Poison

Chapter 8

I couldn't believe it.

It had been two months since Liam left. I spent every day struggling at the bakery and every night at the gym with Peter. He had become one of the greatest friends I'd ever had. I told him everything, and he listened when I blabbered on about nothing in particular. I couldn't help finding him attractive, but I didn't know how he felt about me. Sometimes it felt as though he saw me as the most beautiful woman in the world, and other times I was sure that he would never love anyone other than his wife, who unfortunately, he would never see again.

But despite all of this, I still couldn't stop thinking about Liam and the ache that he left in my chest. I was never one to be romantic and wait for someone who probably wasn't coming back, but this was an exception. I didn't know what it was, but there was something that kept drawing me to him. Maybe it was the mystery that surrounded him, or the fact that he knows more about me that almost everyone in the world. We had grown so close so quickly, and then he was gone.

I thought about him in the morning when I woke up and all throughout the day. Everything I did and everywhere I went held some special memory of us together. I felt foolish, because I never found out how he actually felt. Sure, he said he cared, but what did that really mean? You can care for someone the way you would care about a sister or a friend. It didn't necessarily mean that he had romantic feelings for me.

I unlocked the door of the bakery and stepped inside, flipping the lights on and sighing. There was too much of Liam here. The first time we met, when he opened up to me about his family, when we had almost kissed... I couldn't step inside these doors without thinking of him.

I wanted to forget so badly in that moment. It hurt so much to not have him here. He made every bad thing in my world seem so unimportant. I pulled my phone out and dialed the only number that I could think of at the moment. Calling Alexander wasn't the best thing to do at the time, but it was the only option I felt that I had. I listened as the phone rang and rang, but there was no answer.

"Hey, Alexander, it's Jessica. I just needed someone to talk to. Sorry for bothering you. Say hello to your family for me. Bye." I hurriedly left a voice mail message and then hung up, sighing. After a few minutes my phone rang again and I answered it quickly without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" I said hopefully. Maybe Alex had gotten my message.

"Hello, Jessica." The faux-sweet voice on the other end of the line made me sick to my stomach.

"Mother." I said coldly. "Now is not a good time."

"Is it ever a good time with you?" She asked sarcastically, sighing.

"I have no desire to speak with you." I said, getting ready to hang up.

"Oh, but I think you do, sweetheart. You see, I know something that you want to know." She said.

Could she know something about Liam? It wouldn't surprise me if she did. My mother had mysterious ways of knowing everything.

"And what would that be?" I asked, trying to sound uninterested.

"Why your beloved bakery is about to go out of business." She said.

"I should've known that had something to do with you." I said, all of the pieces falling into place in my mind.

"It has nothing to do with me, I just have some information that might be of interest to you." She said, her voice seeping into my veins like poison.

"I don't care what kind of information you have." I said.

"I think it might be useful to you in the future." She said, making me sick to my stomach. I just needed to get her voice out of my head.

"Goodbye, mother." I said, hanging up. I took a deep breath and stared at my phone, confused. I didn't want my mother to have something to hold over my head. I sighed and started my day. It flew by and by the time I was locking up the doors on the bakery after yet another disappointing day, I was exhausted. I didn't want to go to the gym tonight, but I needed a friend, and Peter was the only one I had that would understand at the moment. The gym was darker than normal and more empty. It was Friday night, so I figured people would be out eating dinner and having fun. I was not one of them.