Chapter 11

The next day, I woke up early, got dressed and reached Coffee Tales well before the opening time.

If I had allowed myself even a little consideration, then I knew that I would have been lying in my bed for an entire week. And no matter how wrecked I felt from within, I had to, at least, pretend that I still had my life together and that I was fine. It was the only way to reconnect with my routine and get out of the constant cycle of questions, confusions and tears that seemed too adamant to stop. 

I was checking the bills of the previous day when Zuri arrived. She asked me how I felt today and told me not to exert myself too much. Then she got to her work. I almost felt guilty about lying that I had not been well. 

Even as I got busy with work around the cafe, the questions never stopped sprouting in my mind. They settled like dread in my heart that made me feel worse with each passing second.

What was Jace's motive behind telling me about his relationship with Sierra? He could have stayed quiet and maybe I would have never found out. 

He knew how I felt about Sierra. Why did he tell me? 

Moreover, he used to hate Sierra just as much as I did. He had always been angrier than me towards her. He used to fume with rage whenever Sierra hurt me. And yet now…

"Hey, Ira," said Zuri, coming into the kitchen. 

I looked up from writing my to-do list to see her coming towards me with a vase of flowers and an envelope. 

"A customer brought in these flowers for you yesterday. He also asked me to hand over this envelope to you," she said, placing both of them on the counter. "I put the flowers in a vase to prevent them from withering. I hope you don't mind."

My fingers curled around the envelope. Zuri's words sounded distant, but I shook my head in an answer and she walked away. 

I took in a deep breath, willing my mind to rid itself of the daze of thoughts. 

The envelope was a pale pink color. As I took out the card, I was half sure about who the sender was. 

I inhaled sharply when I saw that it was a sorry card. 

My heartbeat quickened and my fingers trembled as I opened it. 

To Ira, 

No sorry will ever be enough for what I have done to you. Yet, I'm seeking your forgiveness. 

I'm sorry, Ira, I'm so very sorry. Please forgive me. 

- Jace. 

A tear dropped onto the card, then another followed. 

Moments passed as I stared at the card, trying to absorb his words, trying to accept his apology. But his sorry did not even scrape the surface of the scars that he had given me. 

I gritted my teeth and clenched my jaw. Then I tore the card. 

Taking the envelope and the two torn pieces of his apology, I walked over to the dustbin. 

"I'm done with you, Jace. I'm done." I let the pieces fall into the bin. 

On coming back to the counter, I found myself staring at the flowers. White roses. He knew they were my favorite. 

I had half a mind to toss them in the bin as well. But then something stopped me. The flowers had done nothing wrong. They had been plucked for our selfish pleasure and purpose. How could I put them in the trash and be responsible for their brutal death? 

I simply pushed them away and tried to concentrate on my to-do list. 

Try to let go, Ira. Tomorrow is Saturday. You have a lot to do. You can't let yourself be unproductive. 

Saturday and Sunday were the two days on which I did most of the baking for the cafe's menu. I baked all the items that were required for the first two days of the week and prepared and stored the dough, batters, icings, fillings etc. that would be needed once the stock of the first two days was over. Usually on Tuesdays, I would just pull out the already prepared dough and bake the dishes fresh. 

Cakes, cupcakes, and muffins were the only items that I prepared from the scratch whenever the stock was nearing zero during the week. The freshly prepared cakes had their own sense of a magical taste. However, the frostings, icings and fondants were done during the weekend. 

Apart from this, Coffee Tales had a spotlight special dish every day of the week which was not sold on any other day. For example, on Mondays it was the Triple Twist cake which had three different layers with a different flavoring and taste in each of the layers. 

The reason behind such a concept was that these special dishes required a lot of time to prepare and bulk baking required a lot of time, effort, and patience. Besides, no element of these dishes could be pre-prepared and stored. Therefore, baking a limited number of dishes a day was the most feasible. And changing the special dish each day helped me to avoid getting stuck in a mundane routine and experiment more with my recipes. 

Coffee Tales also undertook not only party orders but also orders for personalized cakes and all other custom orders. This made it even more necessary to plan my time well and pre-prep whatever I could on the weekends. 

Zuri and I had been managing fine up until now. But with the workload increasing, I was already looking to hire another employee. 

I sighed and stared at my to-do list. This weekend was going to be crazy busy.