Sprinkled With Love

Chapter Sixteen: Destroyed

    The next few days after the break in at the shop were the longest, especially since there was nothing I could do. After Morgan and I stayed at his apartment the one night we ended up moving to my house, where I had enough room to bake my stress and anxiety partially away. Morgan was definitely a trooper though, he tried everything I baked and spent every night in my bed cuddling me while I cried. Now that it was Friday and most of the investigation was completed, I got the okay from Tommy to go back into the bakery. I laid in bed, trying not to think about how bad the damage was even though I knew it was bad from what Morgan said. He was already up downstairs making coffee, I knew this because I could smell it. So I got up and put my robe on over my pajamas, to head down the stairs. When I rounded the corner that led into the kitchen Morgan was standing at the coffee pot shirtless and in his pajama pants. I smiled, thinking to myself I could get used to this. We still hadn't had anymore conversations about our relationship, I was a little worried because I didn't know what he was thinking all the time, but right now we had both been a little bit more worried about my shop. Walking up behind him and kissed his cheek, then grabbed my coffee cup from the cupboard.

    "Morning baby," he said as he poured his cup and then mine.

    "Morning," I took a sip of my coffee and walked to sit at the kitchen bar.

    "You ready to go to the shop today?" He joined me drinking his coffee. I looked at him with sadness in my eyes. His eye was still bruised and was turning a yellowish green, but the swelling was finally all the way down. So I knew he would be heading back to work within a couple days and that stressed me out just a bit. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do all of the work myself.

    "No but I need too. The sooner I can get the work done there the sooner I can open back up, the more I am closed the more money I lose, and I can't do that." My hands were both wrapped around my cup since I was a little shaky.

    "I'm here Ari, you don't have to do this alone, I will help as much as I can, and you know Tommy will too." He placed a soft kiss on my lips.

    "I know and thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me." I smiled, though I'm pretty sure it looked fake.    

    After finishing our coffees we headed upstairs to get dressed for the day. Now that fall was in full force here the weather was definitely colder. So I chose fleece lined leggings, a sweater shirt and a jean jacket. I layered up and slipped my feet into a pair of Ugg boots. Morgan came out of the bathroom dressed in jeans, a flannel and had his Carhartt jacket on. He sat on the bed to pull his boots on, as I walked into the bathroom to brush my hair. 

    15 minutes later when we were all ready we headed out the front door and climbed into Morgans truck. He held my hand as we drove to the shop. When we pulled up I took a deep breath and stared at the front glass windows. I couldn't see in since the blinds were shut, and I was beyond scared to finally see the mess that laid beyond the door. I stayed sitting in the truck just staring as Morgan got out and came around to my side. My mind was lost as he opened my door, I took hold of his extending hand and climbed out, gripping it a little tighter then I should, but he didn't complain. Walking to the front door together I slid the key into the lock and turned. Pushing the front door open, I closed my eyes so I could take one last moment to breath. On the exhale I opened my eyes to see tables turned over, my fall decor thrown on the floor, the glass case I built by hand smashed. My eyes closed, holding back the tears that were threatening to fall out. I felt Morgans arm wrap around me and I buried into him, letting all of my tears free. He led me to the back so I could see the rest of the damage. My expensive ovens had broken doors, the door of my walk in fridge and freezer stood open. Everything was damaged, my ex sure didn't miss a spot or the opportunity to destroy everything I had worked for and right now I was glad he was sitting in jail. I didn't want him coming back to finish what he started. Because, otherwise I wouldn't be able to make it. Morgan sat me in a chair so I could collect my thoughts while he started cleaning. I pulled out my phone and made a call to my insurance agent. After spending an hour on the phone with him, I then placed a call to Tommy to ask him to fax the whole report, including pictures to my insurance. I got up to start helping Morgan after that.

    By the end of the day everything had been either thrown away or placed to the side of what could be fixed easily. I stood staring at the broken display case, with Morgan next to me. "It took me a month and a half to build this.." I whispered not sure if I was talking to myself or to Morgan. He wrapped an arm around me and kissed the side of my head.

    "You did an amazing job, and I know you'll do an amazing job again." He spoke keeping his arm on my shoulders. "I think this is all we can do for today baby, why don't we pick up some dinner from the diner and go back to your house, we can talk about rebuilding over dinner and maybe some drinks?" he asked. 

    "You're right, and that sounds good. I think I could use a drink after this week." I nodded after I finished talking. We left out the front door and locked up. Getting dinner and heading home was the easiest task I had today, after going through the emotional rollercoaster of cleaning up the shop. I was pretty sure that as soon as dinner was eaten and I had a couple drinks in me, I would be out like a light and sleep for who knows how long.