Happy Place
1364 Words
Idina’s P.O.V.
“We have nothing to talk about, Francis,” I replied. “Just go.”
“Let’s get a divorce.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, completely dumbfounded.
“Let’s get a divorce,” He repeated.
“You cheated on me Francis.”
“Exactly. Which is why I said we should get divorced.”
“No, Francis! You are the one who had an affair. You don’t get to decide what happens to this marriage. I do.” I was close to tears, my voice already shaky. How could he come here to propose a divorce so soon? Did he even feel bad about what he did?
“You know, usually, when people cheat, they apologize. Even if they know their partner may not forgive them, they still apologize. But you, not one word of apology has come forth from your mouth. No ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘It was a mistake’ or even a ‘Forgive me’. Instead you come here to ask for a divorce. You disgust me Francis. I can’t believe I married you.”
I shut the door and stormed off back into the house, Anaya right behind me. I sat on a chair in the kitchen and started sobbing. How could he hurt me like this? How?
“Give him what he wants,” Anaya said, sitting beside me.
“What?”
“Give him what he wants.”
“He doesn’t deserve a divorce Anaya, he doesn’t deserve such easy closure. That’s too much forgiveness to give him. He must beg me. He has too.” I cried.
“And how do you think you would feel? Waiting for him to ask for your forgiveness. You’ll sink deeper and deeper into this anguish that you are feeling. Because he’ll never come. He’s not sorry for cheating Idina. He’s not sorry you found out either, if anything, he’s happy you did.”
“Eight years, Anaya. A third of my whole life. How do I move on from that?”
“You will. You are still complete without him. You don’t need him, Idina.”
“It sure doesn’t feel like that.” I muttered.
“What did you have for breakfast?”
“What?”
“Answer me Idina.”
“Pancakes. And scrambled eggs and bacon and sausages. Along with some orange juice.”
“Who made the pancakes?”
“I did. What are you getting at?”
“How did the pancakes taste?”
“Great.”
“Exactly. In what way did you need Francis in order to make such delicious pancakes?” I didn’t answer. “You don’t need him, Idina,” she continued. “You woke up today, you ate today, you’ve been breathing throughout today. You’ll live, D. You’ll survive without him. You do not need him. It’s going to seem impossible at first. You’ll miss him, love him then hate him all over again. But eventually, you’ll let go. And eventually, you’ll feel better.”
“It just hurts. I never expected it. I thought he loved me. I could have sworn we were good. I guess only I felt that way.”
“It’s okay to feel hurt. But don’t let it overwhelm and drown you. He doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t deserve to put your whole life on hold. That is what he doesn’t deserve.”
“Thank you. I love you.”
“Awww, what are friends for? To be honest I’m only doing this so I can follow you to the Maldives.” She joked.
I laughed.
“I’m not joking, D.” She said, her face serious
“Well, we’ll see what happens. I could find a man you know.” I teased.
“Ohh please,” she replied, rolling her eyes. I laughed.
“I think I should go to the bakery today. I really don’t have anything to do there but I also don’t have anything to do here either so I might as well be there and keep myself too busy to think.”
“Wise choice. I too need to get to work.”
We got up and started getting ready for our day. I just hope there’s a lot of things for me to do when I get to work. Today is Tuesday, so it wouldn’t be that busy. But it’ll be busy enough to keep my mind off things.
“Anaya! I’m leaving.” I shouted.
“Okay. Have a good day.”
“You too.” I replied.
I called a cab and made my way to my bakery, one of the many things that makes me proud of myself.
“Good morning Kathy.”
“You didn’t say you were coming in today.”
“Why? Are you doing something bad?” I teased.
“Not at all.”
“You are good then.”
“Any orders yet?”
“We have two bulk orders, one for a birthday party and the other for a baby gender reveal party. And then we have 10 other small orders.
“Okay. I’ll get started on the ones for the gender reveal party. What are the details?”
“You don’t have to. I can do them. And Mark has already started on the other ones.”
“I know I don’t have too. But I want to. Now give me the details.” I said, putting on my apron and pulling my red hair up into a bun.
“The lady wants our gender reveal cookies and a two tiered cake. The 8-inch base tier is a two layer vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and a strawberry berry jam filling. The top tier… that would be a two layer chocolate cake covered in chocolate buttercream and a chocolate crème filling. As for the decorations, she sent me a picture. I’ll send it to you.”
“I love decisive customers. I’ll get started on baking the cakes. You can help Mark with the other orders.”
“Okay.”
I went into the kitchen to start up my work. Baking has always been therapeutic for me. And with all what has happened now, I think I’ll be spending a lot of time here, in my happy place.
After I finish baking all the cakes, I wrap them in cling film and leave them to cool on the counter before putting them in the freezer. It was well past 3 by the time I was done with everything I needed to do. And I was famished.
I got a cupcake from the showcase and made myself some hot chocolate.
“Mmmm,” I moaned. Chocolate is the answer to everything.
As I was eating, Kathy came in.
“Someone is here to see you.”
“Who is that?”
“I don’t know. She said she’s a friend and that her name is Lara.”
“I didn’t know anyone who was named Lara and I most definitely didn’t have a ‘Lara’ as a friend. But I went out anyway, just to see who this ‘Lara’ was and why she wanted to see me.”
I froze.
Her smile was smug. Too smug. Her lips were painted a bold red, her posture too confident for someone who should be ashamed.
This was Lara.The woman who had Francis between her legs just yesterday. And now she was here. In my bakery. In my space. Like she had every right.
“I just wanted to see what kind of woman could keep a man like Francis bored enough to come running to me,” she said, eyes glinting.
My heart slammed against my chest.
“What do you want?” I asked through gritted teeth.
She leaned in, her voice dripping venom. “Just thought I should share something with you. I’m pregnant.”
Silence. Deafening. Crushing.
“Oh and it’s his. I was a bit scared at first, you know. I didn’t want my child to be born out of a stupid fling I had for fun. But guess what? He said he’ll marry me. After the divorce of course.” She smirked.
- Writer
