Summer Of Broken Hearts.

chapter 2

Lydia's affair wasn't pleasant, nor was it funny to find out about. I remember it was Monday. I hadn't really slept well since we broke up, but it got worse when I found out about her ex-girlfriend.

Mondays are the days I open the store, as I am the manager. I was promoted almost two years ago, and we decided that I should open on Mondays. Anyway, Mondays are the slowest day of the week for many reasons.

First, everyone comes in with sleepy faces from the weekend, and the volume of customers in the morning is really low. But since I have to make almost everything from scratch, time flies.

Second, once you've finished everything, if people don't start to come in, you're screwed. It's going to be the most boring time of your life, and the thing is, you don't know until what time. That's annoying.

I guess you can't have everything, so while I have things to do, time passes quickly. When I finish, I either look for something else to do or Cara will start some kind of interesting conversation.

When I arrive at the store, I always switch on the lights. Yeen-Ly, our Chinese coworker, will be in with his lights on, doing the numbers from last week, like every Monday. Then, I switch on the oven and prover and let them get to temperature. Meanwhile, I put on my uniform and organize my wild curly hair into a bun. Once I'm ready, I prepare forty-six cookies: eight double vegan chocolate, twelve white chocolate, twelve chocolate chunk, eight raspberry cheesecake, and twelve smarties.

I prepare ten brown breads and eighty white breads, separated in trays, in turns of thirty breads each round, with a separation of fifteen minutes. For each round, I put the toppings: oats on one of the browns, thirty with cornmeal, and another thirty with herbs. I make a small soft line on the breads and leave them to fully grow.

According to Subway norms, the bread should rise in one hour and twenty minutes. But honestly, it usually takes around an hour and a half. Worst case scenario, it takes two hours, which is rare but not impossible. So I let them rise until I think they're big enough to go into the oven. Meanwhile, I do some cleaning, wiping the counter, toaster, and hot bath.

Once done, I refill the counter and fill up the hot well with water. I turn on the toaster and the hot well. After that, I prepare fresh vegetables for today or tomorrow. Normally, I start with tomatoes, as they are easy to slice, followed by onions, peppers, and cucumber. I change the chopper since we don't use the same tool to cut different vegetables. Once finished with the veggies, I prepare the store for the customers. Meanwhile, I check the food temperatures and write them down in the logbook.

Once I finish everything, I'm ready to serve customers if they come. As I said, Monday is the slowest day of the week. It was eleven o'clock when Cara came into the store. She dragged her bike inside and left it in the back hall where the back door is, plugging it in to charge.

Cara is my colleague from work, the one who still stands working with this company. Like me, she has also thought about leaving at some stage. Cara is Irish. She was my nightmare back in the day, her accent was my worst enemy. Back then, there used to be a Latvian girl named Vivian who was the manager. She was 27 years old when I met her, and Cara was 23. Vivian was the old manager, but once she reached her 30s, she felt that working in the food industry wasn't for her anymore, so she left. That's when I was offered the position. I was 27 at the time and said, "Oh, let's go then." I didn't mind taking on more responsibilities to earn some extra money.

Anyway, Cara has been working here for around five to six years, while I have worked for four. During this time, I've learned many things, some good and some bad, but we always find a way to get through it. One thing I've always wondered about Cara is how she always manages to have a perfect bun, with not a single hair out of place. By all means, my curly hair is a mess to organize. But I guess it's because her dirty blonde, straight hair is easier to manage. The interesting part is that when you talk to her, it feels like talking to a man. She breaks that stereotype of being a total damsel.

She always wears tracksuits. It's very rare to see her in shorts and a regular t-shirt. But hey, no judgment. Like her, I also love being comfortable. In fact, we're quite alike in that aspect.

Cara has a kid named Alicia. The child is one year old, a total toddler. Cara shows me some of the funny videos of their bonding time, which usually involves making a nice food mess. Since I was with someone, I had the thought of being a mom one day. Like Cara, I always wondered if I or Lydia would be the funny mommy and who wouldn't. We also talked about who would enjoy the joy of pregnancy first. Since Lydia seems busy with her life, back in her country with her ex, my life seems like a total endless punishment, like walking through hell. So that idea of my family has to hold for a bit longer if I want to do it with someone; otherwise, I might have to do it alone.

"So, did you guys find a new place to stay?" Cara asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Well... um... we actually..." I struggled to find the right words.

"I know it's difficult, but I know a couple of places that are for rent. If you want, I can send you the link and you guys can talk to the landlords," Cara was explaining, but her voice was getting less clear. I felt like I was about to cry or have a panic attack. I didn't know which emotion would come first, anger or sadness. "And you can reach an agreement. See if it's what you need..."

"Yeah... about that..." I took a deep breath, "We broke up." Cara's face froze. She looked at me like she didn't know what to say. She seemed torn between saying, "I'm so sorry," or asking, "Are you okay?" I knew that feeling because it was the same as when Lydia left.

"So... are you okay?" she asked the most secure question.

I felt off for a moment. I didn't know whether to go silent or start crying and ask what I did wrong.

"No, I am heartbroken, and I don't really know what to do. She's gone, and I still don't know what I did wrong. Oh, and she got back with her ex-girlfriend, so the situation couldn't be better. But other than that, I am alive, or not? I don't even know what I want..." I let my head talk. My brain was in some sort of chaotic state, and Cara cut through my thoughts.

"You know, it's her loss. She played you, and she should be ashamed. If she didn't want you in her life and did something like this, I don't hope for anything bad, but karma will make her pay for whatever she has to pay for," said Cara.

I didn't really know if she was cheering me up or just slapping me with more reality. But like I said, Cara is that kind of girl with a man's mentality and a dose of womanly perspective. I guess I needed to hear that to realize maybe Lydia isn't for me, and I should live my life.

After a couple of hours without customers, we finally got some people. It turned into a queue, one customer after another. For two hours, we were serving many sandwiches with meal deals. After that rush, we did a bit of cleaning. I placed an order for tomorrow, prepared a bank check with the drop-outs of the last hour, and my shift ended. I went to the bank, left the check with the cashier. They did the transaction, and I left the bank. I was walking near Grafton Street, but I knew that if I stayed there, it would be a nightmare because of the amount of people at that time. Passing by the street before Grafton, I saw a Café Nero, so I decided to stop by.

I went inside. It seemed like a regular café with many students working on their laptops or studying. Walking in, I observed the menu, reading what kind of coffees they prepared, when the barista stopped in front of me.

"Hi, how may I help you?" she said with a big smile. The barista girl seemed a bit older than me. She was obviously wearing the black t-shirt from Café Nero and jeans. Her brown curly long hair was free. I looked at the menu again and then at her.

"May I have a regular latte, please?"

"Sure, right away."

She began to prepare my latte while I prepared the money. Meanwhile, I was looking for a quiet place to sit. Since I didn't feel like talking or socializing much, I found a table in the back. The barista placed my latte on the counter and took the money for the coffee. I grabbed my coffee and my change, then looked around the store. The first part was too busy, so I moved to the quieter area. I took a chair and sat down at the first free table I found. I checked my social media, then began to read my book while enjoying my coffee.