Mesmerized by Audra Cole, Bella Love-Wins Read Free Book Online Page A

past, and no matter what I tell myself, I don’t see that ever fading enough to rebuild what we had.
    He closes the car door again and gives a slight wave before slipping through the front doors of the inn.
    This time I immediately start the car and hit the gas.
     

Chapter Eight
    I get home ten minutes later, and shuffle through the front door like a zombie. The clock on the wall shows it’s nearly midnight, and I have to be back at work in less than four hours. I groan to myself and go into the kitchen to grab my phone charger. Sometime during the drive home my phone went dead. Ashley has probably sent me half a dozen messages by now. I grab the charger from the drawer next to the fridge and take it with me to my bedroom. I plug my phone in next to my bed and lay it on the nightstand. While it starts to power up, I go about my nightly routine: makeup off, contacts out, teeth brushed, hair piled up in a messy bun on top of my head. Lastly, I slip into some yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt.
    Exhausted, I flop onto my bed and roll over to grab my phone. Sure enough, there are three texts from Ashley. And one from James:
    “Working late. I’ll call tomorrow.”
    Several possible responses run through my mind. As much as I want to clear up the drama from last night, I am a little pissed off that he ignored me for twenty-four hours and then, when he does finally get in touch, that’s all he has to say.
    The message was sent over three hours ago, and I’m pretty sure he will be sleeping by now. Skipping over his message, I go to the ones from Ashley. She’s probably still awake, but I’m not sure I have the energy to talk about any of this right now. I text her back to let her know that I just got home and need to sleep. Then I flip the phone to silent and turn out the lights.
    In the dark, I try to force myself to close my eyes and go to sleep, but my mind is restless. I am physically and emotionally drained, yet it feels as if my mind could ramble on forever. I can’t stop the replaying of kissing Brandon in the front of my car. I know I should feel bad, that it was technically cheating on James, even though things were way screwed up between us right now. But, as I licked my lips, I couldn’t help but remember the way Brandon’s had felt on mine and wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped it.
     
    ***
     
    Morning comes all too quickly, and before I know it, I am trudging back to work. I think I dozed off once or twice, but for the most part, it feels like I spent the whole night tossing and turning, my wheels spinning.
    I’m the first to arrive at the café, so I unlock the doors and let myself in. I stash my purse and jacket in the back room and go about the morning routine. About a year ago, the bakery we used to order all our breads and pastries from closed up. The owners moved to Florida or something, and I volunteered to become the baker. So the café purchased some extra equipment, and I started coming in at the disgusting hour of four a.m. to bake everything from scratch. I am mostly self-taught—there was a lot of carb carnage in the beginning—but now I have my standard recipes down to a science. I could turn them out in my sleep, which is convenient since that is basically my current mental state.
    I spend the next two hours baking everything we’ll need for the day. Most of it had been prepped the day before, so it is just a matter of orchestrating timers and rotating everything through in the right order. Some days, when I’m not half dead, I play classical music and wave my arms around at the ovens like a snobby conductor. For the record, today is not one of those days.
    About twenty minutes before opening I hear the bell on the front door jingle.
    “I need a mocha stat!” Ashley says, as she steps inside.
    “Good morning to you too. What are you doing here so early? I thought we were doing lunch today.” As if on autopilot, I turn to prepare her drink.
    “Yeah, I’m gonna