An Extra Pump of Sugar

Chapter 32

After closing, I immediately drove over to Baker's to smooth things over.

It was dark out, and I walked around Jerry's house to the basement bulkhead in the backyard, using my phone flashlight to avoid piles of dog shit. Baker had left the hatch open tonight, revealing the short stairway below and the wooden door at the bottom, and I nervously descended the steps into her tomb of a front porch.

I still couldn't believe she lived here. How did she enter her home every day and not feel like the victim in a horror film?

I rang the smart doorbell, and a moment later, the blond appeared wearing a black onesie and a moisturizing sheet mask—like Michael Myers himself.

"Jesus. Do you realize how terrifying you look right now?" I complained. "Who opens the door like that?"

She tilted her head, clearly surprised to see me. "Wasn't expecting company. What's up?"

"I just...I came to tell you that I'm really, really sorry about tonight. I never meant for you to lose your job because of me."

She scrunched up her face—her classic 'don't sweat it' expression. "You just gave me an excuse to leave that hellhole. I had to quit eventually. It's been a long time coming."

I nodded and fiddled with the strap of my purse. "I put my four weeks in tonight. It pissed Lindsay off so much, she sent me home early." It wasn't like she could fire me over it, though. With Baker gone, she needed me to help train our replacements, and given her shitty management skills, my notice was extremely generous.

"Four weeks?" A grin tugged at her lips. "How very Ramona of you."

"I need time to find another job," I insisted, fighting my own smile. "But I had to make a change. I couldn't stand it any longer."

"Well...I'm proud of you. I know big decisions like that don't come easy."

We locked eyes, studying each other for several seconds, and then my shoulders dropped. "I'm sorry for everything else, too."

She let out a breath and stepped aside to let me in. "I know. Me too."

Relief washed over me in one beautiful, brilliant wave, and I entered the basement a few hundred pounds lighter. I absolutely hated fighting with Baker. These rare stretches of stubborn, angry silence always felt so stupid and pointless. And there was never a real winner in a battle between us; it always resulted in a Pyrrhic victory.

Baker went to fetch me a face mask and a tub of salted caramel ice cream, and as soon as we made ourselves comfortable on her lime-green couch, I filled her in on Jay's passing. Then, after I'd reduced us both to tears, I dropped the Theo bombshell.

Her eyes grew wider and wider as I told the story, but other than that, she was quiet—contemplative. Finally, she sat back against the couch cushions and swore. "I mean, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a man who bedded his arch nemesis would go for his cheating ex. But why did he try to forget his problems by sleeping with the ultimate problem? What an idiot!"

"I'm not surprised by any of it, really," I said, thinking of his little box, the part of him that always doubted his decision to purge his ex from his life. "I pushed him away, and I was the only thing keeping his mind off Alyssa. He never really took the time to heal, so when I vanished, he was right back where he started. Lost, upset, and desperate for a distraction."

"...Well, his distraction is a bitch."

I snorted and shoved her over.

She wasn't wrong, though. I might have understood Theo's reasoning if he'd slept with anyone else. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why he'd let Alyssa back in after what she did to him, after how she'd acted at the bar. Even for a night of emotionless sex.