Jonah's POV

I stay parked outside the bakery, hands on the wheel, staring at the windows until ten full minutes bleed away before I can make myself move.

Amber light washes the sidewalk. Laughter and overlapping voices drift out into the night—too bright, too alive. A party. It has to be. It’s her birthday.

I should go. I should put the car in drive, head back to my hollow house, to the whiskey waiting on the counter. She won’t want me anywhere near ...