Nichole Richards is currently living her best life.
She's single and mingling, has an amazing group of friends, and business is booming for her bakery business. Things only take a turn for the worst after she discovers that someone from her past ha...
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04 | LET IT BURN
WEEKS LATER
"See you next time, Mrs. Dawson! Take care." Nichole waves goodbye to one of her regulars as they exit her shop with a handful of sweets.
After Nichole is done cleaning up, she goes over to the entrance and flips the sign hanging on the door from OPENto CLOSED.
Of her medium-sized but extremely talented team, Nichole is usually the first one to arrive at the shop and the last one to leave. Being the boss, and with business still booming at a steady rate since the shop first opened, Nichole could easily leave the bakery in Danielle's hands - her top candidate for the assistant manager position that she's been thinking about opening - while she lingers back to deal with other behind-the-scenes business affairs.
Nichole doesn't have to work alongside her employees; she chooses to simply because it's what she wants to do. And as stubborn as she is, Nichole Richards is going to do what she wants no matter what anyone thinks.
Baking is a part of her being. She loves it. Lives for it. And in a way, it can be used as a means to relieve stress. While some people smoke to help alleviate their stress, some workout, and some even try to drink their troubles away, for Nichole, she bakes. It's easy for her to turn her brain off and focus on nothing but trying to make the best strawberry cheesecake or blueberry muffin from scratch, just to be able to prove to herself that she can.
Nichole loves taking on new challenges, tackling new recipes. Every day is a brand new day for her to learn something new, so wasting time doing nothing is never an option.
That's why it hurt so much when she turned Ademar down earlier this morning after he called asking if she wanted to hang out. She could have said yes and left Danielle in charge. But she didn't say yes. Nichole had told Ademar no, said that she was too busy with work and had asked him for a rain check, which he happily accepted before hanging up.
Nichole has been freaking out and baking up a storm ever since because she's afraid that she might be pushing Ademar away, unintentionally.
The two have kept in touch after their one-night stand, but they've yet to properly hang out with each other again, mostly due to their busy schedules... and Nichole's giant fear of commitment.
"Excuse me, Miss! Before you close up shop, I'd like a dozen glazed donuts, please."
Nichole looks up after hearing the little bell ring at the door, signaling that someone has entered. She smiles when she sees her other best friend, Alicia, walking towards her sporting an even bigger grin. Nichole comes from around the register and greets Alicia with a hug.
"Not that I'm not happy to see you right now, but I have to ask what you're doing all the way out here at this time of the night... Isn't it past your bedtime?" Nichole teases after pulling back.
