Crumbling Cakes

Part XVII

A/N: Finally, after much labor of love, this beast is complete! I hope you enjoy the part since it's quite the opening for the rest of the story. I'd like to give a shout out to @seyachowdhury for creating the beautiful cover now available!  So, without further ado, Part 17 my dears!

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Three weeks into October and we haven't seen temperatures above 30 degrees out. It was safe to say that winter had shown up uninvited quite early this year. That is until today. On the occasion a heatwave likes to appear and throw everyone off balance. Sometimes it's one day, other times it'll stretch to a few. Today was sunny, breezy, and delightfully warm. Where the air smelled more like the middle of Summer and not the shafted Fall that we really had.

So this little birdy called in sick. Oh, alright I texted in sick. To be more specific, Strawberry Fields got a sick face emoji followed by a sorry. He told me to feel better with a bowl of soup emoji. Some grinning may have ensued. The hitch? I was neither sick, nor sorry. Much.

The grizzly wasn't even suspicious. Connection between the weather and my sudden illness didn't seem to cross his mind. Maybe that's because I kept running around without a jacket for so long and it wasn't that far of a leap. Whatever the case may be, I played hooky.

All was well except for the "checking in" texts that started to filter in. They were innocent enough but guilt started to pile in my gut like an anthill. I tried to reason with myself that I wasn't simply lounging around on this sick day. It was a necessary evil. The weather was actually a coincidence, though it did make it more enjoyable.

I had a second phone interview with the folks for that clerk data entry job; that I took care of this morning. For a small business, they were really putting me through the wringer. Although Herb—that would be the husband—sounded quite sweet on the phone. Turns out they were backlogged because neither him or his wife really knew how to work "that blasted thing." I was taking a shot in the dark that the "thing" was the computer.

I also had errands. Tons and tons of errands. Library books were due back—ones I missed the deadline on and now had to fork over 10 bucks to pay off—and new ones that needed to be picked up. A new prepaid card was waiting for me at the drugstore, along with the cold medicine I had yet to grab. Then there was the sad matter of my dwindling pantry—shocking, I know—that needed some attending. And my pesky P.O. box may need to get emptied out.

All things that desperately needed my attention and I have been slacking on. Once again, not out of laziness, but lack of opportunity. The weather has been miserably cold and I've been trying to stay at the bakery as long as possible. Getting there earlier than is required of me and being one of the last people to leave every night. Part of that has also been about the extra cash. It's no secret that I needed it.

I've joined Sebastian on a couple of charity weekends for the same reason. Warmth and money. And of course because he's not so hard to look at and interactions with him one on one are slowly becoming one of my favorite things. Not that you'll ever hear me admit that to him out loud.

Then there is the tiny matter of my run in the other night with the goon. Paranoia has become my constant companion to and fro on every expenditure outside of my unit. And I'm slightly unnerved to say that I've started to see her men pop up more often than not. This did not bode well for me.

It meant she had an inkling of my general location—which in the three and a half years that I've resided at the storage facility—is a fucking disaster. It was yet another reason why I took extra precaution in spending so many hours at Shy Guy's.

In the early mornings and the late nights, it was the coldest. That little bite kept me alert and on my toes—frozen and all. The lack of people bustling around allowed me to pick out foe from innocent bystander. But that doesn't necessarily work for errands. My backpack will make me stick out and slow me down. A warm day like this meant lots of hustle and bustle. Even with the bag I could easily blend in with the crowds. You know, just another commuter trying to get to her destination.