The Ties That Bind

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

     Working at the bakery was a sweet deal (pun intended), and Kasden loved working there. It was the perfect part-time job for a university student; not to mention he always had a supply of fresh bread and sweets at his disposal. His shift allowed him to attend classes in the morning, study for a couple of hours, work his shift and still have time to study some more later in the evening. He also had enough free time to spend with his friends, his boyfriend in particular. It was the ideal part-time job for a university student, and he loved it.

     It was a Saturday and business had been brisk with a steady flow of customers. The rush had finally slowed, but it was still busy enough that he was kept hopping filling orders. He was looking forward to taking a break since his feet were starting to feel more than a little abused from standing on the hard tile floor all through the morning rush.  

     He was restocking the confections in the display case, knowing that there would be little time to do it once the afternoon rush started up. When he finished stocking the display case, he needed to sweep the front area; Carol, the owner, was strict about cleanliness, always wanting to make a good impression on her customers.

     The bell hanging above the door jingled, announcing that another customer had entered the bakery. So much for having time to sweep the floor, Kasden thought as he glanced at the entrance.

     Two very stylish women were talking excitedly to one another as they approached the counter. They hadn't bothered to look up once and hadn't yet noticed the young man behind the counter. Kasden's breath stilled, and he felt his heart skip in a small panic as the two walked up to the counter where he waited for them to notice him.

     He instantly recognized one of the women - how could he not? She was the same woman who had waited outside the kitchens for him a year ago when he'd volunteered to serve at a charity banquet. Back then, she'd insisted that they have no contact with one another, even though she was his mother. It was the first time they'd seen one another in nearly thirteen years.

     Now, here she was again, showing up unexpectedly at his part-time job, and he wasn't quite sure how he should act. There was no way he was going to be able to avoid speaking with her and her friend. 

     At that moment, the woman looked away from her companion, her eyes widened briefly as she noticed the boy behind the counter, but she managed to keep any other expression from her face as she strode over and began talking as if the boy were of no significance at all.

     "We're here to place a special order. Can we speak to the manager please?" Her tone made it clear that she didn't want to talk with him, probably anyone else would be satisfactory, but not Kasden.

     "Certainly," the boy replied. "I'll go get her and she'll be right out; please wait for a moment."

     He turned and quickly darted through the door into the back of the bakery where Carol, the owner, was mixing ingredients for the afternoon bake. 

      Carol was a short woman in her forties, but she looked younger than her actual age. She was kind and generous to her employees, and Kaden really enjoyed working for her at the bakery. Carol, for her part, was very pleased with how well he was working out and had grown quite fond of the young man. It was clear though, as he passed through the door into the kitchen, that something had shaken the boy, his face was as white as the flour she was sifting into the giant mixing bowl. 

     "Are you okay?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

     "I'm sorry, Carol." The boy replied, pulling himself together. "There are two customers out front that want to place an order. They didn't want to give their order to me and asked if you could take it."

     She raised her eyebrows; it was quite unusual for customers to ask for her when placing their orders. Furthermore, that didn't explain the miserable state that was apparent in the young man's bearing at the moment. At any rate, she thought, this would have to wait, there were customers who wanted to talk to her, and she would have to deal with them before figuring out what had made her young employee look like he'd seen a ghost.

     The women explained that they were purchasing treats for their monthly church group's women's meeting. They were clearly excited about their speaker who was a well-known Evangelical preacher who went from congregation to congregation preaching hellfire and damnation for all those who participated in fornication and homosexuality. They couldn't contain their excitement that they had been able to get this particular preacher to come speak to their women's group and they went on about him at great length. 

     His reputation preceded him; Carol had read about him in national papers - she wasn't overly impressed by what she'd read about the man, and the praise these women were heaping on him didn't improve Carol's impression. But the women were excited, and they were placing a large order which was what was important at the moment. Their reason for the order didn't matter to Carol, her business was to sell her products; it didn't matter to whom they were sold or who would enjoy them.

     Carol took the order, gathered all the confections together into boxes, and presented it to the women. This was a task that any one of her part-time employees could have completed with their eyes closed, so she wondered why the women couldn't have just placed their order with her young employee. When they finally left, they were carting several large boxes of confections away with them.

    Carol returned to the kitchen where Kasden had taken over the preparations while she was out front filling the order. They traded places again and the afternoon rush began, preventing her from pursuing her questions from earlier. By closing time, both of them were far too tired to do anything other than clean up and head their separate ways.

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     Kasden walked into the apartment he shared with Luke to find his boyfriend seated on the couch with books and papers spread out around him like the wreckage from a natural disaster. It looked like he was sitting in the midst of a hurricane. 

     He set the loaf of fresh bread he'd brought home on the counter and dropped, exhausted, onto the other end of the couch making the strewn books and papers bounce haphazardly. He let out a tired sigh, greeted his boyfriend, and closed his eyes for a moment. He awoke to the delicious smell of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, which Luke was just plating up with a bowl of tomato soup. It smelled heavenly, and Kasden realized just how hungry he was.

     "You look wrecked." Luke said as the other boy got up and walked over to the counter where he placed the food in front of his lover. He leaned over Kasden's shoulder and placed a brief kiss on the other boy's cheek. "I thought I'd go ahead and make something easy."

     "Thanks Luke. I didn't realize how tired I was. How long was I out?"

     "About an hour. I finished my report and put everything away before I fixed this. That fresh bread looked delicious, and I decided to use it for dinner." 

     Kasden looked over at the couch and noticed that the mini disaster was cleared; he wondered aloud whether or not it had taken an entire crew of disaster cleanup specialists to clean it up. "Ha, ha." Luke snarked back, both of the boys cracking up at the stupid joke.

     Dinner conversation was little more than "mm's" and "ah's" as Kasden scarfed down the delicious sandwich; Luke watched in mock horror as the food on Kasden's plate vanished into the black hole that was his boyfriend's mouth. He shook his head and ate his own meal, pretending to guard the plate from Kasden in case he tried to snatch it away along with his own food. Kasden was too busy eating to notice his boyfriend's silly behavior.

     Once they were both done eating, Kasden took the dishes to the sink, washed and dried them, then put everything back where it belonged. They took turns cooking, and whichever one cooked, the other one did the cleanup afterwards; it was only fair that way. When the dishes were done, Kasden pulled out his own books and papers and spent the next few hours deep in concentration. He didn't mention seeing his mother as he didn't want to bother his boyfriend with unnecessary drama.