Chapter 19

It’s been three days since I last left the house or talked to Collin. I called off of work and decided to join the classes that we had left online. I was feeling off about how Collin handled me and I needed to give my arm some time to cool off. He must have hurt me a lot more than I thought because my wrist is still sore, days later.

It was Friday and I had only one class which I decided to take online from home. When that was done, I proceeded to get ready to head over to the bakery and work for the rest of the evening. I had to make up for all the time I missed over the last three days. Life was hard enough with me having to essentially live paycheck to paycheck.

-12 pm-

Walking into the bakery, I noticed how busy it was and only one till open. It looks like once again, some of the staff decided not to go in. That was an issue I was going to have to fix seeing how overloaded staff would get at some points in time. The one thing I was grateful for was the fact that Star was not here because I might have ended up hitting her if she tried to provoke me.

Rushing to the back, I pulled my 4c hair into a bun and changed into the work shirt. I proceeded to head by the kitchen and greet everyone in there before grabbing a tray of the famous chocolate banana cupcakes and walking with them to the front.

Sliding the tray into the display I headed over to the second cash register, patting Emmy on her back as a greeting, not wanting to distract her from the clients she was tending to. Noticing who I was, half the people in the line walked over to me as even more people walked in.

“Good afternoon, welcome to Secret Recipe. How may I help you?” I asked the couple that was standing in front of me, holding hands and looking into the display.

“Hi, umm can we please have two slices of the black forest chocolate cake with some sweet tea?” The woman asked with a bright smile on her face.

“Of course. Are you having it here?”

“Yes please,”

“Alright. Anything else?” I asked, ringing up their order

“Ohh babe don’t forget to get a dozen of the chocolate banana cupcakes for my moms. She’ll trip if we forget,” Her man spoke up with a soft smile on his face as he looked down at her.

“Okay, let me just add that. Your total is $20.84. Will that be cash or credit?” I asked as I looked up and saw Collin watching me from the outside, peering through the huge windows. Not wanting to get distracted, I looked back at the couple and received the card that they provided. Swiping it, I handed the card and receipt back before quickly putting together their order.

About 20 minutes later, we had attended to all the customers and there was no one left in the shop. Looking up, I once again saw Collin, this time holding a bouquet of white roses in one hand and a takeaway bag in the other hand. Motioning for him to come in, I stepped around from the display and walked up to him.

“Hi A,”

“Hi, what do you want?” I asked him being brief and concise.

“I just wanted to apologize to you for how I manhandled you a couple of days back,” He said as he stretched both arms out towards me, waiting for me to accept the gifts.

“Funny how it’s taken you days to come around. You should have apologized the very night it happened. It doesn’t really matter now,” I told him, grabbing the food but leaving the flowers in his hands.

“I know, I know, I’ve just been b-,”

Cutting him off, I responded as I placed the food on a table close to me. “Busy, I know. That’s all you seem to be these days.

“It’s not like I’m lying baby,” He tried to plead, reaching out to hold my hand which I pulled back from him.

“Well, you make time for people you care about. You need to be getting back to your job anyways. I’ll hit you up later,” I ended the whole conversation, bidding him farewell as he walked out into the busy mall.

Grabbing the food, I flipped the open sign to close and locked the door since it was now lunch break. Walking to the office, I closed the door behind me and pulled out my iPad, going into Netflix and pulling up an episode of Say I Do to watch as I ate.

The rest of the day went by pretty simple. We had a plethora of deliveries to make and another rush of customers that came in but other than that, the day had gone by pretty quickly. I was now packing up making my way home to get ready for the dinner at Kerry’s place for her to finally introduce her man to us.

*Door Opens*

It was 7 pm and I had just walked into my apartment, placing my bags down before rushing to get ready for Kerry’s dinner where she was going to introduce us to her man. Stepping out of the shower, I walked up to my suitcase in one corner of my room and put it on the floor, opening it and pulling out one of the few pricey dresses I managed to own. I kept the more pricey items I managed to buy once every few months in this suitcase to keep them safe.

After massaging some lotion, I walked into the bathroom and did my eyelashes, a nude lip, and placed a pair of dramatic eyelashes on. I did not really do make-up due to my sensitive skin.

Pulling on my dress, I slipped on a pair of black pumps before putting on a simple silver necklace and grabbing a clutch. Checking my phone, I saw a text from jessica saying she would be here in two minutes, and I proceeded to walk downstairs and wait for her.