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I loved Erik, but a part of me had always been guarded with him, scared of giving myself entirely to him. Of course, if I think about it, most of our time together was spent in me helping him out with his business proposals. The pain of what he did is still fresh, but I am not planning on letting it hold me back.
Erik had my love, but only a portion of my trust. Trust isn’t a commodity that will ever come easy to me again.
My eyes harden, and I stand up when I see the familiar landscape.
I get off at my stop, and my eyes go across the road to the bakery that I am now running. I haven’t opened it for the past few days, and today will be my first day returning. I know the two girls whom I hired arrived in the early hours of the day. I woke up to the sounds of them bustling about downstairs.
It is oddly convenient that my apartment is located directly above the bakery. I never understood how things fell so neatly into place. Vera handed over the bakery to me after agreeing to minimal monthly installments when she decided to move to Canada with her son.
Now, I own my own bakery and rent an apartment right above it.
I worked really hard for this. As I enter the shop, my lips curve slightly at the scent of freshly baked bread.
“Charlotte!” Riley, a college student whom I hired a few months ago, looks at me, wide-eyed. “I didn’t see you this morning! When did you leave?” I put down my bag.
“Yeah, I took the back entrance.”
Sonya, my other assistant, calls out from the kitchen, “Hey, Charlotte!” She sticks her head out, and informs me, “A reporter showed up an hour ago asking after you. I told him he got the wrong woman. The Charlotte Evans who works here is fifty-four and went to attend her grandson’s wedding in New York.” I still.
“This won’t be a problem to you guys, will it? Because I have a feeling that reporters will keep coming over till this whole mess is sorted out.”
Riley grins.
“We got your back. I’ll put up a board outside. Anyone who has questions must buy. More business.”
Riley was the one who hooted after my nuptials, and even now, she casually supports me as if it is nothing.
“I appreciate this, you two.”
They just grin and move on with their duties.
It makes me relax when I realize they didn’t plan on bringing up anything that happened, and I feel that today might turn out to be a good day.
As I tie my own apron, I recall the way Philip refused to sign the annulment papers.
More than just angering me, his actions confuse me. What does he want?
There is nothing I can give him. There is no benefit he could possibly get from this marriage. So, why is he being so persistent?
I find it hard to believe that his feelings are hurt that I walked away from him ten years ago. Of course, he never knew the whole story of what happened after I left Agatha’s birthday party that evening, the traumatizing events that occurred that very night. Nor will he ever find out.
Let him think what he wants, I tell myself as I start icing the fresh batch of cupcakes. His opinion matters little to me.
The part of me that is logical, knows that he took pity on me. But such a decision, even motivated by pity, makes no sense to me.
Maybe if we have been friends, it would make more sense to me, but for someone that I know is a very savvy businessman, for him to take such a step—
My hand falters on one of the designs, ruining it. I stare at it, upset.
I can’t afford to waste too much product.
However, since I haven’t had any breakfast, I take a bite out of the ruined cupcake and chew slowly, surveying this bakery that I now call my own.
Although it is located downtown, in a seedier part of town, the customers are many, and that is all that matters. I am a known face around these parts, and although Vera taught me the basics of baking, somehow it turned out that I have a natural flair for it.
Pouring over cookbook after cookbook over the years, I tried and experimented with different recipes, finally coming up with my own variations. The small bakery that Vera was running for a handful of years, slowly started picking up more business till it was one of the most successful businesses in this part of town.
Maybe that was why Vera handed it over to me, because she knew I could run this place and that this bakery was all I had.
