Putting on real people clothes that weren’t my raggedyold t-shirt and boy shorts, I stared at myself in the mirror, trying to appreciate the woman looking back at me. Some days I felt so much older than my twenty-four years, but then I looked in the mirror and tried to be thankful I didn’t look it.
My long copper colored hair and the light dusting of freckles over my nose made me look more youthful—at least that was what my mom kept telling me whenever she lectured me on my lack of skin care. Growing up, I’d always been so jealous of my mom’s green eyes, when somehow I’d gotten stuck with the brown eyes from my father’s side of the family. However, that seemed to be all I’d gotten from him. The rest of me was all my mom when it came to my appearance.
Shaking away the unwanted snide remarks piercing my mind, I went back into the kitchen to grab my coffee cup and the fresh coffee that had just finished brewing. I had a busy day to get started on, and I didn’t have time to stare at myself and question my existence today. That could easily be saved for later, shoved in between meeting my delivery man and making fresh bagels.
I finished getting ready for the day, fed CC, and then went downstairs and busied myself with work to keep my brain off theotherthoughts overwhelming my mind. I’d gotten the email right before I’d gotten into bed last night. The email said that, for whatever reason, I’d been accepted onto this damn app, and I needed to set up my profile as soon as possible to get started on the experience.
There was a survey I was supposed to take after my first ‘encounter’,as to help them make the app a smoother and safer experience. I genuinely didn’t even know what possessed me to agree to sign up for this damn thing. This was insane. My sexual experiences were basically nothingcompared to what I’m sure the majority of these humans were used to. Not that that was a problem for them, but I had to actually Google what some of the things were when I scrolled through what the profile asked. Apparently, the first questionnaire in the application? Yeah, that was the basic run-through just to get you in the door. The questions they dived into for your profile were an entirely different ball game of fun.
Once I picked my safe word and researched primal play, I started sweating and had to lock my phone and go the fuck to sleep. Not that it helped. My dreams were filled with dark rooms and masked men.
The chime over the front door brought my attention back and out of my inner monologue. I found myself looking up, suddenly slack-jawed as I stared at my mother of all people. This womannevercame here. Ever. Never ever.
Sliding the next tray of bagels into the oven, I wiped my hands across my white apron before walking over to the front counter. My most practiced customer service smile appeared across my face, specifically for her. This was not what I needed today. I was already feeling off-centered with the app and bringing CC home, my mother adding herself to the mix felt like a lot.
“Hey Mom, what are you doing here?” I tried as hard as I could to sound pleased to see her, but damn, that was hard when I had so much going on in my brain right now that pretending for my mom just didn’t seem possible. A deep whisper in the back of my head reminded me that I shouldn’t have to pretend with the woman who gave me life, but I ignored her—just like I always did.
She looked around the space, and I couldn’t tell if she was unimpressed or just…existing right now in my little slice of the world. She was in a white knee-length skirt and a dark purple blouse that looked amazing with her hair. But her gaze finally fell to me, her dark green eyes felt as if they were looking straight through my very soul. How the fuck did moms do that? Was it some sort of inherited talent you found when you became a mom? Or was it just mine?
“A mother can’t just stop by and see her only daughter at work?” she asked, her eyes wide in mock disbelief.
Once again, it was only me trying to hold back the eye-roll. “Of course you can, Mom. Do you want a cup of coffee or anything? A bagel? I just pulled a batch of blueberry out of the oven.”
“I’ll take a coffee to go, I won’t be staying long. I just wanted to run something past you, and I happened to be…in town.” I stared at her before forcing myself to move and grab her a coffee to go. It wasn’t that unthinkable that she was just stopping through, but the idea that she’d come into my work to grab a coffee in a town she hated was a bit far-fetched in my mind. I’d been open for almost four years now, and she’d never set foot inside this building.
Lori Dunagan did her utmost to stay the hell out of Raven Creek. She was convinced everyone still hated her because of my father, and truly, I didn’t blame her.
