As she dried herself off and changed into her pajamas, that seed of doubt that had planted in her grew even more. Why wouldn’t it? It happened before, after all.
When she met her now ex, Tony, she couldn’t believe a guy like him—good-looking, charming, with a hot body—would go for someone like her. Sure, it had been seven years since the accident that left her like this, but she hadn’t had the confidence to even attempt dating. Tony had been a regular at the Wicker Park bakery where she worked as he was employed at the construction site across the street. Back then, aside from baking, she also had to work as a cashier, so he would come in and flirt with her when he got his coffee and breakfast in the mornings, eventually asking her out to dinner after a few weeks.
It had been a whirlwind romance, to say the least. She had been on cloud nine because he was the perfect boyfriend—attentive, romantic, and said all the right things. Perhaps him moving into her place a month after their first date had been a little fast, but they were in love, and they spent nearly all their free time together anyway.
However, two weeks later, he got fired from his job at the construction site because he was showing up late every day. She made more than enough to pay for the rent on her tiny rental house in the suburbs and the bills even before he moved in, so she wasn’t bothered, and he promised he would find a job quickly.
But weeks passed, and all Tony did was stay at home and watch TV or play video games on the couch all day. Her budget was getting stretched thin because she had to pay for food and for dates, but he didn’t seem to be picking up on the hints she dropped. The one time she finally worked up the courage to ask him when he was going to find work, he had snapped at her and told her to stop nagging him.
Most people would have recognized things were going downhill from there, but she was blind to it all. Maybe it was because her self-confidence had suffered so much after the fire, or perhaps it was because he turned out to be a gaslighting, abusive asshole.
It was hard to believe she had lived with him for an entire year before she finally saw the light. Well, what she saw was Tony, balls deep inside some random girl in their bed after she’d come home early from a shift and found them together.
She gathered up what was left of her confidence and told him it was over and left to stay with her boss. Stacy hooked her up with the job at Rosie’s, which she took without hesitation. The next day, Stacy helped her pack up her stuff at her house, making sure Tony was gone, and Temperance put her two suitcases and Fred in her car and drove away.
But it seemed she hadn’t learnt her lesson.
At least things hadn’t gone far with Gabriel, she thought glumly as she pulled the covers up around her. It wasn’t even nine o’clock yet she was exhausted. Well, tomorrow was another day—a new day really. There were no limits to starting over, after all, and in the morning, she could begin afresh and this time, she didn’t need a pretty boy charmer in her future.
One of the great things about working as a baker was that Temperance’s body ran like clockwork. She couldn’t afford a sleepless night, not when she had to bake dozens and dozens of pies the next day. Though she felt more sluggish than usual today, she managed to get cleaned up and dressed, and out the door by three thirty. After locking the door behind her, she took two steps, then faltered. A strange feeling crept up her spine. Something was wrong. Spinning on her heel, she quickly realized why she felt off.
Fred was gone.
No, she wasn’t imagining it. Only the crown of wilted sunflowers remained in the spot where he usually stood guard. Picking it up, she realized there was a piece of paper underneath.
“What the—”
Meet me at the pond in Lennox Park at three p.m. or you’ll never see Fred again. For each hour you’re late, I’m going to chisel off a piece of him and send it to you.
“That … bastard!” she exclaimed loudly, crumpling the note in her hands. He did it. Gabriel actually kidnapped Fred. “Grrr!”
Stomping to her car, she seriously considered not showing up. They were talking about a plaster and paint garden statue, after all. I can order another one online.
But it wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be the same Fred who drove with her for three days, guarding her belongings at every rest stop and crappy motel along the way, and kept her company through long stretches of highway, and listened to her cry and moan whenever she remembered all the awful things she had endured.
Temperance stewed for most of the morning, burning a batch of pies because she kept thinking of ways to somehow get Fred back without having to see Gabriel. Rosie hadn’t been too pissed, but she did have to stay an extra hour to make up for that mistake, and by that time, she only had an hour to get to the park, and she hadn’t even had time to eat lunch.
At five minutes before three, she found herself walking up the path toward the pond. It was located in the middle of Lennox Park, and a gazebo sat in the middle connected to land via a wooden bridge. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized Gabriel’s tall frame halfway across the bridge.
