Chapter One
Don’t look back got a new direction
I loved you once needed protection
You’re still apart of everything I do
You’re on my heart just like a tattoo
Just like a tattoo, I’ll always have you
Life for Riley post Kevin Jonas was ordinary to say the least. She was a full time student at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, who worked part-time as a cake decorator at her best friend’s bakery in downtown Phoenix. She had a small two bedroom apartment which she shared with her fiancé, Nate, and her best friend, Melissa. The life she was leading was not of the glitz and glamour she dreamt about as a little girl.
She threw her school bag onto the table as she stepped foot into her home. It was relatively hot inside the apartment which meant Nate had once again turned down the air conditioning in order to save on the electricity bill.
“It saves us money and the environment too,” he had said when she complained about it being unbearable in the apartment when it was still 95 degrees outside. She of course had rolled her eyes and avoided the confrontation that would have followed if she hadn’t removed herself from the situation. She went through the mail separating it into three piles, before taking hers into her bedroom. Bills, bills, letter from mom and more bills.
“It never stops, does it,” she asked to her dog, Pebbles, who had realized she was finally home. The white terrier just licked her face and laid down beside her. Just like every day in her life, she threw the mail on the bed and changed into some ratty old jeans and a comfortable tee-shirt for work. The wardrobe of a cake decorator had to be comfortable, not fashionable. She gave Pebbles a little pat on the head before swinging her purse on her shoulder and leaving for work.
“You’re late.”
“Save it, Melissa. You know I’ll be late to my own funeral.” Riley threw her purse in her cubby space, before putting on her icing stained apron.
“How was school?”
“What are you my mom now? It sucked, like usual. I just can’t wait for it to be over with.” Melissa patted her on the back as they walked to the front of the store to check the recent cake orders. The two young women went through each one, talking about the coloring and ideas they had to spice up some of the duller cakes.
“Oh you know what,” Melissa said jumping down off the counter she had been sitting on, “I have one cake order that needs to be done tonight. It came in via email from the site. It’s a full sheet with Happy Birthday Kevin on it.”
“That’s it,” Riley asked snatching the order form from Melissa to look it over.
“Nope wait, there’s a logo on it. It’s this fancy design with the letters JB in it.” The two girls moved their heads side to side trying to figure out what it meant, but failed to come up with anything.
“Well okay then. I’m going to work on this and get it out of the way.” With that Riley took the cake order and walked off to her work bench. The quicker she got this stuff finished, the sooner she got to go home and relax. It was finally Friday which meant no more school for the rest of the week and only a few hours working here and there.
The JB logo cake was a real simple one. Riley put together the full sheet yellow cake with chocolate pudding filling with vanilla whipped topping. The only thing that bothered her was how vague they were about where they wanted everything. She took out a small round tip pastry bag and filled it black (or as black as she could make her grey icing.) She slowly drew the logo by hand until she had a huge cake with a gigantic JB logo on it with Happy Birthday Kevin circling the logo. She backed up and admired her work.
“Not too shabby,” she said wiping a few stray pieces of hair from her forehead, “Now the hard part, getting it into the box.” She called out for her best friend and together the girls put it into the box and brought it out to the front for pick up.
The rest of the day went by quickly as the two girls joked around while filling the cake and pastry cases that surrounded the front of the bakery.
“So how are you and Nate doing,” Melissa asked passing her a black and white mousse cake, “I never get to ask because he’s always around at home.”
“We’re good, I guess.” Melissa eyed her suspiciously but decided to not pursue the issue any further. She knew that when Riley needed to talk about something she would, not sense trying to pry it out of her prematurely. The two girls worked in silence until the door chime ran through out the store.
“Hi and welcome to Yummy In My Tummy bakery creations! How can I help you?” Riley heard the usual greeting from Melissa and paid no attention.
“Hi I’m here to pick up a full sheet cake that says Happy Birthday Kevin on it. Riley had her head in the pastry case rearranging some of the desserts when that voice hit her like a ton of bricks. She slammed her head into the glass as she tried to get out of the case before the person with the voice recognized her. Too late.
“Riley?” the voice said peering into the opposite side of the case. Riley winced and brought herself up to face a ghost of her past.
“Mrs. Jonas?”
“Oh my goodness! How have you been? How’s mom? How’s life? We never hear from you anymore!” Riley politely nodded her head and gave a slight smile. This was not what she needed right now. She loved Mrs. Jonas to death but that part of her life was over and she really just needed to go home and go back to bed.
“Everyone and everything is great.”
“Glad to hear it. Listen I have to run but you’ll be hearing from me soon! We really do need to catch up!” Riley watched as Mrs. Jonas exited the bakery.
“Who was that,” Melissa asked poking Riley out of stare.
“That….that was…”
“Okay seriously spill it,” she said impatiently tapping her foot on the cement floor.
“That was my Kevin’s mom.”
Melissa’s eyes widened and her mouth hung open, “Holy Cannoli.”