t sure if I’d want to see her.

She was here. She was in Landing.

After being gone for eight long years without any contact for most of them, she was here.

I needed to face reality.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Jules.”

“But what if Layla shows up? I wasn’t thinking.”

I stood from my chair. “She won’t.”

“How do you know? She might.”

Layla wouldn’t.

It took a tragedy to get her to return to Landing.

My eyes moved through the faces surrounding me,and I was confident not a single one of them was breathing.

“It’s been eight years. Trust me when I tell you, she won’t show up.”

With that, I gave my family one last look and walked away.

12

LAYLA

Chaos and confusion.

Those were the only words I could use to describe how the last couple of days had been.

Technically, I guess there was more than just that.

The days had also been filled with sadness, frustration, and terror.

It had been two days since I saw Jules. And even though my mom’s health and well-being were my top priority, I couldn’t stop thinking about Liam’s sister.

Of course, thinking about Jules meant thinking about Liam. With that came a whole slew of other problems. It was no surprise I hadn’t slept well in days.

I leaned my elbows onto the counter and dropped my face into my hands, pressing the heels of my palms into my eye sockets as I sighed.

I had months of being here in Landing in front of me. How was I ever going to last that long when a handful of days felt like torture?

Every second I had an ounce of downtime—there was a ton of that when I was at my mom’s store—my mind drifted back to the encounter I’d had with Jules.

Seeing her was like seeing him.