Lifeless (Book II)

The Tale of Alliance

~Chapter Four~

            Grace smiled at her handy work, her first job finished, not that it was a big deal, it was only a small birthday cake but she felt proud of it anyway.  She inhaled the sweet scent that surrounded the bakery and went about applying the small red roses cascading down on one side of the cake.  For a moment she stopped and looked at the white towered cake.  Something about this felt familiar, the way the five layered white frosting cake looked seemed to strike a memory of some sort.  She shook her head and continued with her handy work.  Only then did she mess up as she heard the boss's voice come from the other side of the cake.

            Grace stayed in her crouched position and didn't dare stand up straight.  The cake was blocking his view and she inwardly felt thankful for that.

            "I want to thank all of you for doing a stand up job today, orders were filled and now we gladly have more on the way.  The catering trucks will soon arrive to pick up deliveries; let's hope we do a great job with that as well."  Alex said.

****

            Alex thought that maybe he was going insane; something about that powdered covered girl's eyes had stuck a nerve in him.  For the last four day's she had been clouding a part of him.  Maybe this was a sign?  He looked at the office door and finally coughed up the courage to push it open and make his way into the kitchen.  When he entered everyone seemed to stop and turn to face him almost immediately.  His eyes scanned the kitchen quickly trying to find those pair of eyes but ended up empty handed as he scanned every girl.

            Finally he cleared his throat and said the first thing that came to mind, not really knowing what to say.  As he spoke he stared at a five layered cake in front of him.  The beautiful piece of work in front of him struck an emotional nerve and he quickly excused himself after speaking.  That cake seemed to be the exact same replica he had made for Vicky, the day of her birthday.  He closed his eyes and counted backwards wanting to suppress the memory.

            "Please stop haunting me, I can't move on if you keep popping up," he whispered wiping away a single tear drop.

            A knock on his door made him jolt and he quickly pulled the door open to reveal his mother smiling brightly at him.

            "So how are things around here?" she asked.

            "Ah...great," he stuttered.

            "Alexander, are you alright?" she asked quickly stepping in and shutting the door behind her.

            "No...I need to move mom, I need to move far away," he sighed taking a seat behind his desk.

            "Is this about Vicky?" she asked taking a seat across from him.

            "Everything is about her, she haunts me everywhere I go, I can't even look at a pair of glasses without crying like a little girl," he muttered.  A frown consumed him as he drew circles with his index finger on the desk.

            "You need a vacation Alexander, you need to go to France or Europe to clear your mind," she said rising from her seat.  She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him holding her son tight.

            "Maybe that's what I need," he nodded lost in thought.

            "I'll talk to Joseph about that, and I'm certain he'll understand," she replied patting his back.  With a light peck to his cheek she held him tight once again and pushed him off the chair towards the office door.

            "Right now, you need to have lunch with your mother, come on," she grinned.

****

            Grace shoved the cake into the freezer and wiped her brow pushing back her bangs to get a better view of her work once more.

            "You really did do a great job," Rebecca said walking by.

            "Thanks," she replied.

            "You do know that looks identical to the famous Vicky cake right?" she added.

            "Vicky cake?" Grace asked arching an eyebrow.

            "You mean to tell me that you haven't heard of Victoria Elven?" she muttered.

            "Lunch time," Jenny said waving them over to the break room.

            Rebecca grinned and pulled Grace along with her quickly sitting her in a faraway table from the other workers.

            "So Jenny, Grace here hasn't heard of Alexander and Victoria's romantic tale," Rebecca said elbowing Jenny playfully.

            "Seriously?" she asked biting into her sandwich.

            "So then fill me in," Grace said.

            Rebecca quickly made herself comfortable and popped open a can of soda ready to begin.  Grace quickly leaned forward and listened attentively to her.

            "So the story goes, that this shy beauty called Victoria Elven had been offered to marry our good looking boss, Alexander Jewels in exchange to save her dying mother of cancer. She of course accepted knowing her family business was going broke.  To make a long story short, both Alexander and Victoria made a plan to bring the bakery back to business, that way he wouldn't have to marry her."

            "One question what was in it for him?" Grace asked.

            "Well, Alex was actually forced into it because he was said to be the town's man whore wasting away his father's hard earned cash.  His father decided to punish him by threatening to give all of his money to charity, leaving him without a penny.  Anyways, if he so pretended to change his attitude and she raised enough money to pay for the chemo therapy her mother needed then they would call off the wedding and leave it at that.  But Alexander ended up falling in love with her, and she with him, only the night they confessed their love for each other she was killed in a horrible car accident.  He was the one to identify her by a set of ruby red earrings he had given her for her birthday.  The body was badly damaged in the wreck."

            "Where does my cake come in?" Grace asked.

            "Alexander himself baked the famous Vicky cake for her birthday." Jenny added.

            "Oh," was all she could reply.  Grace sat there letting the story sink in; it all seemed like out of a book.  Now she somehow understood why Alexander always looked so depressed.  She understood the pain of losing someone or something; she had lost her memory three years ago.  Grace reached out to touch the side of her face and traced the long scar that went from her temple to her jaw bone.  No matter how hard she tried to remember what had really happened it never came back to her.  The doctor said it never would.