“She’ll come, too, of course.”

I shook my head against the crazy. “What are you saying? We aren’t going anywhere. You have the bakery. And I have…well, I have roots here.” That was an exaggeration. I had history here, in this city, which wasn’t quite the same. And I had Shelly, who’d just as soon transplant with me.

Colin counted as roots, however young and tender they may be.

I had to see him again. Right now.

Rick was searching again, picking through the papers like they were rubble from an explosion and babbling about finding things and running out of time. I wanted to help him, but sometimes I had to learn when to walk away. When I wasn’t really wanted or needed. And Rick, for all that he cared about me in his own way and had asked me to go away with him, was in his own world. I was a prop, not a player.

I put a hand on Rick’s arm, and he stopped moving. He looked up at me, lost.

“I’m going to go now. I’ve moved in with someone.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I told him. “But…I quit.”

The relief on his face was answered by gratitude within me. There weren’t words, so I pressed a soft kiss to his lips before leaving the bakery for the last time.

Chapter Sixteen

“Is living with a man all it’s cracked up to be?” Shelly asked as she examined her nails.

I studied her, unsure if she was being sarcastic or not. A mist of caution had risen between us in the few days I’d been at Colin’s. “Oh, you know. The toilet seat’s up, and there’s extra laundry. That’s about it.”

She glanced up, a small curve to her lips. “You do his laundry?”

My lips answered hers in a smile. “Yeah.”

“Isn’t it sort of…weird? I mean, underwear.” She lowered her voice—this from the girl who’d taught me everything I knew about how to give great head.

I ducked behind my pizza slice as I took a bite. It was weird. Blowing a guy was one thing, folding his underwear seemed so…personal.

Still, I’d insisted. I picked up all the housework and even got a cookbook. It was the least I could do, considering I wasn’t contributing financially.

Speaking of which. “Where’ve you been staying? I stopped by the other day.”

Shelly grabbed another slice from the box and began picking off the toppings. She always picked everything off, though she insisted on ordering supreme. It added variety, she always said. “At a friend’s place.”