Angeline wasn't surprised to find two missed calls from Nathan when she finally had the chance to check her phone after the bakery closed. From the moment she opened, customers had rolled in non-stop.
The bakery closed late, and it took another couple of hours to clean up and prep for the next morning. Fortunately for her, Veronica, her best friend and longtime employee, stayed behind to assist her.
Angeline pulled the dishwasher open and sighed. She'd spent so many nights here, ever since Nathan bought the bakery for her two years ago as a birthday present—cruelly, it was after one of his worst beatings. He knew how much Angeline had wanted her own bakery, and he'd used that to dampen the pain she'd felt—to manipulate her more into staying with him.
Angeline winced as she reached into the dishwasher. Her sides ached from the night before.
She pulled out a cup from the top rack and tried to place it back in its place in the cupboard, but a jolt of pain stopped her from going any further.
"Okay, that's it." Veronica shut the door to the commercial dishwasher with a bang.
Angeline stared back at her, confused. "What?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Angeline," she said. "I know something is going on between you and Nathan. Don't think for a second I haven't noticed the bruises. Why haven't you reported this to the authorities?"
"We shouldn't be talking about this, Veronica," Angeline mumbled.
"Yes, we should," she said matter-of-factly. "Since when do we keep secrets from each other?"
"It has nothing to do with you, so mind your own business."
"It has everything to do with me!" Veronica cried, bottom lip trembling in both anger and fear. Angeline's eyes flitted away, taking in the worn white tiles as if she had ever seen them before.
"You're my best friend. It's like I don't even recognize you anymore. You don't talk about the things that used to excite you, you don't even smile. Hell, I haven't even heard you laugh in months!"
She looked up from the floors and gave Veronica what was supposed to be a shrug of indifference, as if to tell her that she worried for no reason, but her free hand gripped the side of the marble countertop tightly, dismantling all her efforts at faux normalcy.
"This isn't the Angeline I know, it isn't—" before she had the chance to finish, Angeline slammed the cup down with more force than necessary. "Then tell me what I should do then? I can't go to the police, he is the police. They wouldn't believe a damn word I had to say, not one word."
Veronica said softly, "You run."
Angeline was shaking uncontrollably and quickly began to undo her apron. "Are you insane? I can't do that. Nathan's watching my every move. He'll kill me if I run and beat me if I don't. It's a no win situation with him." She threw her apron onto the counter and quickly turned to leave. She barely made it two steps before she felt a hand catch her own and gently but firmly turned her back to face Veronica.
Veronica yanked up her sleeve, revealing dark bruises along her arms where Nathan had grabbed her. "Look at this," she told her. "If you continue on like this, more than likely you won't live to see tomorrow. Is that what you want? Are you prepared to go home within the next hour and have Nathan beat the living crap out of you again? Because I sure as hell don't want that for you. I don't want to see my best friend buried at the age of twenty-five, not before she's had a chance to live, to be happy and have children of her own. Please, Angeline, please consider what I have to say and get the hell out of that house—of that relationship."
YOU ARE READING
SECOND CHANCES (ORIGINAL WORK)
Romance[COMPLETED] When Angeline married Nathan Snyder, it was supposed to give her the perfect life. Her dream was shattered the first time her husband laid a hand on her, showing her that the life she'd married into was going to be anything but perfect...
