The Spice of Life

Humble Pie

Humble Pie

By the time Brynn landed in New York, it was already eight in the morning. She had lost three hours from California to New York over the five hour flight. Her mother met her at the airport with a smile on her face that Brynn just couldn't return.

She said hello, she forced herself to be polite. After spending so many months at The Spice of Life faking it to the customers, it wasn't hard to fake it with her own mother.

However, Jess Porter had raised her daughter and knew immediately that something was wrong. She didn't say anything though and ushered Brynn out. She didn't fill the air with useless chatter, that just wasn't the kind of woman she was.

Jess was an older version of Brynn. They only difference between them was the style of their clothing - Jess still had on her suit from work - the cut of their hair - Jess's was an expensively styled and shorter than Brynn's was after so long of her daughter not cutting it - and the few lines that had crept onto Jess's face despite her best attempts to keep them at bay. She took Brynn's bags for her and led her daughter outside where she hailed a taxi. Jess didn't own a car. There was no point to having one in this city.

It was raining, storming almost violently. It was coming down in sheets, darkening the sky and the ground that it soaked. The air was heavy with it, the smooth sound of it hitting hypnotic. It suited Brynn's numb feelings at the moment.

Brynn remained silent all through the walk out and the car ride back to the apartment. That was unusual in and of itself. Jess was expecting cutting, sarcastic remarks and got a little worried when she received none. She had wanted an attitude change by sending her daughter away, she hadn't wanted her spirit broken. But now she feared that was all she had accomplished.

Brynn barely noticed her mother. She was too busy trying to deal with the turmoil that was inside of her at the moment as she watched the city pass out the cab window.

The further she had gotten from Trenton, the worse she had felt. A feeling of absolute defeat weighed heavily on her heart. Not to mention the ache that pierced her with every hard earned beat. Sometimes it felt like she might not have a heart at all. Perhaps she just had an empty hole where her heart had been. That would explain why everything was so dull to her now. All of her emotions had just fallen down that hole leaving her hollow.

Her mother lived in Manhattan itself with an apartment built high up with a view of central park. Her mother was a fantastic attorney with celebrity clients. She could more than afford the luxury. The twenty minute drive there was boring but it passed by fast to Brynn, lost as she was in her own mind.

She didn't come back to herself until she felt the taxi pulling to a halt. Then she blinked and looked up at her mother's building almost in surprise. The ride felt shorter than she remembered it being.

“Come on. I ordered Indian food.” her mother patted her thigh with a bright smile before climbing from the car.

Food. Of course food. Brynn was starving. She hadn't eaten in hours. She wanted food. The desire for it was so sudden that it knocked the breath from her lungs. She didn't just want food. She needed it and she needed it now!

She jumped from the car almost too eagerly and beat her mother to the door.

Jess laughed, happy to see it. “If I had known you were so hungry, we would have stopped somewhere earlier.”

Brynn didn't bother to tell her that the hunger had come on so quickly and with no warning. There was no point. That would just take up take that could be spend getting to the food. She was sure she would die if she didn't get to eat it at this very moment.