Chapter 29

I was folding more clothes on Sunday at the community center. Most of them had been fixed, stitched, and buttoned. Donations were great.

There had been more donations from the football team, and I was very thankful to Graham and the entire team. They were the best. They had no idea how much good they were doing, or how many children, teenagers, and even adults were going to be able to cover themselves in colder months.

I was humming when Rosie passed by my station.

“Looking good.” She eyed the large pile of clothes.

“Looking the best ever.” I smiled.

“Hmm.” She tilted her head, intrigued. “How did you manage to get this many donations? Some guy arrived earlier this week with all the bags, saying it was a contribution for Hazel Miller.” She arched her eyebrow. “Who did you bribe?” she joked though it was second nature to her to think about mischief. Her small girls were a handful and Rosie could never keep her guard down.

I blushed, thinking about bribing Graham to give anything away.

What he would ask for? I had a good idea, seeing how he couldn’t keep his hands off me and the suggestive way he’d said I should thank him later. Technically I was sleeping with him, but not for the clothes. Definitely not for the clothes.

Suddenly, an emptiness throbbed inside me. My stomach twisted and my blood heated.

“Where did you go? You have a dreamy face.” Rosie’s lip curled.

“Nothing.” I cleared my throat at the sound of its huskiness. “The donations are from the football team.”

Rosie looked surprised by the news. “Are they? How did you manage to get them to donate? Because we are talking about the entire team. There were bunches of bags. The poor guy who brought them had to take two rides to carry them all.”

“I’m friends with one of the team players.” I downplayed it since it was a recent relationship. There’d been a lot of speculations here regarding Jacob’s and my breakup and I didn’t want anyone thinking it was because of Graham. I trusted Rosie—she was nice, and I liked her, but I was scared of eavesdropping ears everywhere.

“Friends?” Rosie scoffed. “More like an admirer. No one would go to such an extent for only a friend. This guy is trying to impress you, Hazel.”

My heart pummeled against my chest with hope. “You think?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes. Who would’ve thought football guys could be so romantic?” She sighed. “Put the guy out of his misery and give him a green light. That is, if you like him and are ready for a new relationship.”

My eyes flickered to Jacob. For the first time since our breakup, he was looking right at me, and he seemed worried. I was caught off guard since he had taken great lengths to avoid or dodge me in any way possible.

I waited for him to look away. It was by now his MO, but he remained staring at me. As seconds passed, his frown turned deeper, more serious. I didn’t know what was up with him, or why he had been behaving so weirdly around me—first avoiding me, and now staring at me blatantly with concern.

A part of me wanted to go to him and check if he was okay. Only because I still cared about him, in a platonic way.

We’d been friends since the beginning of high school. He was a good guy and hadn’t done anything wrong either.

I had no rotten feelings for him.

However, something stopped me from doing so. If he decided to remain in my life as a friend, I was agreeable to it, but it was his choice. He was the one who would have to approach me and let me know. He was the one who broke up with me. He was the one with the issue about me.

I wasn’t going to chase him.

He was a previous chapter in my life, and if he decided to remain in the past, it was up to him.

“I think I will give him a chance,” I told Rosie, removing my gaze from Jacob.

She smiled. “That’s good to know. He seems like a nice guy if he managed to do all this.”

Graham was amazing. With each day, I was falling deeper for him.

I continued to work the rest of Sunday. Whenever I glanced up, I caught Jacob looking at me in horror. He followed my movements, pressing his lips together like he wanted to say something.

I scowled, but decided to ignore him. I didn’t know if we had remained friends or not. I wished we had. However, I wasn’t pressing him. When he was ready, he could take a step to form a new friendship with me.

End of the chapter in other ways, though.