Page 2 of The Promise
“Thank you,” I say sincerely. I can’t remember many times in my life Mum has been this thoughtful, but I’m more than grateful I didn’t come back to her steaming. She’s gone before I think to apologise for abandoning her or to ask how she got back fromBelfast.
I toss and turn for hours and eventually fall asleep when most people would be getting up. I sleep almost all day but the heartache doesn’t stop because he’s there in my dreams, hauntingme.
* * *
I spend all weekend baking. Thoughts of whether I’m actually going to ever open this bakery now are never far from my mind, but baking is the only way I know to relax and stop my repetitivethoughts.
“You need to slow down, Addison,” Aunt Addy says when she comes into the kitchen on Monday morning to find me putting a baking tray full of cookies into the oven. “Have you even slept?” she adds when she gets a look at my face. I know why she’s so concerned because I had a bit of a shock myself when I looked in the bathroom mirror earlier. It wasn’t a prettysight.
“A bit,” I answer honestly. I tried to sleep, I really did, but the same image is on repeat every time I shut my eyes: Blake’s smile as he looked at that woman like she was something sospecial.
My phone starts vibrating on the windowsill. I don’t need to look to know it’s him. He’s rang and texted hundreds of times but no call has been answered and no words have been read. I know I’m only torturing myself by leaving it turned on, but I can’t help it; some insane part of me likes to think that as long as he keeps trying to talk to me, there must be some mistake and I must mean something tohim.
“You need to speak tohim.”
“I know.” But it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen anytimesoon.
* * *
Mum and Aunt Addy have just about managed to do as they promised and stay out of it, although their opinions and advice have slipped out a couple of times, mostly just after one of them has spoken to Blake either on the phone or when he’s turned up at the frontdoor.
I get so lost making little fancy pastries that once Aunt Addy and Mum go out, I completely lose track of time. When the doorbell rings, I jump out of my skin. My heart pounds and my palms start sweating as I think about Blake being stood on the other side. Ugh, I bet I’ve been stitched up. Aunt Addy and Mum must have told him I was here alone and to try to talk to me. My anger ignites as I think about their promise to keep their noses out.Promises are always fucking broken, I think to myself as I peek out from behind the curtains to see if I’mright.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I see it’s Cara. “Shit,” I curse when I notice she’s stood in her workout gear. I quickly glance at the clock and realise she’s here to pick me up forZumba.
“What’s wrong?” Cara asks the second I pull the door open. She steps forward and the concern in her eyes is all I need to start off another round of tears. I try to push aside the thought that, in just three days, I’ve cried more over Blake than I ever have overEdward.
Cara pulls me down on the sofa and wraps her arm around my shoulders while I try to pull myself backtogether.
“B…Blake was c…cheat—”
“Motherfucker,” Cara snaps, making me jump. My eyes fly up to hers in surprise at her vicious tone. “Sorry, that was just a shock. I never had him down as the cheating kind. He seems too kind, caring.” Cara shakes her head before finishing off her thought with, “I guess it just goes to show you never really know someone.” Something about her tone makes me think she’s been in my position and knows how I’mfeeling.
“I’ve got a better idea than Zumba,” she announces after a few minutes ofsilence.
She gives me just enough time to turn the oven off, pull some shoes on and grab myjacket.
“Where are wegoing?”
“It’s asurprise.”
I have no clue where we’re headed but I wasn’t expecting to be going towards Belfast. Just thinking of what happened the last time I was here has me on the verge of tearsagain.
“Come on, it’s a short walk down here,” Cara says after pulling the car to a stop on a sidestreet.
Once I’ve joined her on the pavement, she links her arm through mine and marches me past some closed shops to a sugar sweet pastel coloured place that smells out of thisworld.
“What’sthis?”
“Spoon Street. They do the most amazing frozen yoghurt, it’s the perfect cure for a broken heart. Come on.” She pulls me inside and my mouth waters at the selection of goodies laid out before us. “Plus, yoghurt is totallyhealthy.”
“Yeah, until you cover it in some of that,” I say, pointing out the array oftoppings.
Cara shrugs me off before greeting the member of staff by name, showing just how often she comes here. Blake and Jason’s mention of something going on between Cara and their friend Nate pops into my mind as she orders us the biggest pots of yoghurt imaginable before we stand and top them with all sorts ofgoodies.
“We’re closing soon but knock yourself out,” the woman behind the counter says. “I’ll be here for an hour or so yet cleaning and getting everything ready fortomorrow.”
We both mutter our thanks before taking our pots of heaven towards the booth by thewindow.
