When He Finally Found Her, She Was Already Married novel · Chapter 10 of 24
Chapter 10: Power Out
The storm came in at nine that night, and the power went out at ten past.
I was alone in the bakery, scraping the last tray, when the lights died and the ovens ticked down into the dark.
Rain hammered the front windows.
I found the candle box under the counter, lit two stubs, and set them on the long table.
Someone knocked on the glass.
I knew who it was.
I opened the door, and Declan came in with water running off his hair and his coat, and shut it behind him against the wind.
"Your mother's checked into the Anchor Inn," he said. "I've been there for an hour. She won't leave until Saturday."
"Of course she won't."
"I came to make sure you got home."
"I'm not going home until the oven's cleaned."
"Then I'll wait."
"Declan."
"I'm not going to say anything," he said. "I'll sit on that stool and be quiet."
He took off his coat and hung it on the hook by the door.
He sat on the flour stool.
The candles lit the side of his face, and I turned back to the tray and scraped it for a long time.
The silence got to me first.
"You never came," I said.
He didn't ask what I meant.
"After the papers," I said. "I waited. Not for weeks. For a year, Declan. Every time the shop bell rang, every time a car stopped outside my father's house. I told myself you'd show up and say it was a mistake."
"Steph."
"I kept the ring, because I was stupid. I kept it through my father's funeral. I kept it when I moved here. You never came, not once. And I don't know what hurt worse, the paper or the quiet."
My voice cracked on the last word.
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