Page 6 of Snowed In with My Ex

“Surprise!” my best friend in the whole world shouted, just as she turned on the lights in the kitchen. My eyes widened, and I blinked to adjust to the light. Looking at the setup she had prepared, I laughed. I couldn’t help it.To say the least, Piper could be a wild card. You might never know what she was up to, but everything she did was done with the best of intentions.

“Piper!” I exclaimed, trying to think of what the hell she could have possibly been thinking. “What is this?” I giggled as I approached. My vision was blurry, but I could tell she had a cake in front of her with a small candle burning brightly smack dab in the middle.

I hadn’t put my glasses on after my shower and quickly put them on and shook the towel off my head even though I was pretty sure my hair was still probably dripping wet.

Yup, it was a cake.

A beautiful one.

I was too far away to see what it said sitting in front of her on our old, out-of-date dinette table. “For you!” She grinned.

“For me?”It isn’t my birthday!I had no clue what she was up to, and when my eyes dropped and read the writing on top of the cake, I stilled.

“Happy one month no contact,” I read softly aloud. The cake was beautiful with the words written out in bright green frosting. My favorite color.A color I knew she had probably asked for them to match specifically because Piper was all about the details when she did something for you.

“Oh,” I said slowly, not sure what to feel.

My eyes rose just in time to see Pipe’s smile falter slightly. Her bright blue eyes widened and then looked down at the cake and back at me.

“Allie.”

“Pipe,” I mumbled, not sure what to make of it.

“It was supposed to make you feel empowered,” she started to explain. I could tell by the look of horror on her face that she hadn’t had any kind of ill will. It wasn’t her fault I felt like my heart would never recover. “I didn’t think it through. Now that I’m looking at it and see that look on your face, this feels harsh?—"

“You told me you didn’t think I should break up with him,” I said softly, unsure of what I felt. Piper had told me to talk to him, and I had tried.Hadn’t I?

Every time I thought about that moment, I wasn’t sure anymore.

All I knew was that one moment, I was trying to get him to talk to me, to see me like he used to, to quit brushing me off or giving me the cold shoulder. Something had happened in the last two weeks before that, and I didn’t know how to get through to him. Then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, I was throwing it all away.

Ending things with Winston felt like it crushed me.

“I know,” she sighed, making her red curls bounce. “But you did, and no matter what, I got your back. So, ta-da! This is from that bakery you love! Your favorite, too! Double chocolate cake with vanilla bean whipped buttercream frosting! And your fav color!” she doubled down, Vanna Whiteing with her lean arms in front of the cake.Yup, just like Piper with details.

“Pip––“

“I know this month’s been hard,” she cut me off, concern clear in her face. “Breaking up with Winston wasn’t easy. I knowit. I know how much you cared and how much it hurt when he started to put distance between you two.”

“Piper—"

“I just… I’m sorry! I feel kinda guilty for pushing you to talk to him, and then you guys... I thought that maybe instead of crying, let’s laugh about it. One month no contact is good! Remember when I broke up with the one we don’t mention? I kept calling and booty calling in like it was cool!”

“True,” I muttered, knowing she was right. She kept going back to her ex like it was an Olympic sport until I told her that just because he was good for her hole, it didn’t mean he was good for her soul. Though, calling Win for a booty call didn’t sound half bad.

“I’m proud of you. And as more time passes by, it’ll get easier. Then, one day, Winston Nash will be nothing but a bad memory and life lesson,” she finished, studying me closely.

Piper has nothing but good intentions.

I looked down at the cake and blinked away the tears that threatened to spill. She was sweet and the best friend a girl could ever ask for, but she was also wrong.So incredibly wrong.There was no way in hell that Winston Nash could ever become a simple memory. Not when he owned my heart. Not when I was sure he would always have it. No one would ever get close to making me feel anything like what I’d felt for him.

“One month no contact,” I reread the words on the cake and repeated them again. “One month no contact.” The ends of my lipsstarted to twitch up, and I giggled. I had to. As much as it hurt to realize, she was right. Piper Purcell had a weird kind of sense of humor, but thank God she did! For the first time in thirty days, I laughed so hard I cried.

“Are those good tears or bad tears?” she exclaimed with concern. I watched as a blurry bubble of color rushed toward me. Before I could answer, her arms wrapped around me andsqueezed me tightly. “I didn’t mean to make you cry, Allie! I promise!”

“You didn’t.” I sniffled, and shetsked.

“You areliterallycrying!” she exclaimed.