Chapter 20 - The Cake in the FreezerRenee called Simone almost exactly one year after the failed wedding.
“I found something.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“The Bennett cake.”
Simone laughed.
“That cake is not still alive.”
“Not the actual cake.”
Renee explained.
The venue had kept a sugar flower from the display.
One white orchid.
It had been placed in a storage box with other keepsakes after the cake itself was donated to a local shelter kitchen the day after the ceremony.
“Why are you calling me?”
“We’re clearing storage.”
“Throw it away.”
“You sure?”
Simone hesitated.
A sugar orchid had taken her nearly forty minutes to shape.
Petal by petal.
Marcus had never touched that part.
Neither had Ashley.
It belonged to Simone’s work.
“I’ll take it.”
Renee laughed.
“I figured.”
When Simone arrived, she had not been inside the venue since the wedding.
The side entrance looked smaller.
The hallway ordinary.
No dramatic music.
No guests turning.
Her body still reacted.
Heartbeat.
Tight hands.
A memory of the cart moving without her.
Renee noticed.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Want to use the front entrance?”
Simone almost said yes.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
They walked through the same double doors.
The ceremony hall was empty.
White chairs stacked.
Floral arch gone.
Sunlight crossed the floor.
Simone stood where she had stopped one year earlier.
Renee handed her the small box.
Inside lay the sugar orchid.
Still beautiful.
Edges slightly chipped.
Simone smiled.
“I thought it would make me sad.”
“Does it?”
“A little.”
She touched the box.
“But mostly I’m thinking I should’ve dusted the center darker.”
Renee laughed.
“That sounds healthy.”
“Or obsessive.”
“Both.”
They walked toward the ballroom.
Renee said, “Ashley comes here sometimes.”
“For company events?”
“Yeah.”
“She okay?”
“I think so.”
Simone nodded.
She and Ashley spoke occasionally.
Legal updates.
A congratulations when Simone’s bakery was featured in the magazine.
A birthday message once.
Nothing intimate.
Some relationships did not need to become friendship to be meaningful.
They had witnessed each other at the worst moment of both their lives.
That was its own category.
Renee stopped.
“I have a wedding here next March.”
Simone looked at her.
“Congratulations?”
“No. Client wedding.”
“Oh.”
“Bride wants you.”
Simone stared at the hall.
“You asking if I can handle it?”
“I’m asking if you want it.”
That distinction mattered.
Simone looked toward the side entrance.
“Yes.”
Renee smiled.
“I’ll send the inquiry.”
That evening Simone placed the sugar orchid on a shelf in the bakery.
Not hidden.
Not displayed dramatically.
Just among old sample pieces.
Keisha saw it.
“That from the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“You’re keeping everything now?”
“Apparently.”
“The receipt?”
“Different story.”
“What receipt?”
Simone grinned.
“Nothing.”
The framed mixer receipt hung in the office.
Her own lease sat in a fireproof box.
The studio purchase savings account had reached twenty-two thousand dollars.
Progress.
Slow.
Visible.
Ashley spent the same weekend in Lisbon.
She stood on a tiled balcony at sunset with her friend Danielle Walker, drinking wine.
Danielle asked, “Do you want to get married someday?”
Ashley looked horrified.
“Why would you ask me that here?”
“Because you look relaxed.”
“What does that have to do with marriage?”
“Nothing. I’m nosy.”
Ashley laughed.
Then thought seriously.
“Maybe.”
“That sounds healthy.”
“I’m not against marriage.”
“Just lying grooms?”
“Very strongly.”
They laughed.
Ashley looked at the city.
“I used to think I needed to understand everything Marcus did before I could move on.”
“And now?”
“I understand enough.”
“What’s enough?”
“That he knew he was deceiving us.”
Danielle nodded.
“And that whatever pain made him that way was his responsibility to address before he made it ours.”
Ashley lifted her glass.
“That’s expensive therapy.”
“Worth it?”
“Yes.”
Her phone vibrated.
An email from Darius.
Marcus’s sentencing date had been set.
Ashley stared at it.
Then locked her phone.
Danielle raised an eyebrow.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Tomorrow.”
They returned to dinner.
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