The Woman in His Story

Chapter 4

Ian kept praying he would not bump into Melanie on the sidewalk. The last thing he needed was her following him around. That woman was persistent. He thought she would have gotten the message by now, but she just kept on pushing. It got worse now that he had the book deal. She obviously thought he would be more receptive to her advances because of it. He had always ignored it before and never encouraged her, but today was the first time he had drawn a boundary. He had meant what he said. He wanted his new apartment to be a place where he could concentrate and write - free from stress and the smell of Melanie’s sickeningly sweet perfume.

Ian took a deep breath, trying to clear his thoughts of Melanie as he walked to the bakery. Today was a good day, and Malibu Barbie would not ruin his mood. At least his neighbor was friendly, at least from what he saw thus far. It was only his first day there. She could be a serial killer for all he knew. Ian chuckled to himself as he stepped into the bakery. A serial killer that donated books to a children’s home. It would be a good cover, though. Ian continued thinking about this as he perused the display case. He always had crazy thoughts like that - he put it down to being an author. It was also why he always carried a little notebook in his pocket wherever he went. Melanie told him that made him an old man, since everyone just used their phones to make notes - but there was something about actually writing them down. It made his ideas come to life better.

He ordered a coffee and a cronut and sat down at one of the available tables against the wall. The bakery was busy. The smell of freshly brewed coffee, baked pastries, and the buzz of people chatting was strangely peaceful to him. It was like the perfect background noise to allow him to ponder his thoughts. Ian leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee, thinking about his next book. Maybe he could develop the charitable serial killer idea. He pulled out his notebook and wrote down a few ideas about the character, but he knew it was pointless. He was so used to the process that he knew he would have to get through all the stupid ideas before developing a character with substance. Ian paused to take a bite of his cronut.

“Oh my God!” he exclaimed with a full mouth, staring at the pastry.

“First time?” chuckled a waitress walking by.

Ian quickly nodded while chewing, “Yeah. It’s amazing!”

“There’s nothing quite like your first time,” she said with a wink.

Ian gave her a small smile.

“Well, I’ll definitely be back,” he said, turning back to his notebook.

“Well, I look forward to seeing you around. I’m Cindy, by the way.”

Ian looked back at the waitress. She was young, pretty, and confident. He would have been all over her ten years ago. In his twenties, he was all too happy with all the attention he got from the opposite s*x, but things changed as he got older. He learned that women were also capable of using men just for their bodies. It got to a point when everything felt so meaningless. A few hours of pleasure and then, nothing. Every woman who looked at him like how the waitress was doing right now was not interested in a conversation. Most men would probably not even think twice, but Ian knew better.

“Nice to meet you, Cindy,” said Ian, raising his cup in greeting.

He then turned back to his notebook and started writing a bunch of random nonsense so Cindy would take the hint and leave him alone. Thankfully, she did, and he got to enjoy his cronut in peace. It really was incredible, maybe next time he will get the cannoli - or maybe he should take them to go. Maybe his next character can work in a bakery, but they’re really an assassin for hire. Nope, that sounded ridiculous. Ian went over to the counter to get the cannoli.

“Oh, you are lucky - we only have two left,” said the man behind the counter.

Ian suddenly thought of Vanessa and decided to get both.

“Can I have them both?” said Ian.

“Of course, you can!” he told Ian, before shouting, “We’re out of cannoli, folks!”

There was a resounding sound of disappointment from the people in the bakery behind him, and he looked back in horror.

The man behind the counter laughed loudly, “You must be new around here! That’s just something we do. Don’t worry about them - we make cannoli twice a day, every day. They know when to come back,”

Ian couldn’t help but smile at the man.

“You sure I’m not gonna get mugged on the sidewalk?”

The man laughed even louder, “No, my boy. Although, someone did start an auction once for the last cannolo of the day. It was quite entertaining! I think they doubled their money,”

“Well, with how good the cronut tasted, I can’t wait to try one,” said Ian, paying the man.

“Thank you! I look forward to seeing you again! I’m Marco,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Ian. Nice to meet you. I just moved in down the street. You might be seeing me often,”

“Good, good. Tell your friends about our little bakery too!”

Ian said goodbye and left the bakery. Vanessa was right about the people around here. They were friendly. The walk back to his apartment seemed much quicker. When he got to his door, he looked down at the box and then stepped back to look next door. He doubted she was back yet.

“I’ll just give it to her later,” he mumbled to himself as he stepped inside.

Ian was greeted by the stacks of boxes in his apartment. It was time to get to work.