Page 17

CHAPTER 17

VANESSA

M y hands shake as I write "Happy V-Day!" on yet another pink heart-shaped cup. The line at The Love Roast stretches to the door, a sea of lovesick faces that make my stomach churn.

"Grande caramel latte for Mike!" I call out, forcing a smile that feels like it might crack my face.

A week. A whole week since Jack looked at me with those cold eyes and told me it wasn't going anywhere. The same Jack who'd held me like I was precious, who'd made me feel safe enough to let my walls down.

"Vanessa, we need more heart sprinkles!" Julia shouts from behind the counter.

I nod mechanically, heading to the storage room. The boxes blur before my eyes. What happened? Everything was perfect—the rooftop, the cooking class, the way he'd study me like I was fascinating. Then suddenly, nothing. Like a switch flipped.

"Hey! Vanessa! What’s going on?" Becca waves her hand in front of my face. "That's the third time you've grabbed the wrong syrup. What's going on up there?"

"Sorry, I just..." I grab a handful of paper cups, dropping half of them. "It doesn't make sense. You saw us together. He was different."

"Maybe that's why he ran." Becca helps me pick up the cups. "Some guys can't handle real connection."

But that's not it. I've seen enough fake guys to know the difference. Jack's withdrawal wasn't about fear of commitment—it was something else. The way he'd practically flinched when I reached for him, like he was fighting himself.

"Order up!" Julia's voice cuts through my thoughts.

I'm restocking the display case when someone taps a spoon against a coffee mug. The cafe falls quiet.

"Amanda," a guy in a blue suit drops to one knee in front of his girlfriend's table. "Will you marry me?"

The girl gasps, hands flying to her mouth. Everyone around them starts cooing and pulling out phones.

My chest tightens. I grip the edge of the counter, forcing myself to breathe. The happy couple embraces as their audience breaks into applause.

"Free heart cookies for everyone!" Julia announces, caught up in the moment.

I duck into the back room, pretending to grab more napkins. The storage shelves blur through my tears. A week ago, I'd imagined a future with Jack. Now I'm hiding from a stranger's proposal.

Becca follows me in. "Hey, you okay?"

"What did I do wrong?" My voice cracks. "Everything was perfect. We connected. He looked at me like..." I wipe my eyes with my apron. "Was I too much? Too intense? Did I say something wrong?"

"Stop that." Becca grabs my shoulders. "You didn't do anything wrong. That man was crazy about you. Something else is going on."

"Then why won't he talk to me? Why act like none of it mattered?"

Outside, the newly engaged couple poses for pictures. The ring catches the light, sending sparkles across the cafe's pink and red decorations. The girl can't stop smiling, and her fiancé looks at her like she's his whole world.

Just like Jack used to look at me.

An hour later, I'm wiping down tables when the door chimes. My heart stops.

Jack bursts in, his usual composed demeanor shattered. His hair's a mess, like he's been running his hands through it repeatedly. His eyes dart around the café before landing on me.

"Vanessa." His voice is rough, urgent. He crosses the space between us in three long strides. "I need you to come with me. Now."

My dish rag drops to the table. After a week of silence, after breaking my heart, he just walks in here and?—

"Are you kidding me?" I back away, bumping into a chair. "You ignore me for days and now you expect me to just?—"

"Please." His hand reaches for mine but stops short. There's something in his eyes I've never seen before. Fear? "I know I hurt you. I know I don't deserve to ask anything of you. But this is important."

"Everything okay over here?" Becca appears at my side, arms crossed.

Jack's jaw tightens. "We don't have time for?—"

"Time for what?" I snap. "You made yourself pretty clear last week. What could possibly be so urgent now?"

He runs a hand down his face, and for a second, I swear his skin looks... different. But then he's grabbing my wrist, his touch sending electricity through my body despite everything.

"Please trust me one last time."

The raw desperation in his voice makes my knees weak. This isn't the controlled, confident Jack I know. This is someone else entirely—someone terrified.

"Vanessa, don't you dare go anywhere with him," Becca warns.

My heart pounds like a drum as I stare at Jack's hand. The cafe's pink and red decorations blur at the edges of my vision, the cheerful Valentine's music turning into white noise.

"I..." The words won’t come out. A week ago, I would've followed him anywhere. Now? His touch burns with memories of everything we shared, everything he threw away.

"Let go of her." Becca's voice sounds far away.

Jack's fingers tremble against my skin. His eyes keep darting to the windows, scanning the street outside like he's expecting someone—or something. I've never seen him like this. The confident anthropologist who charmed me with strange questions about human behavior is gone, replaced by someone who looks haunted.

"Please." His voice drops to a whisper. "I know you have no reason to trust me. But I need you to."

My legs feel like jelly. The fluorescent lights above us flicker. Once. Twice. Jack's grip tightens.

I yank my hand back, stumbling into the counter. The coffee grinder rattles behind me, and a heart-shaped cookie display crashes to the floor. The sound makes me jump.

"Vanessa?" Becca touches my shoulder. "Should I call security?"

Security. Right. That would be the sensible thing to do. But nothing about this feels sensible. The way Jack's looking at me—desperate, pleading, scared—it's real. Too real.

"Why?" My voice comes out smaller than I intended.

"I can't—" He runs his hands through his hair again, making it stand up at odd angles. "Not here. There's too much to explain, and we don't have time."

The bell above the door chimes. Jack's head snaps toward the sound so fast I hear his neck crack. His whole body tenses like a wire about to snap.

I press myself against the counter, my heart trying to escape through my throat. What happened to my nice, normal Valentine's Day of serving coffee and wallowing in self-pity? What happened to the Jack I thought I knew?