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"He's cheating on me."
Maisie Small knocked back the rest of her coffee and nearly gagged at the bitter taste of the dregs before turning to face her friend who was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Charity stood in the middle of Maisie's step-grandmother's bakery and was about to blow the whole damn place down.
"You don't know that," Maisie said, tapping her pen on the edge of her coursework. The first few weeks of college had been hell and the possibility of making friends was slimming down more and more seeing as her stepdad had talked her into living at home.
Stupid, stupid, stupid decision.
When the rest of the first years were having parties and staying over at each other's dorms, Maisie was stuck on a lumpy couch watching a football game with her stepdad, Tony. Her mom was no help at all as every waking moment she was trying to perfect her handmade candle collection which she thought was going to be some huge breakthrough in the industry and would make her a millionaire in a year.
It's been three years and the only thing her mom's handmade candles have done is stink up the entire house and force Maisie to spend every waking moment at the bakery down the street.
Charity suddenly snapped her fingers in front of her friends face and placed her hands on her hips over her painfully bright floral dress. "Are you even listening to me?"
"What?" Maisie grumbled. "I mean yeah, of course I am. Rick's cheating on you."
"Maisie!" Charity pouted.
"Sorry," Maisie winced.
"Am I just that bad that a guy would happily be with someone else but still pretend to be with me?" Charity asked. "Fuck. I don't love the guy but this shit hurts." She slumped down on a bright orange chair and continued to squirm until she eventually got comfortable. "Man, I hate these chairs."
Maisie nodded. "I would replace them but..."
"You have no money," Charity finished, sending her a sad look. "Maisie, you realize how hard it's gonna be to run this entire bakery and try to get a degree at the same time. You'll drive yourself insane."
"Loads of people have part time jobs while at college." Maisie blew a piece of red hair out of her face. "It's totally normal."
"Yeah." Charity rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. "Working part time is normal. Running an entire business is not. If you pull it off you'll hit Forbes one-hundred at this rate, but if you don't..."
