Unspoken (10 page)

“It looks amazing,” I heard Alexa said.

“It does,” said Jackson.

We were in the bakery finally trying to upload my cupcake process to the site where the first contest was going to be.

“You think?” I said staring at the screen.

“Yes,” they both said at the same time.

I had finally come up with a cool design of a coffee cup cupcake. It was quite amazing if you asked me. It was a vanilla cupcake surrounded by a cup made of white fondant. The cupcake was covered in chocolate ganache and placed on real coffee cup plates. In the end you could actually eat the whole thing, minus the plates. It looked amazing and Jackson had documented the whole process for the contest.

“Well, there it goes,” I said pressing the enter contest button and letting the world see what I did. Well, not the whole world but people I didn’t know.

“Yay!!” said Alexa clapping while jumping up and down.

“When will we know the results?” asked Jackson looking at me.

“At the end of the week,” I shrugged.

“Ok,” said Jackson and grabbed the cupcake tour notebook and marked off the first contest. “One down, a lot to go,” he grinned back at me.

“It’s nerve wrecking,” I said looking at him, he smiled
What?

“Waiting for people to judge on my work…,” I shook my head.

“Then get on preparing the next contest and you won’t have to dwell too much on what they say or not say,” he shrugged and I smiled,
Thank you.

“
Thank you for letting me be part of this,” he said placing a lose tendril of red hair behind my ear.

“So,” I said trying to pretend that the gesture was nothing else but two friends talking “what’s next on the cupcake tour agenda?” Our conversation was interrupted by my cell phone ring tone. “My Mother,” I said and Jackson, of course, went to sit behind the counter where Alexa was. Just the mention of my mother gave him the creeps.

“Yes, Mother,” I said rolling my eyes.

“So you went to New York…,” I heard her voice.

“Mother, I told you last time we talked that I was not going to talk about Leonard and me with you.”

“I know but did I have to hear from Julia that you went away for a night with her son? I felt quite stupid not knowing…,” I could clearly hear the fake embarrassment on her voice.

“Ok, if you insist on talking about Leonard and me….”I said.

“I’d love to, Marion,” she sounded so happy.

“Ok, did you and dad know that Leonard is older than me?” I really wanted to know if they knew they’d set up her daughter with someone way older than her.

“Of course we knew, Marion, he looks older than you,” she said giving a tiny stupid laugh. I could clearly picture her playing with her pearls necklace.

“13 years older, mother,” I said. I heard Alexa gasp and Jackson coughed.

“Oh, my!” That’s all she said.

“Yeah, he’s 38, mom! Does dad know?” He was going to flip when he heard.

“No, he doesn’t but I won’t tell him if you don’t want me to.”Oh now she wanted to play accomplice!

“I don’t really care if he knows,” I said shrugging.

“Good,” I heard a smile, “So everything is going great then?” she asked.

“Yes mom, everything is going great,” I couldn’t help it. I could lie and say that it was horrible just for the sake of making my mom angry but the truth was that Leonard was great and I wasn’t about to lie about us.

“Good. You think you’d be able to come to a formal ball the club is arranging?” I knew my mother wanted to show that her daughter was dating an eligible bachelor; her dreams were coming true.

“I don’t know mother, Leonard is really busy, he is always traveling because of work. If he happens to be around then sure, we’ll come.”

“Perfect,” I bet she was on the edge of the chair wanting to clap like a damned seal.

“I got to go, mom, see you around,” I said.

“Look who’s got herself a sugar daddy,” Said Alexa.

“Shut up, Alexa,” I said blushing and going to the kitchen.

“13 years uh?” I heard Jackson’s voice and I didn’t even turn to look at him. I kept on scrubbing some pots so I could get on with my unnecessary baking since everything was covered for the day.

“He is 10 years older than me,” I heard him coming closer and I tensed afraid of whatever he was going to say “And still he can’t compare to me,” Oh hell no!

“Stop!” I said turning around with my hands covered in soap “I am sick and tired of listening you brag about what we had and still not acting on it! What I have with Leonard is real, he is not going to leave me one day and never come back! So, please, Jackson, let us be!” There was soap everywhere because I had been using my hands too much and much to my displeasure Jackson was not hurt or angry he seemed amused!

“You like him,” he said with a horrible little smirk that made me want to wash it away with the soap that I had left on my hands.

“I do, very much,” I said looking at him straight in the eye.

“That’s ok, I like Sally as well, that doesn’t mean she is the one I want to be with,” he came closer to me

“And still,” I said putting one hand on his chest to stop him from getting closer, “she is the one you are with.”

“You are with Leonard,” he shrugged.

“I hate you,” I said turning around and resumed my pot cleaning and I heard him laugh as he walked back to the front.

“Let her be, Jackson,” I heard Alexa say and I immediately looked for my earphones and plugged them into my iPod so I could tune out whatever they would talk about. It seemed that I was forced into a cupcake session.

It was the day of the damn ball at the club and my parents were delighted that Leonard was in town. My mother had bought me a dress for the evening but I rejected it so I wore one of my dresses. It wasn’t that complicated or fancy but I loved it. It was a green dress fitted on the top and very princess-like at the bottom. I’d decided to wear my hair up in a French bun.

“You look amazing,” said Leonard as we walked into the club.

“You too,” I smiled at him. I was actually excited to be here with him. He made me feel so sure of everything. It was quite the difference from everything Jackson made me feel.

“Marion,” I heard my mother and immediately turned around to see her. She was wearing a nice black dress with her blonde hair her tied up as always; my father was standing right behind her. “I’m so glad you two could make it,” I was about to say something that would piss her off when far away from where we were I saw her: Sara Bardwell, Jackson`s mother.

