Page 123 of Riding the Sugar High

“What’s it called?” I ask, checking the time. Businesses will close soon for lunch, so we’ll have to rush.

“Desserts for?—”

“Stressed People? Yeah, they’re my clients.” I point ahead. “Keep going another five minutes; it’s next to that small square with the horse fountain.”

He pulls away from the curb, and we silently head toward the square. I’m not going to let this one small interaction with Aaron change my mind about everything, but I guess I could admit to being partially wrong. I figured he was a shitty husband because he’s always working, and Josie does everything by herself. But maybe that’s what she wants, and the situation isn’t as straightforward as I assumed. Maybe her drinking isn’t on him.

But he’s right. Not telling Primrose the whole truth immediately was a stupid choice. She needs to know the whole story—today. No matter how hard it is to bring it up.

“Do you think it’ll lead to something more? You and Primrose sleeping together?”

“What kind of dumb-ass question is that,” I mutter. “What are you, a teenager?”

“Jesus, Logan. Do you have feelings for her or not?”

“You still sound like a teenager.”

He rolls his eyes. “Right. Because admitting you feel things is so immature. Real men only grunt their approval.” With a shrug, he asks, “Do you know how she feels?”

Not really. She likes me and wants to sleep with me, but we hardly had time for that, let alone discuss what will happen when she leaves in four days.

All I know is that despite all the reasons I’ve given her, she hasn’t turned her back on me yet. Despite how hard it is to be around me, she makes it look easy. But I also know better than to expect things from people, because people disappoint, just as Aaron himself has shown me on more than one occasion.

“She’s leaving soon. She has her own life; it’s not like she’ll drop it all for me.”

“You wouldn’t go with her?”

I scoff. Me in Mayfield. I couldn’t think of a worse recipe for happiness than throwing myself into a maze of concrete and skyscrapers. “No, of course not.” And besides, it’s not like she’d want me to go anywhere with her. “You heard the part where I said this started yesterday, right?”

He shrugs. “Sometimes, one day is enough to know you want to be with someone.”

I wonder if he’s talking about Josie, but I have no intention of asking, especially because we’re here, on the opposite side of the square where the bakery is. “There it is.”

I remove my seatbelt and open the door.

“Thank you,” Aaron mumbles. “For trusting me with the truth about her.”

Trusting him? As if. “The only reason I told you is because even if you tell Josie, you can’t prove it.” I get out of the car, and before slamming the door behind me, I mutter, “I’ll never make the mistake of trusting you again.”

apologize after a mistake

Primrose

A knockat the door has my chest fluttering. Could it be Logan? He said he’d keep me updated, but maybe he just came straight home.

I stand and walk to the door, my heart drumming. I don’t even care what we’ll end up doing today. I want us to lie down in bed and exist. I want us to chat and touch each other, and I want him to look at me the way he did tonight. So I straighten my dress as if the goal isn’t to have him rip it off me as soon as possible, then open the door.

My gaze meets Josie’s cloudy, unfocused green eyes, her frown turning into an excited grin as she takes me in.

“Prim!” she squeals, stepping forward and immediately tumbling against me in a cloud of rancid-smelling liquor.

She’s drunk. Again.

“Hey, Josie. What are you doing here? Did you drive?”

“No, of course not! I took an Uber!”

“Oka—” She wobbles past me, holding onto the jackets at the entrance and pulling Logan’s to the floor. “Careful—let me help you.”