With Love, Silvia. [✔️]

Chapter 6 The Sweetie Bean Café.

I awoke to the sound of a mixer beating eggs together. I had been through a rough restless night, and when I managed to go back to sleep I only got 30 minuets in before waking up and crying all over again. I peeked over Emma's bed to find that it was empty, and neatly made.

Darn it. I hated being the last one to wake up. Emma's alarm clock read 8:15 am, and hurried to the bathroom. I undressed and turned on the shower and let the hot water fall over my body. After a few minuets the water started to get cold so I shut the faucet off. I wrapped myself in the blue fluffy towel hanging on the back of the door and dried off.

I picked out an outfit for the day, a soft over sized light pink sweater with some black leggings and my boots. I was too sad to put in my contacts, so I put my glasses on instead. I slowly walked down the stairs to find everyone awake and eating pancakes and scrambled eggs. Erica busied herself with feeding the little ones as I sat down next to Emma.

"Good morning." Erica said spooning eggs into Owen's mouth.

I didn't answer. A big lump in my throat was the size of a softball and it was growing rapidly. I couldn't let them see me cry, no way. Who would want to deal with their new adopted child (who I must mention is FIFTEEN!) crying all over the place. No, I had to be strong.

That attitude lasted for about 30 seconds before I let one tear slip out and soon I was bawling. Through my blurry eyes I saw Rodger staring and Emma put her hand on my back.

Erica came to my rescue and helped me out of the chair I was sitting in. She lead me to the family room, when Erica sat, a rubber ducky was in the way so she made a squeak sound. I was too busy crying to laugh or smile.

"Silvey, I'm so sorry this happened to you." She said rubbing my back.

I continued to cry.

"Loosing someone you love is the hardest thing you'll ever have to face. I'm always there if you need help." Erica said.

"T-thanks." I sniffled out before crying again.

"How about you go upstairs and try to relax. I'll tell everyone to stay down here." Erica suggested after a long time of my crying.

I nodded weakly and headed upstairs sniffling. Once I got to Emma's room I buried myself in my comforter and vowed to never come out as long as I lived. Which is actually a hard thing to do, considering after a while I was beginning to suffocate. By then, all my tears had been cried out and I crept downstairs again. Erica was sipping coffee looking over the newspaper.

"Is there... a coffee shop around here?" I asked.

"Well, yes, but I have some right here if you want coffee." Erica said picking up the coffee pot pouring herself another cup.

"Uh, I think I'll just go get some somewhere. What is the place called?" I asked.

"The Sweetie Bean Café, it's about a 15 minuet walk from here. Up on main street. Walk straight take a left and then another left and it should be the first shop on the street. I could take you if you want." Erica offered.

"No thanks. I just need some time to clear my mind." I said clutching my journal to my chest.

"Ok sweetie." Erica said returning to her newspaper.

I sped out the door, and was at the coffee shop in no time.

Mom and I used to get a bulletproof cup of coffee every Friday morning in the little café by our apartment complex. It always brought a sense of relief to me, I could write in my journal, finish up my homework, or just have a relaxing morning with Mom.

I walked into the little café that had a hand painted sign above the striped awning. A little bell tinkled as I walked through the glass door. A sign written in loopy cursive displayed the store hours. Inside was a small area with a counter, and 5 tables. The barista behind the counter had a nametag on that read Hailey, and she was scribbling in a Sudoku puzzle. I approached her and noticed that she had completely filled out the first 3 boxes wrong, but shook it off and looked at their choices.

Tea, plain coffee, lattes, muffins and a lot of other things were scrawled up onto the chalkboard menu. I decided on some mango tea with a blueberry muffin. Hailey tore her attention away from her Sudoku and looked at me without a smile.

"What'd ya want?" She asked snapping her gum in a very annoying fashion.

"Mango tea with a blueberry muffin please." I said.

"That'll be $5.79." She said holding her hand out to receive the money.

I forked over some of my saved up cash I planned on using to buy new clothes and sat at the table closest to the window and waited. Since I was the only person there, I got my order quickly. I brought everything back to my table and pulled out my journal.

I took a tiny sip of the tea as I clicked my pen open, and was instantly blown away. It was the best tea I had ever tasted! I gobbled up the muffin in no time, it was so soft and the blueberries were still fresh. It was delicious. But even though I had the most delicious thing in the world, I was still sad. I wanted Mom here to enjoy it with me, and we could come back to this place every Friday morning. I felt myself preparing to cry, with my nose tingling and my eyes becoming blurry. But I took a deep breath and told myself to stay strong.

I wrote in my journal for a while and all my pain went away. After an hour I collected everything up and walked out into the autumn breeze blowing by. I hugged my journal close to my chest and vowed to come back to The Sweetie Bean Café tomorrow....