Chapter 15 #2
Quickly locking the front door again, Audrey headed back to the kitchen, where Ashley was already perched on a stool, watching Alexis as she was putting ingredients together for the cinnamon buns they were starting the morning with.
“Good morning,” Audrey said as Ashley turned to look at her.
“Good morning, bakery owner!” Ashley grinned. “It’s a beautiful day to open a bakery!”
Both Audrey and Alexis laughed, and Audrey went over to give the other woman a hug. Like Audrey, Ashley was dressed up in a cute blouse and skirt combo. She wasn’t wearing tennis shoes, but she did have comfortable flats.
“I told you that you didn’t have to dress up just to run the counter,” Audrey said.
“Look who’s talking.” Ashley gave her a pointed up and down look.
“It’s just for today.”
“Well, so is this. Tomorrow, I’ll be in jeans, I promise.”
Alexis chuckled quietly.
“And this is why I work in the back,” she said. “I got to wear jeans today.”
“One day, I’m going to get to see what you look like in a dress,” Ashley threatened.
“Maybe one day.” Alexis shook her head, smiling as she concentrated on what she was doing.
“So, what are you doing here so early?” Audrey asked Ashley. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Pretty much. I’m too excited. Mind if I make a pot of coffee to start us off?”
“Go for it.” Audrey was too buzzed for any extra caffeine right now. If she had anything with caffeine, she’d probably go through the roof.
“Great. Also, you left the club way too early last night and missed all the juicy stuff. Mason and Yasmine broke up.” Ashley announced the news like it was no big deal.
Audrey froze, hands on the bag of flour she’d been about to pick up. Emotions she was not proud of ran through her. Relief. Happiness. Hope. And guilt. Immediate crushing guilt because she was a horrible person.
“They’re the ones with the arranged marriage… or engagement, I guess?” Alexis asked. Though she’d hidden in the back during the soft opening yesterday, she’d heard a lot about all the team from Ashley and Audrey’s conversations.
“Yup, although not anymore.” Ashley was busy getting the coffee pot filled with water and pouring it into the machine, so she thankfully didn’t notice the way Audrey had frozen.
Forcing herself to pick up the flour and move over to the empty workspace on Alexis’ left, Audrey bent her head down to hide her expression. She wasn’t sure what the look on her face was because she wasn’t sure how she felt about what she’d just heard.
“So, why did they break up?”
Bless Alexis for asking the important questions Audrey couldn’t bring herself to voice. Whoever said curiosity was a bad thing?
“No chemistry. They were good on paper, but…” Ashley shrugged. “Maybe if they’d been down for a sexless marriage. I could see Mason going for that but not Yasmine.”
“You could see Mason going for a sexless marriage?” Audrey frowned as she lifted her head, finally finding something to say. She couldn’t see that about Mason at all.
“Well, maybe not without sex, but one without passion. I don’t think he’s asexual. But he’s just not very passionate,” Ashley corrected herself. “I can’t see Yasmine living without passion and romance. And Mason is definitely not romantic.”
Ashley sounded so sure of herself that Audrey bit her tongue against arguing with her. After all, it wasn’t like she sounded judgmental while she was saying it. Just matter-of-fact. And Audrey didn’t know him very well. Maybe he wasn’t passionate or romantic.
Just because she was wildly attracted to him didn’t mean that he returned the feeling. She had no idea if he was passionate or romantic. Maybe she was just making it all up in her head because she didn’t really know him.
But she felt bad for him and Yasmine.
Getting engaged and telling everyone, then calling it off a week later, had to be difficult. Though she supposed it was easier than going through with the marriage and calling it off after that.
The fact that Mason was now single didn’t mean anything to her. She didn’t want a future without passion or romance either.
“I think I’m going to make some baklava cupcakes for Mason,” she announced. “What’s Yasmine’s favorite flavor?”
That would give her something to do for both of them. Sure, baked goods couldn’t fix a broken heart—or a slightly bruised one—but it was better than nothing.
“Orange chocolate, maybe?” Ashley suggested. “She doesn’t eat a ton of sweets, but last year I found out she goes nuts for those chocolate oranges. She bought a whole bunch all at once since they’re only sold around the holidays.”
“Perfect.” Maybe making the cupcakes would help assuage some of the guilt that was running through her.
She would also need to crush the hope because there was no way she was going to act on her crush. Yasmine was someone she wanted as a friend, and friends didn’t date friends’ exes.
In some ways, it was nice to have something to focus on other than her bakery finally opening. She could focus on condolence cupcakes instead of running into the bathroom to throw up her breakfast.