Those Damn Butterflies

Chapter Fourteen

Did you ever crave another person? Not for sexual desires or anything, just their presence, their personality and their stupid sense of humor. I was sure you did. But not to the extreme I felt it right now. It was physically hurting me, making everything almost unbearable. So I shot a quick text to Alex.

hey. can we meet up tonight? I wanna see you.

I wanted to hear her voice and be around her, since it had already been two weeks since I last saw her. That last time I wasn't so nice to her during our goodbye so I hoped she wasn't mad about it all.

"Using your phone during work? How unprofessional." I heard a voice behind me and found Morgan laughing at her own joke. She wasn't strict when it came to those kinds of things, as long as all the work got done.

"Yes, boss, I disrespect you."

She chuckled and pushed a tray of bread rolls into the oven. "So, how is everything coming along for you?"

"Everything's great." I said but I missed Alex so much at that moment that it probably wasn't true. "Mel and I are about to be done with planning everything for the wedding. You should get your invite sometime this week."

"That's so good to hear, sweetie. I can't wait for the wedding." She pulled me into a side hug. "You know, the day my adopted daughter gets married."

I smiled broadly at her and pulled her into a proper hug. Her saying that meant so much to me. Over the last few years I had worked here at the bakery, Morgan had become some kind of mother figure for me. Replaced my real mom who wasn't there for me. Now hearing Morgan say she saw me as a daughter just made me feel whole. "Thank you, Morgan."

"Of course, darling. You deserve someone to care for you like a mother."

The bell above the door rang and signaled a new customer coming in. "It means so much to me, you wouldn't even know."

I pulled away from the woman to tend to the customer, a man in his forties. "Oh, believe me, I do." Morgan said before returning to the kitchen.

When my shift ended in the early afternoon I hadn't gotten a response from Alex yet. I was sure she was very busy or something.

At around 6pm I still hadn't heard anything from her, so I called her. She didn't pick up. Was she ignoring me?

To test my theory I called without my number being shown a few minutes later and after only the second ring she picked up. I frowned.

"Hello, this is Alex Cohen, who am I talking to?" My heart skipped a beat after hearing her voice.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

There were a few seconds of silence. "Riley?"

"Yeah, it's me. Why are you ignoring me?"

"I'm not."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Sure you are."

"I don't know what you're talking 'bout."

"Alex. Stop this childish behavior and just answer my question."

"Fine. I don't know."

"You don't know?" I questioned, unbelieving. Was she serious?