Sugar & Spice

Chapter 12

A/N: Dedicated to _faemarsh XOXO

A week dragged by, one slow day at a time, and Quinn didn't come around again. Ever since Quinn had walked out the door, a pit of dread had been growing in Crissy's stomach, day by day, until it was a gaping chasm.

Crissy had lost count of how many times during the past week that Amy had caught her standing in the kitchen, staring off into space, whatever task at hand completely forgotten which typically ended up in disaster. The same was true now as Crissy stood at the stove, her gaze seeming to blaze a hole right through the counter top, the butter she was supposed to be browning for coffee cake long since passed out of her mind.

Amy surged into the kitchen on Thursday morning and dropped her massive bag on the counter. "Sorry I'm late," she chirped. "Manu and I were arguing over baby names. I told him I wanted to think about kids a little more but it's kind of fun tossing names around every once in a while."

Crissy shook herself back to the present then swore under her breath as she caught a whiff of smoke. The butter had turned to a black-brown mix, completely unusable, and she hurried to turn the stove off. She growled and dumped the ruined butter down the drain.

"That's the third butter batch you've burned in as many days, cupcake," Amy pointed out. She leaned her hip against the counter and crossed her arms. "The only time I've seen you burn butter is when something is holding your attention more than food. And I can guess what that would be. Or I should say...who...that would be," she added with a smirk.

Crissy sighed and braced her hands against the lip of the sink. "It's just been a long week, you know?"

Amy placed a hand against Crissy's back. "How about we make it a half day and take a three day weekend?"

A long weekend would give her time to talk to Quinn. And she really, really needed to talk to him, even though the thought made her sick with worry and anxiety. But Crissy knew she would have to face him at some point. Things couldn't sit like this between them for too much longer, she would go absolutely batshit crazy. Maybe she could take him a peace offering on Saturday. That would give her the entire day on Friday to mentally prepare herself...

"Crissy," Amy said. "You were miles away. Come on back to me, girl friend. What's going on?"

Crissy glanced up at Amy, the small, understanding smile ever present on Amy's lips, soft dark eyes so steadily trained on Crissy. For as long as Crissy could remember, she had always told Amy everything. Ever since they were little, Amy had been her better half, inseparable. But there had been some things, about her ex-fiance, that she didn't tell Amy, some things she just couldn't bring herself to tell anyone because she'd much rather forget them. And if she told Amy what happened with Quinn, Amy would make the connection that Crissy hadn't told her everything and she would want to know.

"I long weekend sounds perfect," Crissy said instead. She turned back to the sink to scrub the sticky butter out of the pot. Amy squeezed her fingers into Crissy's shoulder for a moment then let her hand slide away.

"Suit yourself, sugar," Amy said. "But when you feel like talking, I'll be here."

The bell over the door jangled, jarring in the sudden stillness, signaling the arrival of customers. As Amy headed out of the kitchen, Crissy's stomach, already a mess with dread over Quinn, tightened even more until it almost hurt. She already watched Quinn walk away from her, but she couldn't bear to watch Amy do it too, not with the way Crissy was handling things at the moment.

Crissy wiped her hands on a towel and dove into the refrigerator until she found the pink and white box she'd safely hidden all the way in the back. She lingered in the kitchen until Amy had finished with the customers before she slipped up to the counter next to Amy and bumped her shoulder.