Belonging to the Band

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The sight of my friend in her element made me smile. I loved that she was getting to live her dream and do what she had always wanted to do.

“So I heard you needed a driver?” I asked, jingling my keys.

Heather straightened up. She whipped her head around to look at me. The corners of her mouth curled into a smile and her brown eyes sparkled. “Sandra, girl, you have no idea how happy I am to see you.” She said, sitting down the wooden skewers she had in her hand.

She wiped her hands on the black and gold apron before coming over to me and giving me a hug. I wrapped my arms around her, giving her a quick squeeze before letting her go.

“I’m happy to see you, too. Now, where do you want me?” I asked, giving her a grin.

“I’ve already texted you the address.” She said, stepping away and moving to one of the shelves by her office door. She grabbed a white and gray basket and reached inside, pulling out a black t-shirt. She handed it to me and I looked at the logo on it, smiling as I took the shirt.

The logo was a cute drawing of two cookies that were surrounded by little fruits. Cookie Blossoms was written in a swirling cursive beneath it.

“This should fit and make you look like part of the Cookie Blossom family.” She grinned, ushering me towards the bathroom. “The order is ready to go. I just need to pack it up and you can be on your way. I’ll be taking the van for the other delivery.”

“Got it. Thanks for letting me help you out, Heather.”

“Bro, thank you. I don’t know how I would have made today work if you hadn’t said yes,” she said, moving back to the arrangement and taking care of the finishing touches.

I headed into the bathroom, taking off my tank top and slipping on the shirt she had given me. The soft fabric settled comfortably against my skin and I tucked it into my cut-off jean shorts. I glanced at the mirror, giving myself a quick once over before I headed back out.

Heather was loading up the fruit arrangement in a cooler and several white boxes of cookies sat stacked beside it. She tucked it into place before closing the lid and looking back at me, her eyes flicking down to the shirt I was wearing.

“You look good in that shirt. Are you sure you don’t want to come work with me here?”

“Only if you really need me.” I shifted uncomfortably at her question. The bakery was too quiet for me. Working here would give me too much time to think. The restaurant was busy and gave me little time to dwell on anything but what was happening there.

I needed that right now. Need the chaos to keep me from thinking things that I shouldn’t. Sometimes those intrusive thoughts got to me and had me wanting to call Scotty. I wasn’t going to, but I feared that if I had too much time on my hands, I would.

It was hard to not think about him. We had been in a relationship for five years… Five years that I had struggled, trying to be what he wanted. To be his perfect girlfriend. I had thought that we would end up married and growing old together, starting a family but that hadn’t been for us. Even though I had left him, I still fought with those urges to call him or even text him to see how he was doing. My emotions didn’t turn off overnight, no matter how much I wished that they would.

“Just think about it.” She said, resting her hand on my forearm and giving it a quick squeeze before she picked up the cooler. “Come on, let’s get you loaded up and on your way.”

I nodded, moving over to the counter and picking up the stack of boxes. We loaded everything into my car before I pulled out my phone and double checked the address was correct before Heather went back inside.

Letting out a sigh, I started the car. This time, it wasn’t a smooth start to the engine. This time, it was a strange thumping sound that filled me with dread. I didn’t want to let Heather down but the location wasn’t that far. Surely, my car could make it and I could drop off everything. If my car died after, well, that was a problem for then and not now.

Pulling out of the parking lot, I navigated my car down the road. Following the GPS’s soothing voice from my phone while praying that my car would make it.

As my car sputtered down the street, I couldn’t help but think about the time that Scotty and I had taken it for a drive to the beach. How we had thrown our bags into the trunk, barely being able to afford the gas for the trip. We had made it work and spent all night driving. When we reached the coast, we had climbed out of the car and sat on the hood, watching the sunrise over the water.

There were good moments with him. Moments where we loved each other, where we made each other happy. It was never enough, though. Five years were filled with ups and downs. Until the downs started to outweigh the ups and things changed between us.

Even that sweet memory of driving together to the beach and singing along the dark highway to old rock songs… It was tinged with a bitterness that came from his overbearing nature and constant criticisms that became a regular thing in our relationship until he had left me feeling broken.