When ex-boyfriend Jamie shows up at Baked With Loved with a proposition, Kate is split between protecting her heart and saving her business.
(Extended Summary inside!)
JAMIE TARTT x OC
TED LASSO, SEASON 3
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FIVE YEARS AGO . . .
A RED DRESS and a reservation at Enzo's. It was supposed to be the perfect night.
They were going to celebrate one year of dating against all odds. That despite Evan and Darcy's hesitance when it came to the on-the-rise Man City footballer (before he'd been loaned out) and the re-emergence of Jamie's father and his shit behavior, they'd made it.
Or so she thought.
Kate waited for an hour, but she supposed she was the fool who thought running an hour late wasn't a warning sign. But he hadn't given her any reason to doubt him much before, why would she start now? So she endured the pitiful looks and the loud whispers while she sipped at her water, burning as red as her dress with embarrassment.
And when the waitress came around for the fourth time . . .
"Is there anything you need? I could take your order if you're ready."
"I'm so sorry for wasting your time. I don't think my date is coming."
Tears threatened to fall, but Kate refused to admit how hurt she was. Instead, she checked her phone—not one missed call, not a single text. There was only silence, and when she finally messaged him, an error sign.
Twelve months (talks of marriage, sweet nothings, shared whispers in the middle of the night, smiles meant only for each other, finding steady ground together) down the drain just like that (the naivety of young love, bitter memories, a lack of closure, learning to be alone again, the sound of her heart shattering against her bruised ribcage to fill the silence).
And oh fuck did it hurt. It was feeling the claw marks of her heart wanting to reunite with its other half and then the slow agony of realized loneliness.
"Evan . . . can you come pick me up?" She stifled a sob by pulling her bottom lip between her teeth as she pulled off the pearl bracelet he'd gifted to her last week. "Yeah, bring Darcy too."
🍰
THE PRESENT . . .
Kate stared at her phone, just as conflicted and torn as she had been all afternoon, waiting for the answer to drop from the kitchen ceiling.
A tumultuous week had passed since Jamie's initial visit to Baked With Love, and since then (after she begrudgingly accepted his number before he left), she'd been torn between calling him to call things off and sucking it up so not to go back on her word. Especially since today, they were supposed to meet at the bakery.