When I turned eighteen and changed my last name to Brady, which was my mom’s maiden name, it was simply to escape the Dunagan family connection. It really came in handy when I started Buns of Delight. When the paper said ‘Ember Brady opens new bakery on Main Street’people didn’t cringe at the name in connection to Bennett Dunagan and immediately think the bakery was a scam or a ploy or only here for a moment. It felt like a legitimate business to enter with my name on it.
Sure, I grew up here and went to school here, but it was easy to forget about the quiet girl who tried her utmost towork hard and stay out of everyone’s way. I went from Bennett’s daughter to Ember when I changed my last name and put the effort into creating a true name for myself. Sometimes, small towns could be funny that way—choosing what they wanted to remember and hold onto.
I finished my mom’s coffee and handed it across the counter to her, not expecting any sort of payment for it. She wasn’t known for that, which was fine. She did give me life after all, and I wasn’t that self-absorbed. “So, what did you want to run by me?”
She looked around the room one more time before her eyes landed back on me. “I have a man I’d like you to meet,” she said plainly.
I found myself just staring at her, trying to connect the dots in my head. It wasn’t working. “Are you dating someone new?” My mother had never dated anyone. She was still legally married to my father, and it seemed she had no intention of ever divorcing the man.
Now she rolled her eyes. “Of course not, Ember. I’m a married woman.” She cleared her throat and took a sip of her coffee. “Hm, this is good. Anyway, no. I have a man I think you’d like, and I set up a date for you two. You can thank me later. He’s a cutie, has a law degree, and he just joined his father’s practice. An all-aroundniceman. Something our family could surely use more of, don’t you think?”
I could see it now. He was probably blond-haired and blue-eyed. The guy wanted two kids, a white picket fence, and a wife who would stay home and cook and clean and take care of those two kids while he went off and golfed, met clients for dinner, and in twenty years I’d have to help him cover up some scandal because he was secretly banging the pool cleaner who would probably end up being a man, because that was just my luck. I couldn’t help the chucklethat escaped my mouth. There was nothing wrong with that life if that was what you wanted, but it wasnotwhat I wanted. Not in the least bit. So I decided to change the subject.
“I got a cat, his name is CC. I also just started a profile on a sex app. I looked up primal play last night, and it sounded interesting. So I think I’ll give that a shot first. Of course, I’ll let you know if it doesn’t go well, and you can shoot me over Mr. Doctor’s info.” I’d never been so happy to have security cameras in all of my life because the look on my mother’s face? Yeah, I would need that shit framed and hung on my wall. Her mouth was literally hung open, eyes wide, and a blush across her cheeks.
“Ember Rae Dunagan, you are not the least bit funny. He is a nice man! A lawyer,” she enunciated the word because I guess that was better than a doctor somehow? “I’m sending you the date information. I already set it up on a Wednesday evening and all, next week, at a nice restaurant. So show up, look nice, and Lord above help me if you have even a speck of cat hair on you. I don’t need him thinking my daughter is one of those women who call themselves a cat mom and take Christmas photos with their animals.”
Mom was breathless by the time she was done, and I couldn’t help but shake my head at her use of my full name. She’d gone ape shit when I’d told her I’d changed my last name from Bennett’s. She said I was disrespecting him—as if his existence near me wasn’t disrespectful on its own.
“Probably not happening. I’ll be running through the woods getting railed against a pine tree of some kind that night. I’ll have to catch him another time. Are you sure you don’t want a bagel or something for the road before you head out, Mom? Or was the coffee all you wanted?” I asked in my nicest customer service voice. Every part of this conversationjust made me want to ensure every word I was saying was the truth. Maybe I’d call her the next morning and let her know just how amazing it went.
She rolled her eyes again, taking her coffee as she walked out with a wave over her shoulder. That was fine. She could be mad. I wasn’t going to be though. I was proud of myself for putting my foot down and ignoring the insanity that was Lori Dunagan for once in my life. It felt good. Maybe I’d make it a new habit of mine.
Now I just had to find a man on this damn app to fuck me against a tree.
Awesome.
6
SCREAM-PIES
