Chapter Fourteen
Sarah stood in the shower letting the hot water beat on her back. The first time she had sex in four years and the guy takes off almost immediately. The many years of abuse she had suffered under her husband made it easy for her to slip into self-blame and thoughts of not being good enough.
She knew the feelings were wrong but it wasn’t an easy habit to break. Penny’s face popped into her head, her best friend would smack her right now if she knew what she was thinking.
With a sigh of resignation, she turned off the shower and got dressed. Her stomach was growling and she was never fun to be around if she hit the hangry stage.
She got dressed quickly and opened her door to knock on Penny and Asald’s door. She wasn’t surprised to find their door wide open, Penny had pulled a chair inside her room facing Sarah’s door. She had the scarf Sarah had hung on her doorknob wrapped around her neck. The goofy smile on her best friend’s face was mortifying enough but then Asald peaked around the door and smiled at her too. Sarah tried to step back in and close her door but their yells of protest had her stopping.
“If I come out do you promise to not pounce on me? Let me talk about it when I’m ready?” Sarah stared between the two of them, waiting for agreement.
Penny could see in Sarah’s eyes that something was wrong. “Of course, forget we said anything. Let’s go get breakfast.”
Sarah watched as Asald leaned down and whispered to Penny, “Do I need to go beat some sense into that guy?”
Sarah chuckled and waved him off, “I promise he did nothing wrong. Let’s drop it for now.”
She turned down the hallway not looking back to see if they followed. Penny’s hand slid into Sarah’s and she squeezed. She could always count on her friend for knowing exactly how to comfort her.
“Aristide said there is an awesome bakery on Main Street called Magical Delights, we can get breakfast there.” Asald held the door to the lobby open for them then led the way. As they walked through town Sarah still couldn’t grasp the eccentricity of the place. She found herself daydreaming about living here with Adam, picturing Alex walking to school with a cauldron.
Thoughts of her son made her realize she slept with a man who didn’t even know she was a single mother. She suddenly felt very reckless, that could be a deal breaker for some people. Then again, last night could have been a one-time event so she could be worrying for nothing.
Sarah could smell the sugar long before they got to the door of the bakery. There was so much pink and purple all over it looked like a five-year-old’s princess party on steroids. The employee’s behind the counter seemed to glow, their beauty was nearly blinding. The most unique part of them were the golden horn’s jutting out of their foreheads.
“Ah, I get it, they’re like unicorns.” Penny’s eyes danced with excitement. She dragged them to the counter pointing out everything as if they weren’t seeing the same things.
Sarah had to admit their designs were creative, “If I eat any of this I may not fit into my costume tonight.” Penny’s head swung towards her, a perplexed look on her face.
“What are you talking about, there isn’t an inch of skin showing on you and it’s not form fitting at all. You need to lighten up and drown your last twenty- four hours in a sugar coma.”
Sarah rolled her eyes at her, “I’m going to get a bagel and coffee.” She leaned forward and ordered, they had bagels in every color of the rainbow, she wasn’t sure that much dye was good for a person.
“Fine but we’re coming back later for dessert,” Penny grumbled before ordering her own bagel.
They sat at a table in the corner, Asald saw Toussaint walk by, “I’m going to say hi, I’ll be back.”
He wasn’t four feet from them when Penny faced her straight on and quirked her eyebrow, waiting patiently.
Sarah took her time chewing, she stared around the cafe, taking in the sights while not looking in Penny’s direction at all. Her eye’s drilling into the side of her face finally became unbearable. “Fine, geez, you are persistent.”
“What? I didn’t say anything?” Penny batted her eyes innocently.
“What do you want me to say? It was amazing, he was a gentleman when he needed to be and aggressive when I wanted him to be. We had a great night, then when I woke up he seemed to shut down and said he had to go to work.” She tried to not sound pouty.
“Don’t read too much into that, he was totally into you last night and it was an unexpected date so maybe he really did have to work.”
“Yeah, he was into me, three times actually.” Penny choked on her coffee at Sarah’s statement.
“Holy shit girl, lead with that next time!” Penny held her hand up for a high five, “I honestly didn’t think it was going to get past some heavy petting, that was the freaking Olympics.”
“It really was amazing, I’m pretty sure I orgasmed at least five times. He did things to me I had never even thought of.” Sarah’s cheeked burned in embarrassment. She knew Penny would never judge her but she still was shy admitting it.
Asald came back in, “Are you guys done yet? Toussaint offered to take us on a tour of the town.”
Toussaint stood in the window of the bakery waving to them. “Sure, we have a couple of hours to kill before we need to start getting ready for the party.” A horned employee appeared next to them and took their trash away, even the workers smelled like sugar.
Asald held the door open, “Let’s go see what else this crazy town has to offer.”