Page 55 of Deadline for Love

I pulled up to the bakery at Nia’s request, and we entered, greeted by the smell of bread and pastries. At lunchtime, the bakery was packed.

The counter wasn’t attended, so Nia and I waited patiently. The first person to notice us was Julian, who quickly approached us and apologized for the wait.

“Oh, nonsense, it’s all good. We see you’ve been busy.”

He expressed his gratitude for our patience and then got behind the counter. Julian didn’t have his glasses on today, so you could see his blue eyes better. His hair was also combed back. He had a cute face and a nice smile.

Nia placed our order while I looked for Anjali.

“Very good. Come on, Bella, let’s go,” Nia said, food in her hand as she moved to stand next to me.

“One second, I want to catch up for a minute.”

“Oh, I don’t want to keep you if you’re busy,” Anjali said right away. “Why don’t you come by again when you’re free? Then we can chat again.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be happy to stop by again.” As I was about to say goodbye, Anjali stopped me, grabbed my hand, and lifted it up to look at it.

She pointed at my ring and then stared at me in shock. “What is this? Have I missed about twenty chapters of your life?”

Feeling embarrassed, I scratched my head with my free hand, and before I could say anything, Nia joyfully interjected, “You’ve missed something. Our Bella Carter got married—to a real hottie.”

Anjali let go of my hand and covered her mouth with her hands like a delighted little girl. “Oh, my God! How could I have missed this? Ahhh! Congratulations!”

I couldn’t be happy about the congratulations, but I thanked her anyway and tried to keep my smile as natural as possible.

“Congratulations! That’s why you haven’t been around.” Julian joined in and smiled at me, but his comment made me furrow my brows in surprise. I thought the last time we saw each other was the first time, so why did he notice that I—

Anjali agreed, interrupting my thoughts again. “Are you already out of our neighborhood?”

“They’ve been living together for a while,” Nia confirmed. “But guys, we have to go.”

“Yes, we still have work to do. Thanks again for the congratulations. I promise I’ll come by again soon.”

Once again, I glanced at Julian, who still had the same kind of expression on his face, but somehow, I felt weird...

Nia took my hand and pulled me out of the store. “Phew, I have no idea how you feel, but next time, try to look a little more natural when people ask you about your marriage,” she said as we got back into the car.

“I’m sorry, I’ll try harder.”

“I know it must be hard, but remember, it will only improve.”

Driving to my apartment took a few minutes. I parked the car on the street, and we both stepped out. Nia was excited again—you could see it in her posture.

When we arrived at my front door, I opened it, and sure enough, there was no letter, which made me sigh of relief.But a sense of unease still lingered with the absence of letters.

“It seems he’s lost interest in me.”

Nia leaned back against my threshold and pushed her bottom lip forward. “Man... why is he acting this way?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he kept us on our toes with the letters. Is he trying to unsettle us now?”

I sighed after her conjecture. “Nia, I don’t know what this is about, but I’m honestly relieved nothing is here.”

Maybe it also indicated that the girl with green eyes was still alive?

“Let’s see if Janette is home,” I said and left my apartment. Again, I hoped that Janette hadn’t seen anything conspicuous.

---