Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend Read Online Free

Teddy.
    But Teddy didn’t look like things were equally clear to him,
    for some reason. He mostly looked uncomfortable as he shifted
    his weight from foot to foot. “Hi,” he said uncertainly.
    “It’s so good to see you,” I said. It had only been a few days, but
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    I could feel myself looking eagerly at the face I was used to seeing
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    daily. It was like he’d somehow gotten cuter since I’d last seen
    him. How had I never appreciated that dimple in his left cheek
    before? It was taking all my self- control not to fl ing myself into
    his arms, but I restrained myself. Teddy had never really liked
    public displays of affection, and anyway, we’d be kissing as soon
    as we cleared this misunderstanding up.
    “You too,” he said, his voice strained. He glanced to the park-
    ing lot, where I saw his Prius was parked. He looked back at me
    and swallowed. “Listen, Gem,” he said. “I’m really sorry about what
    happened in Target. I shouldn’t have done it like that.”
    I nodded, but could feel the smile on my face freeze a little. It
    wasn’t the place that had bothered me, it was the fact he had bro-
    ken up with me at all. I waited for a moment so that he could tell
    me he also regretted making a terrible mistake by suggesting we
    end things, but Teddy just looked down at the ground.
    “Listen,” I said, fi guring that I should just jump in while he
    gathered his courage. “I was just thinking about . . . you know . . .”
    I took a big breath and continued. “About you and me . . . maybe . . .
    getting back—”
    “Yes!” Teddy said, cutting me off, but I had never been so happy
    to be interrupted. “Me too. I was going to call you about it.”
    Relief fl ooded through me; it was practically a physical sensa-
    tion. Because even though I hadn’t wanted to think about it dur-
    ing my baking frenzy, a tiny voice in the back of my head had
    been whispering— louder, the more time went on— that maybe Teddy
    had meant what he’d said to me in the gardening aisle, that it
    hadn’t just been a momentary fl ash of crazy brought on by the
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    fl uorescent lights. “Really?” I asked weakly, feeling myself smile
    genuinely for the fi rst time in forty- eight hours.
    “Yes,” he said, nodding. “Getting back your deposit for the pro-
    gram. I called the offi ce and they said it wouldn’t be a problem.”
    I just stared at him. “Deposit?” I managed.
    “Yeah,” he said. “I talked to them a few days ago. They said
    you’ll just have to call to get it refunded.”
    “A few days ago?” I whispered, feeling whiplash from this turn-
    around. Teddy had called a few days ago? Before he broke up with
    me in the gardening aisle?
    It brought reality crashing down on me. It wasn’t just a mo-
    mentary impulse. He wasn’t going to change his mind. He’d made
    calls fi rst to fi nd out about deposits. Which meant the people at
    the HELPP offi ces had known about my breakup before I had.
    Because of course we weren’t going to dig latrines together now.
    This was real.
    Teddy Callaway had broken up with me.
    “Yeah,” he said. “So if you just call them . . .” His voice trailed
    off.
    I just stared at him, feeling my throat start to constrict. We
    were over. And I couldn’t even understand why. “Teddy,” I whis-
    pered, my voice wavering. I could feel myself on the verge of tears.
    Teddy frowned, and I saw a look of regret pass over his face.
    And maybe— was I just imagining it?— doubt. He took a step closer
    to me. “Gemma,” he said, his voice gentle. “I—”
    BEEP!
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    Teddy jumped, and I looked over, startled, to the parking lot
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    where the honk had