“Shit,” I muttered and opened my clutch looking for my cell phone.

“Marion!” my mother reprimanded me.

“Everything ok?” Leonard asked.

“Sure,” I nodded. “I just remembered that I left some muffins out,” I lied. “I need to call Alexa and ask her to go to the bakery.” I smiled and excused myself to call Jackson. I knew for a fact that he was at my place eating a batch of espresso muffins I’d baked for him (yes, I was baking for him now).

“Pick up, pick up,” I said exasperated waiting for him to answer his phone.

“Mar,” he finally answered.

“Don’t go back to your place,” I said jumping up and down to warm me up. Winter was just around the corner and it was already freezing. I cursed myself for not getting my coat before making the phone call.

“I wasn’t planning to,” he said.

“I mean it Jackson. Your mother is here,” I hissed into the phone. I hated that I was helping him hide out from his mother and
Sally.

“Here? Where here?” I could clearly picture him jumping down from my bed and looking around. Ugh! He was such a coward! I wanted to strangle him.

“At the club, I guess this is an important ball,” I shook my head.

“Is my father there?” he asked.

“I have no idea, I only saw her,” I shrugged. “I just wanted to give you a heads up. I have to go now, Leonard is waiting for me.” Plus I was freezing.

“Sure. Thanks, Mar,” I heard him relax.

“No problem,” I hung up and went back inside where Leonard’s warm arms received me.

“You are freezing,” he said while kissing the top of my head. I just nodded. “Your parents want us to be by their side all night,” he chuckled when he said that.

“They said that?” I looked up to meet his eyes.

“Not exactly. Your mother suggested that it might be good for your father if we made a united front,” he shrugged.

“She wants to show you off. You know that, right?” I asked and he shrugged again. Leonard was so sweet he didn’t care my mother was using us. “Let’s go then.”

The evening was excruciating because of several things: I had to be standing up a lot! Wherever my parents went we went and I was not used to high heels so my feet were experiencing a slow death.

I had to endure my parents campaigning for my dad so he could be elected as a member of the board. Was this what your life reduced to when you are old? Being member of the board of your social club was the ultimate goal?

The desserts at the end were horrible and appalling. Leonard went directly to the organizer and gave her my card letting her know that she could do better on that department. That was so nice and it was the only moment of the evening that I felt great.

But I would gladly live through those factors if I could change what the ultimate fucked up factor of the evening, the cherry on the top of the cake, happened to be.

I was ready to go home, my feet were screaming at me that they needed to be released of my shoes and I was whining to Leonard like a 3 year old when she came to “say hello” to my parents.

“Hello Monica,” I heard Sara’s voice and I tensed immediately.

“Sara, so lovely to see you,” Everything was completely and absolutely tense. The relationship between the Bardwells and the Galloways was tense thanks to Jackson and me. Sara and my mom have always been pleasant to each other because that’s what you do when you are into the Hamptons society shit but they have always known the relationship their kids had. As previously mentioned, my mother thought Jackson was responsible for me not going to college and Sara… Sara was a whole other story. She hated my guts.

“Marion,” she looked at me with murder in her eyes.

“Sara, how are you?” I asked with a fake smile. She didn’t answer.

“Have you met Leonard Sabiston?” I asked throwing Leonard into the conversation as a shield. A shield between me and Sara, a shield between Sara’s assumption that Jackson might be here with me or the assumption that I might be interested in him.

“Nice to meet you,” she said shaking his hand.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he said like the gentleman he is.

“Have you heard of Jackson?” What? Where did that come from? She had never talked about Jackson with me.

“Not for six long years, Sara, you know that,” I said pissed off. Leonard sensed that and put his hand around my arm.

“Good,” Sara nodded and left. I could finally breath and I could clearly see that my mother was about to die in the spot. She kept glancing from Leonard to me back and forth.

“It’s ok, mom,” I said rubbing her arm up and down. I wanted to give her some comfort because I knew she was scared of what Sara could do to her status at the club. My mom and dad had networked their way around the high society on the Hamptons but the Bardwells were born with pedigree and were known as society in the Hamptons and New York.

“Do you want to leave now?” asked Leonard and I nodded. Mom let me go because she didn’t want any other accidents.

I loved the fact that Leonard didn’t ask me a thing until we were in the car. He knew Sara was talking about the same Jackson that slept in my sofa every now and then. He just acted like a true gentleman.

“Why didn’t you tell Sara Bardwell that Jackson is at your place?” he asked with a tone full of curiosity and free of jealousy.

“I told you he has issues. He is hiding from his mother and fiancé,” I shook my head and turned to look at him. “I know he has to face his problems but I am not the one to make them worse,” I shrugged.

“You are a good friend,” he said taking my hand in his as he drove. I felt like shit for not telling him the complete truth.

“Six years?” is all that he asked. CRAP! CRAP!

“We met eight years ago, through Alexa’s brother. Sara always thought us, his new friends, were beneath him and would hold him back,” I shrugged again. It never occurred to me that maybe it was because of her that Jackson never came back.

“Why would she think that?” Leonard asked confused.

“I was a 17 year old with no ambitions of a career besides being a baker,” I chuckled and looked down at our entangled hands while shaking my head “Alexa… Alexa loved boys,” this time he chuckled “Connor, he was Alexa’s brother I guess...”

“I’ve never like the Bardwell’s,” he said with a frown. He knew the Bardwell’s. Did he know Jackson??

“I don’t know Jackson, though,” he said and I released the air I’d been holding.

Things were too complicated. Easy was what I was aiming for and I had easy with Leonard. Why couldn’t I have easy with Jackson? We had easy, though. Six years earlier we had easy. It was simple, uncomplicated and most of all true.