Unexpected Love

Chapter 3 - Bailey

Being an only child had it's perks. It was quiet around the small apartment my dad and I owned. I didn't have to share a room with anyone. I didn't have to share my food or my toys.

I was my own person.

My dad was barely around to cause a ruckus at home, so I was alone most of the time. The silence wasn't new to me. It was normal, it wasn't suspicious or weird for the quiet to surround me.

I didn't pay much attention to loneliness until I didn't have anyone to play dolls with. Until I didn't have anyone to get ice cream with. When I had no one to share my secrets with. I always thought about what it would be like if I had a sister or brother. Would we be close? Would we be best friends? Would his death have been easier if I had someone by my side while it happened? Would the nightmares stop? Just maybe if I had someone to be there, with me.

To take over when I couldn't.

To help organize and deal with everything. I may have been okay if someone was by my side. With a shoulder to lean on when I couldn't stand on my own two feet. I couldn't sit here and wonder what could've been if I had someone or didn't. The truth was that I didn't have anybody.

The truth was he was gone and there was nothing I could do or say to reverse time. No button to click to bring him back. He was gone, and nothing was the same.

I was supposed to open a bakery. How insane was it that the moment I tell him I was going away to open my own bakery he dies a week later?

And still, I get everything sorted. I talk to our lawyer who said, my dad wanted to be cremated if anything were to happen. So I did what he wanted; to cremate him and throw his ashes in his favorite river. Then I left, and my best friend Riley comforted me the entire time I was going through his death. Not a single tear fell during that time, all I could tell her was I needed to get away.

She told me about the small town she used to live in all I could think was; maybe I could open my bakery there.

Maybe I could start over.

How fucked up was it, my dad died a week ago and all I could think about was opening my own place.

I was really a sad excuse for a daughter.

He died and I went to open a bakery in a new town no less. It was really a laughable moment. I still hadn't cried even when we were at his sorry excuse for a funeral. Our lawyer, Riley, and I were the only attendees. Oh, how could I forget that one guy who only showed up to get the money back that he owed him? How could I forget the death notes I was being sent to my house?

The place I shared with Riley.

It got to that point that I couldn't stay, for Riley's protection.

She showed me pictures of her childhood home that was left in her name after her grandma died. She had a house in Crescent Creek, a beautiful brown-colored brick house with a small porch.

I decided to drive there with my clothes and baking equipment while Riley sends the rest of our belongings, giving me the house keys, telling me to let myself in when I get there.

She was coming in less than three days and we were going to be living in her childhood home. I didn't have much money after he died. I inherited a few thousand that I paid to the sketchy guy following me around. But the money I had left from work was enough to start over. I just needed to leave. I couldn't stand staying in the same place he died.

I didn't remember what happened. I was driving and creating a mental list in my head. Talking to myself. Something I always did, it never bothered Riley. She said it was what made me special because everyone has a quirk.