I push inside and find Charly arranging a hat on a mannequin. There are no customers in the store. She glances up and smiles, and then sobers when she sees my face.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
And now the tears come, hard and fast, swooping over me like waves on the shoreline, and I’m lost under them. I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I can only cry and cry. Charly wraps me in her arms and rocks me back and forth, murmuring in my ear, but I can’t hear the words.
All I know is that another man that I cared for is gone. But even worse, the only man I ever loved just walked out of my life.
Without saying goodbye. Without even a backward glance.
“He’s gone,” I whisper when the worst of the sobs have subsided.
“What?” She grips my shoulders and pushes me back so she can see my face. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, I got this text this morning.” I show her the message and begin crying again.
“He sent a text?” she asks.
I simply nod and take a deep breath.
“So, you told him you’re pregnant and he cut out of here? What the fuck is wrong with men?”
I glance down, embarrassed, and Charly shakes her head adamantly.
“No. No, Gabby. Don’t tell me you didn’t tell him!”
“I didn’t tell him.”
“Why the hell not? You’ve had days to tell him!”
“Because I was just starting to get my own head wrapped around it,” I reply and pace away from her, touching the pretty shoes she has displayed throughout the store. “And then he went to hang out with the boys last night. I was surprised he came home without any bruises.”
“What did the boys do?” she asks, surprised.
“I don’t know. Eli said they wanted to include him in a guys’ night with Beau, Dec and Ben.”
“Ben?” Her eyes go wide and she swallows hard. “And Rhys returned alive?”
“I know. I was a little surprised.”
“Why didn’t you tell him when he got back?”
“I pretended to be asleep.” I wince. If I’d known that it would be the last night I’d have with him, I wouldn’t have done that. I would have embraced him and let him make love to me. I would have talked to him all night, and I would have savored every smell, every sound, every moment. “I know, Char. I know I should have told him, but it didn’t exactly work out well for me the last time I had to tell a guy that I was pregnant.”
“Rhys isn’t that piece of shit Colby, Gabs.”
“No,” I agree and sigh. “I understand that not all men are Colby. But he still left. He didn’t even say goodbye to Sam. How am I supposed to tell Sam that he’s gone, and we weren’t important enough to say goodbye in person?”
“Where is Sam?”
“With Mama.”
She nods and leans on her counter, demolishing a paperclip as she thinks.
“And Eva is taking care of the inn?”
I nod. “I brought Sam into the city for school clothes and some new things for the inn. Eva’s taking over all day.”
“Wow, you took a whole day off that isn’t a Sunday.”
“I needed to get away and think.”
“You’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Gabby. It was time to talk.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s gone.”
“You have his phone number.”
“Stop, Charly. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I shake my head and feel the tears want to start again. “I need to not think about this for a while. I need to clear my head.”
“Okay.” Charly grins and points to a stack of shoe boxes. “You can display those. And wait on customers when they come in.”
That dries up the rest of the tears. “You want me to work for you?”
“Yep.”
“So much for a day off.”
“It’ll take your mind off of he who shall not be named, and I can keep my eye on you. Win-win.”
“What are you going to pay me?”
“Lunch.” She grins as a customer walks in and begins browsing through the shoes. “There’s your first customer.”
“I really wanted to spend the day wallowing in self-pity.”
“Too bad,” Charly says. “I don’t have time for that. We will work, and then we’ll wallow.”
“Why are you wallowing?”
“Because you are,” she replies, as though I’m just being stubborn. “Women wallow together, sugar. Now, go greet your customer.”
And with that, she walks through a curtain to the stock room.
I turn and smile at the blonde wandering among the shoes. “Good morning. Can I help you find anything?”
“Well, I’m not sure,” she replies and glances up to smile back at me. She’s beautiful with long, loosely curled hair and big blue eyes. She’s in a tank top, showing off some of the most amazing tattoos I’ve ever seen on her right arm, and she’s got a great rack.
“What are you in the mood for?”
“I’m in the mood to kick a man’s ass,” she replies and then laughs. “And shoes always make me feel better.”
“I know that feeling,” I reply with a nod. “Men are jackasses.”
“Amen.”
“I’m Gabby.”
“Callie,” she replies and picks up a pair of sexy red stilettos. “These are hot.”
“Super hot,” I agree. “And designed to make a man’s tongue fall out of his mouth.”