The Baker

Chapter 20

Ben had listened to his mother talk his ear off for about twenty minutes. He would be lying if he said he was listening to what she was saying. His mind kept wandering off to his dream. He and Cassie were married and he was 99% sure that she was going to tell him she was pregnant. He's never smiled so widely at the thought. Adam was right; they could get married. And Ben could see it clearly, too. Her walking down the isle in a beautiful white dress that showed off all her curves, as the sun shines through the windows making her look more radiant than she already is. 

He sighed into a smile, but was inturrupted when his mother said through the phone, "Ben? Are you listening?" Ben cleared his throat and said, "Of course, of course, but um...I have something to tell you." "Oh? What's that?" Taking a deep breath, he told her, "I've met someone. Someone very...very special." 

Ben had to pull his phone away from his ear because Wanda squealed so loudly. He answered all her questions as much as he could, but also couldn't bare to let one big detail out of this. "Mum...I love her. And she loves me and...God, I've never been so happy! I know you'll love her, too." Wanda cooed for a few more minutes about how happy she is for him, and then they set up a date to meet up. 

"How does the Sunday you get back sound? We can meet at the house and I'll make lunch. Please don't tell me she's one of those twigs that eat salad without dressing and a grain of rice." 

Ben laughed, "No, mum, she's far from that. She's not afraid to eat, which has been great for the junk food in the house for the past few weeks." 

"Well, that's lovely, Ben! Oh, I can't wait to meet her!"

"I can't wait for you to meet her, either, mum. But I should go, I've got a Skype date with her in a few minutes. I'll call you later." After hanging up, he opened his computer and signed into Skype. He typed in her username, but saw she wasn't online. He looked at the time and saw it was 6:58 in London. He leaned back against the headboard and got himself comfortable as he waited. 

***

"I can't believe you think I did this! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Cassie and Jess rolled their eyes at Wendy. They had called her in after work to explain the situation, but Wendy caught on quite quickly. She then started yelling and at Jess and Cassie about how they were "bitches" and "fucking low-life's" for thinking she would ever do something like that. Then, she started crying. Cassie felt awful, but Jess was emotionless. 

"Wendy," Cassie sighed, "we're just asking if you know anything. We're not blaming you, we're not pointing fingers. Just please understand that with your past, we have every right to think such things."

Wendy tried to breathe normally, but was struggling, as she was staggering them. Once she finally got a hold of herself, she huffed, "Fine. Yes."

Jess and Cassie leaned towards her. "Yes, what?" Jess asked. 

Wendy sighed, "Yes, I bloody did it! I took the damn things and sold them online! And the only reason I'm telling you this is because I feel really fucking awful about it! You both gave me a chance that no one else did and I took advantage of it!" 

Cassie and Jess were a little brought back by her honesty. They thought she'd put up a fight, threaten to sue, throw a punch or two, but...damn. This went well.

"I'm sorry, Cassie," she cried. "You've been so good to me and I let you down. I'm sorry."

Cassie didn't know how to feel. Hurt? Yes. Betrade? Obviously. But she also didn't feel anything at all. Wendy didn't deserve sympathy from her.

"Wendy, please turn in your name tag and apron. You're fired." The words didn't come out easily, but Cassie was so upset, she hardly noticed that she said them. "You will be hearing from our lawyers and will be expected to re-pay every single penny you stole from us."

Wendy nodded and set her things down on Cassie's desk. "Again," she said to both Cassie and Jess, "I'm sorry." She left without another word. Jess looked at Cassie and asked, "You okay, kid? I know you really wanted to help her." Cassie shrugged. "It's fine," she croaked. "This was her own fault." Jess looked curiously at Cassie. She knew bottling up her emotions like this was bad for anyone around her when she decided to let it go. Jess' guess of who the lucky canidate would be: Ben. Poor guy, she thought. Their relationship was good while it lasted.

***

Ben's P.O.V.

7:30. Well, Ben would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed. Very disappointed. He figured she got caught up in work, so he shot her a quick text.

Caught up in work, babe? xx

He had just set down his phone on the table when his text alret chimed.

Yep.

"Okay," he said out loud. "Obviously not in a good mood." He sent her another one.

Everything alright? Do you need to talk? xx

Again, she replied quickly.

No

"Oh boy," he muttered. He decided to text Adam.

My girl is in a bad mood. Would Kate happen to know what's going on? -B

Ben sat back in his chair and clicked on Cassie's skype username. He just scanned over her profile, but stopped when he saw her picture. It was too small for him to make out before, but now that he could fully see it, his stomach churned. It was her and some other guy kissing. That must be Jamie, he thought. I'll have to get her to change that picture; maybe of the two of us kissing. Just then, his text alert chimed. He expected it to be from Adam, but it was from an unknown number.

Hey Ben, it's Jess. I stole your number from Cassie's phone while she was in the bathroom to tell you that she's had a pretty rough day. We had to fire Wendy because she's the one who stole all our shit. I can't seem to get through to her, but if you could just call Cass to help her relax, I (and the rest of the world) would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

After saving Jess' number, he immediately called Cassie's. It seemed like her phone rang forever, until he got her voicemail. He sighed and waited for the beep. "Hey, baby. Jess just told me what happened today and I am so sorry. I know how much Wendy met to you, darling. Would you be up for a talk? Either call me or Skype, I don't care; I just want to make sure that you're alright. Let me know when you get this messge though, I don't care how late it is. Okay, well, I love you and I miss you terribly. Bye, sweetheart." He hung up and made his way to the bed. He made sure to keep his phone and computer on incase she decided to call him either way. He settled back against the headboard and started to think. I really hope she doesn't bottle this up. I remember Jess telling me that bottling up her feelings was the main cause of Cassie going that rehab. I wouldn't be able to see her go through that. I won't let her.