Touch Me (You & Me 2)

Her reflection in the mirror was a little better than she’d expected. When she was at Ben’s place, she’d been shocked at how bad she looked after her night with Tim. Thankfully, the sleep had done her good, and she looked much better after the rest. She still looked like she’d been in a scuffle, but better.

After quickly brushing her teeth, washing her face, and pulling her hair into a ponytail, Katherine was ready for work. Still at risk of being late, she pushed through the pain and ran down the steps of her apartment building as fast as she could before jogging down her street to get to the bakery as soon as possible.

“I’m here! I’m here!” Katherine yelled, as she walked through the back door designated for employees only. The bakery didn’t open for another twenty minutes, but she needed to help with prepping the cabinets before the store opened.

“Don’t worry, the boss isn’t here,” Talia said, as Katherine walked in.

“Thank God! I thought I was going to be late.” She sighed as she pulled an apron from the hanging rack before wrapping it around her body.

“Katherine! What happened?” Talia gasped as she held Katherine’s arm in her hand, inspecting a bad bruise on her bicep.

“Oh, this?” Katherine looked down, trying to think of an acceptable excuse. During her marriage to Tim, she was quick on her feet, creating excuses for bruises out of thin air. But after two years on her own, she was rusty and it took her longer than normal to come up with a lie. “It was at the gym.”

“I thought I was the only one who was that clumsy! I swear I get a new bruise every time I step in that place. I’m glad you’re okay,” Talia smiled as she rubbed the pad of her thumb over the bruised skin.

“I’m fine,” Katherine nodded, though the guilt of lying to her new friend was weighing on her.

“I know. You’re tough as nails, Katherine. So, let me show you what we have left to do,” she waved before walking towards the front of the bakery.

“Wow, it looks great in here. It seems like everything is done,” Katherine remarked when she saw the dining area. Designed to look like an Italian café, the bakery was more rustic than modern. It was a small space, but by using mostly white décor, the owner had successfully gotten the most of it.

“Thanks! I love opening because I get to set the look of the bakery for the day. I’ve already filled the displays with pastries and cleaned all the tables. I think the last thing to do is start the coffee, just make sure to make both regular and decaf,” Talia delegated, as she wiped the glass countertop.

“I’ll get on it now,” Katherine said, while moving to her barista corner. The aroma from the coffee beans was so strong, she took a second to close her eyes and enjoy it.

It was then that she remembered how much she loved her job. There was no way she could allow Tim to ruin everything when it had all fallen together so perfectly. It was interesting that Katherine had found her way back into the culinary world in some way, and she wanted to make sure she didn’t let Tim destroy her dreams for a second time.

“So, are you going to make me pull it out of you?” Talia asked, and Katherine could feel her heart flutter with shock.

“What do you mean?” she asked, afraid to find out what her friend was referring to. She hadn’t expected her to know anything about what had happened, and she wasn’t ready to tell her about Tim and his return to her life.

“The date, silly! Don’t play coy, I want to know what happened with your fancy date night with Ben!” Talia yelped, and Katherine released the breath she was holding. It was a relief to know that her secret was still safe, and that Talia was only talking about her date.

“Oh, right.” Katherine giggled before telling Talia all about Ben. “Did I tell you he surprised me with a gown?” She asked.

“Yes, you said you were going to the charity event,” Talia reminded her of their previous conversations at work. It was great for both of them that Katherine was still training, because that meant they were scheduled to work together every shift.

“Yeah, his friend hosts all these different charity events throughout the year, and he always asks Ben to attend,” Katherine recalled Ben’s words.

“I bet he does. I would too if I had a billionaire for a best friend,” Talia joked, and the two women laughed together.

“I didn’t even think of that. Well, we had a good time. I wore the gown and I got to meet his friends. Everything was really nice. The gala was held at one of those fancy hotels downtown,” Katherine explained, purposely leaving out the part about Tim.

She didn’t want to overcomplicate her work life with the drama of her marriage. What happened that evening was so embarrassing, she didn’t want to have to relive the details if she didn’t have to. She could still remember the sympathy in Ben’s eyes when she revealed her story and she didn’t want that from Talia.

She enjoyed being liked for who she was today, rather than pitied for who she used to be. Talia didn’t need to know Tim was in town, because Katherine knew it would only make her more protective, and worse, possibly scare her. No, she didn’t want to burden everyone in her life, so she focused on the event instead of the reason it was ruined.

“Was it like, filled with celebrities?” Talia asked, as she stacked disposable cups in their designated spaces.

“No, I actually thought of how in Los Angeles, it’s all about who comes to your event. Promoters make sure they have celebrities for any type of opening you can imagine, but here it’s like they don’t care about that at all,” Katherine shared a thought she had during the event.

“Well, the thing about here is that you don’t have to be famous to be rich. Everyone there was probably wealthy, just like Ben. But you’d never know it here, because they’re not movie stars. They could be engineers or entrepreneurs instead,” Talia shrugged.

“I didn’t even think of that,” Katherine nodded.

San Francisco was like another world from LA. Everyone seemed to be interested in their own niche and less interested in the glamour and fame like she was accustomed to. It was so great to have a friend like Talia who could explain the differences she was noticing.

A subtle alarm sounded at the register and Talia tapped on the touch screen a few times to silence the beeping. Then, she turned to Katherine to let her know it was time to open the bakery. Knowing how busy the morning rush would be, they both took a deep breath before Talia went to open the doors. In less than five minutes, there was a line of patrons, and the two women worked together to fill orders like they always did. Talia took the orders, handled the money, and gathered all the baked goods ordered while Katherine made all the drinks.