Page 34 of Stuck with Doctor Grump

He hadn't left a note this time.

And yet, somehow, this felt like one.

I turned the key and pulled away from the curb, my chest aching in places I didn’t know had names.

I didn’t cry. Not yet.

Because somewhere deep inside, a part of me still wanted to believe he’d choose me.

That maybe, just maybe, last night hadn’t been temporary.

But as the clinic disappeared in my rearview mirror, so did the illusion that love could be enough to stop a man like Damien Cole from running when things got complicated.

He had a whole world waiting for him in New York.

And I was just a florist in a small town with a heartbeat too big for her own good.

…

I stabbed another daffodil into the arrangement with unnecessary force.

It tilted sideways, lopsided and defiant—just like my mood.

“You know,” Hazel said from behind me, “those flowers did nothing to deserve this kind of aggression.”

I didn’t turn around. “They’re fine.”

“They look like they’re bracing for a breakup.” Her voice was gentle, but teasing. Hazel always knew how to wrap hard truths in humor—like putting honey on a lemon.

I took a shaky breath and tried to adjust the crooked stems. My fingers trembled more than I wanted to admit. The scent of daffodils—sweet, hopeful—filled the air like a cruel joke.

Hazel walked up beside me, arms crossed. “Talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

She arched one perfectly sculpted brow.

I sighed. “Okay, fine. Something happened.”

She blinked. “You think?”

“We spent the night together,” I said quietly, pushing another bloom into place. “Not like that—well, okay, not just like that. We talked. We kissed. It felt like… something real.”

Hazel didn’t say anything. Just waited.

“I woke up alone,” I added, voice tighter now. “And his laptop was open.”

I didn’t have to explain. Hazel knew.

“The email?” she asked softly.

I nodded. “New York. Some cardiac research position.”

Her silence stretched, giving me room to unravel. “I gave him a piece of me last night,” I said. “A piece I don’t hand out easily. And now I don’t know if he’s already packed it up and taken it with him.”

Hazel’s gaze softened. She reached for one of the daffodils, gently readjusting it. “Sweetie, you didn’t give him something he didn’t already have.”

I blinked. “What?”

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