Death by Chocolate

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

To say I was not at my best when I got to the shop the next morning would be the quintessential understatement. Even after two Cokes and another piece of the left over Brownie Nut Fudge Pie, I was still operating in a fog.

After Rick left the night before, I stared at the package he'd left for me for a long time, trying to decide if I should mail it back to him. Finally my curiosity got the better of me. He knew it would.

The small box contained a silver necklace and matching earrings. I've always preferred silver to gold though Rick thought I was nuts. Actually, knowing his obsession with "the finer things," the setting could have been platinum. I don't know enough about jewelry to tell the difference.

But it was the motif that brought tears to my eyes and poignant dreams to my restless sleep. The jewelry was obviously custom made, the design consisting of two intertwined hearts, each set with a different stone...one amethyst and one diamond...my birthstone and his. It matched the ring he'd given me years ago.

As I sat there staring at the jewelry, Henry climbed into my lap and brushed his face against my cheek as if he understood that I needed affection and comfort. He was right.

At work a few hours later, I rubbed the back of my hand across my eyes and tried to concentrate on preparing the morning pastries, an activity that had come automatically yesterday.

Paula wasn't in any better shape. Her tension level had escalated back to arrival day heights. I didn't bring up her strange comments from the night before about turning herself in and my rescuing Zach. Even if the place wasn't bugged, I feared any little push would send her over the edge and then I'd have to make the morning cappuccino and lose every customer who came in.

When she dropped an egg on the floor, you'd have thought she'd done something to doom the place to bankruptcy, the wrecking ball, and maybe even a live, on-site volcano. I tried to assure her that life would go on in spite of the loss of one egg. I even offered to clean it up myself, but then I burst into tears. I don't think I was very successful in my reassurances.

However, it worked out okay because my outburst gave Paula the chance to chide me for my terrible diet of chocolate and Coke and to force me to eat a cheese omelet with picante sauce. I hate to admit it, but that did clear away some of the fog, and by the time we finished with the breakfast customers and closed to fix lunch, my hands were steady enough to measure cocoa.

Paula left to take Zach to the nursery and I decided to make my Brownies with Raspberry Jam and Butter Cream Frosting for the special Dessert Du Jour. The recipe was time consuming and required concentration. Maybe that would keep my mind away from all those other avenues I didn't want to take.

The phone rang, and I jumped and dropped the can of cocoa. If this kept up, pretty soon we'd have a cake on the floor.

I answered the phone, bracing myself to hear Rick's voice. I was pleasantly surprised when it was my mother. That tells you how much I did not want to talk to Rick.

"How are you doing, sweetheart?" she asked in a hushed, compassionate tone, as if worried I might explode at any minute. She'd been doing that ever since Rick and I split up. Okay, so that pretty accurately described my state of mind, but she could have pretended not to notice. Then I wouldn't have had to work twice as hard and do all the pretending.

I'd been silly to think she and Dad would be pleased at the break-up just because they hadn't wanted me to marry him in the first place. They were not, of course. I suppose I should count my blessings they hadn't decided I was still young enough to go to law school.