The Girl That Care Forgot ✓

○ Phase Three ○ 31 • Catalyst

|| p h a s e  t h r e e ||

» you can ask the universe for all the signs you want,
but ultimately, we see what we want to see when we're ready to see it «

– anonymous

“This is delicious,” Mrs Morgan said, smiling widely as she finished swallowing a mouthful of the cottage pie, her eyes filling up with a dreamy look that only food prepared in such an exquisite manner could bring about.

“Evelyn here is a wonderful cook,” Vincent said in response, shooting Eva a quick glance with an appreciative smile of his own.

Eva smiled at the woman sitting across her, before ducking her head and cutting a small piece of her own slice.

“You made this?” Mrs Morgan gasped, turning to look at Eva now, with awestruck eyes like Eva had done something so wonderful. As if Eva had created magic. “I thought you’d ordered it from a professional catering place or something of the sort! Oh, Evelyn, you must surely teach me your ways!”

“Excuse my wife,” Noah Morgan laughed, his voice carrying an apologetic tone. “She’s passionate about baking.” And then he looked at his wife with a certain tenderness in his eyes that made Eva’s stomach tighten into a knot. How come Vince never looked at her in that manner? She was sure he loved her, but the way Vince looked at Eva was different than how Noah Morgan looked at his wife.

Noah looked at Millie Morgan like she was something divine that’d fallen right out of the sky, and Vince looked at Eva like he was contemplating what else to add or remove to make her better than how she was.

The seeds of doubt planted ever since high school was growing slowly in Eva, blossoming, spreading its branches, digging its roots deeper and prodding her to question what she knew as her reality. That didn’t mean she had the courage to voice any of it, though.

“Oh, yes, she owns Millie’s Family Bakery, doesn’t she?” Vincent joined in, a look of recognition dawning over his face. “I’ve heard a lot of offices cater from there during Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties.”

“Of course,” Mille Morgan beamed, a look of pride in her eyes. And it troubled Eva— that this woman had the ability, the right to feel proud about what she had accomplished. That she was entitled to feel proud of herself. And that Noah Morgan wasn’t correcting her, or putting her in her place. “A lot of companies cater from us.” And then she whipped her head around towards Eva, a hopeful look in her eyes. “Actually, now that I think about it, our orders have been increasing a lot these past few months and I wouldn’t mind an extra set of hands.”

Eva froze, her hand lingering in mid-air with the forkful of pie. “I’m sorry?”

Millie smiled, “dinner has been simply wonderful today. And if it was prepared by your hands, then I want you putting them to use in my bakery. I can assure you the working conditions are more than flexible.”