HONEY
“Oh my God, look at all those penises!” Sailor exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen of my bakery.
I was bent over one of the stainless-steel tables, applying star-shaped icing borders to thirty-nine cupcakes decorated with sugar penises.
“They’re for Barbie Elliot’s bachelorette party tomorrow afternoon,” I explained, not looking up. I was on my last row of cupcakes. Two more borders and I was done. I could grab some lunch.
“Why are there only thirty-nine? Why not forty?” Sailor asked. Then he gasped. “Please tell me your pregnancy hormones didn’t kick in and you had to devour one. I know you said you couldn’t help yourself when it came to cock, but girlfriend, this is taking it too far. What will Barbie Elliot do without all of her penises?”
I rolled my eyes. I knew I’d regret telling Sailor about my overactive hormones and sex drive.
I finished the last icing border and straightened. “It was deliberate. Barbie Elliot found out one of her bridesmaids is dating her ex-fiancé. So the bridesmaid got booted from the wedding party, because according to Barbie, she’d broken girl code.”
Sailor’s eyes lit up. “Oh, a scandal. I love it.”
“Barbie insisted I only deliver thirty-nine. She wants everyone to remember that someone is missing. And she wants them all to remember why.”
“Ugh. That woman is so totalitarian.” Sailor waved it off. Bored.
“Can you do me a favor? Can you pack all of these up in those boxes we keep for bachelorette parties? I’m going to get some lunch.”
“Want me to go pick some lunch up for you?” he offered.
“No, thanks. I need to stretch my legs. I’ve been bent over thirty-nine penises all morning.”
Sailor’s eyes lit up with glee. “Oh, darling, sounds like a Friday night at my place.”
Outside it was warm, and the midday sun felt good on my skin. I took my time, enjoying the walk to Mickey’s, the popular pizzeria Caleb had taken me to the night he’d found out about the baby. Mickey’s made the best wood-fired pizzas in the south, and when the cravings hit, wild horses couldn’t hold me back. As I neared, the delicious aroma of hand-tossed pizza dough, rich marinara sauce, deli meats, and a thousand different cheeses wafted out onto the street, and my stomach began to growl. When I walked in, I started to salivate.
I didn’t need to think about what to order. I was a regular now, so when Mickey saw me walk in, he winked and told me one mushroom margherita pizza was coming right up.
I leaned against a dark timber pole as I waited and started scrolling through Facebook on my phone.
It took me a while before I saw them.
In fact, it was only by chance that I looked up and there they were.
In a dark, shadowy corner of the room, sitting close to one another.
My throat tightened and I immediately wished the floor would open up and suck me down to the bowels of Destiny where I could make my escape. Unfortunately, I had already ordered. So making any kind of mistake would mean relinquishing my fifteen-dollar pizza. Not to mention, it would be rude. So I decided my best option was to hide behind a dark timber post and wait for my pizza, completely hidden from view. Which totally would have worked if Caleb hadn’t looked up at that exact moment.
His face lit up when he saw me, but then he frowned as if something suddenly occurred to him. Like how to explain to his date that his roomie was knocked up with his baby. The girl with him saw us looking at each other and frowned. It made Caleb act.
“Honey!” he called out.
Reluctantly, I approached their table.
“Hey, what a surprise seeing you here,” I said, trying not to notice how attractive his date was and how put together she seemed. I smiled at her. “Hi, there.”
“Brandi, this is Honey. My roommate.”
Brandi visibly relaxed. “Oh, right. The one you were telling me about.”
My ears perked up.
“I told Brandi how I’d moved in with a friend because I needed a change of scenery,” Caleb explained.
Emotion spun through me.
A change of scenery?
What. The. Fuck?
Everybody knew about the baby, why not this woman?
“Sure, yes. Of course,” I squeaked. It was hard to talk because a big ball of cold had lodged itself in my tight throat. My eyes reached for him, questioningly, but he was too busy keeping it cool to notice.
And that was the moment, right there. The moment I realized I was living a lie. I could no longer hide my true feelings for Caleb and I felt angry at myself because of it. This was exactly what I had wanted to avoid. Feelings. Undeniable feelings for Caleb.
And now they were all up in my face as I stood there in front of him and his date.