Page 39 of The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor #5)

Chapter Thirty-Three

Three years ago

M ac stood outside of the brand-new bakery on Main Street.

It was only his second day back in Dream Harbor, but this was his most important stop.

The shop looked good. Its big front window was filled with delicious-looking treats and the bench out front made him want to sit and eat a cookie in the December sunshine.

But he knew it was more than simply an inviting store.

It was the culmination of years of work.

This bakery was the end product of Annie’s determination, and he was so fucking proud of her.

So happy that she’d achieved what she wanted to all those years ago.

He remembered it like it was yesterday, lying in his bed next to her talking about what they wanted from life.

Annie had gone out and got it, worked for it, earned it. And it was incredible.

And it smelled delicious.

He’d been standing outside for far too long now, indecision and nerves keeping him frozen to the spot.

He caught a glimpse of Annie moving around inside and his breath caught in his throat.

She was the same but different; older but still gorgeous; moving around with the same purpose she always did.

He didn't know how she would react to him being back but, if they were going to live in the same town again, he had to face her. Might as well do it now.

He pushed open the door to the shop and a little bell tinkled overhead.

‘I’ll be right with you,’ Annie said, not looking up from the tray she was sliding into the display case.

Her voice was enough to send his heart racing.

He’d waited so long to hear it again. Too long.

He'd been a damn coward for too long. As much as he’d loved his years on the road, he never should have waited this long to talk to her, to apologize.

At first, he thought it was best to try and forget her, to put distance between them so they could both move on.

And then years had gone by, and he hadn’t known what to say or how to say it.

He got the feeling she avoided him whenever he was back in town, and he convinced himself it was better that way.

But he knew this: no matter where he had gone or who he’d been with, he’d never been able to shake his feelings for Annie.

He was done running from them.

‘Hey, Annabelle,’ he said, and Annie picked her head up so fast she hit it on the counter.

‘Ow,’ she hissed, rubbing her head and standing up.

‘Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.’

She stared at him in disbelief. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

Mac’s heart sank. He should have known this wouldn’t be easy.

‘I'm moving back to town.’

‘No, you’re not,’ she said, so firmly that Mac nearly laughed.

‘I am, actually.’

‘You can’t.’

‘Annie, I’m pretty sure you don’t have a say in that.’

She crossed her arms over her chest. ‘Well, I do have a say in who comes into my bakery so you can get the fuck out.’

‘Can I at least explain? I wanted to say I’m sorry for what happened.’

‘I don't know what you’re talking about.’

‘Annie, come on…’

‘Don't Annie come on me! I haven't seen you in eight years, Macaulay Sullivan.’

‘I tried to see you.’ He had tried. Several times over the past few years he’d stopped by her parents’ house.

Conveniently, she’d never been around, and no one had known where to find her.

It was like she disappeared anytime he came back to Dream Harbor.

Or her friends and family were instructed to make him think she had.

Annie scoffed. ‘Look, we don’t need a big reunion moment. You’re moving back to town. That’s lovely for you, but I don’t need to interact with you, so please leave.’

‘ I’m sorry. For everything.’

Annie put her hands on the counter and leaned toward him. ‘I don’t need or want your apology. We were children and it was just a silly fling between us.’

Mac swallowed hard. He understood her anger, but she couldn’t erase what happened between them. It had been extraordinary. He hadn’t found anything like it since. ‘There was nothing silly about it,’ he ground out.

Annie shrugged like none of it really mattered to her. She should have punched him in the face. It would have hurt less.

‘I guess it meant more to you than it did to me,’ she said, her words cutting him to the bone. A small part of him was glad. If she had welcomed him with open arms, he wouldn’t have trusted it.

‘You don’t mean that, Annabelle.’

‘Don’t fucking call me that.’

‘Sorry.’

She stared at him from across the counter. Those same blue eyes that had once looked at him so lovingly were staring daggers.

‘Look,’ she said, ‘I’ve already forgotten about what happened between us and I don't need you coming here to my town and dredging it all back up again. So, as far as anyone’s concerned, I don’t like you, Macaulay Sullivan. I never have and I never will.’

He nodded, swallowing everything else he wanted to say to her; everything he’d never confessed. Clearly, she didn’t want to hear it. And she didn’t owe him anything. She didn’t owe him forgiveness. Not after the way he’d treated her.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry I came in.’ He turned to go but looked back one more time. ‘The bakery looks really great. You did an amazing job.’ And for a brief second Annie’s expression softened, a tiny glimmer of the way she used to look at him, before she shuttered it again with a scowl.

The Annie he’d known all those years ago was gone. This Annie wasn’t his anymore. This was the Annie he’d hurt.

Now he had to figure out how to live in the same town as her and not lose his mind pining after her.

Because while Annie wasn’t his anymore, he would always be hers .