The woman’s rhetorical question left me completely stunned. Who the heck is this woman? Not only did she seem to know Ashton, but she also sounded like she knew me well. Besides the face, there’s nothing about her that looked familiar to me. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t figure out who she is.
“Who the heck are you?” There was no way I could keep my cool any longer at that moment, so Ashton patted me on the shoulder to assure me that he had got the situation under control before chiming in, “You’ll have to excuse my wife; Letty has always been a hothead. Please forgive her straightforwardness.”
“You saw how rude she was, so how can you simply ask me to forgive her? Does that sound reasonable to you?” Obviously, the woman got a little upset because of what we said, but Nathaniel quickly pinched her back to remind her to watch her manners.
“I’m going to have to ask you to do the same for Nora’s bluntness. She’s been abroad for quite a while, so I guess that’s where she picked up the character. She doesn’t mean to offend you, of course. Actually, I planned to introduce her to you the next time I visit, so imagine my surprise when I bumped into you here,” explained Nathaniel disingenuously.
There was only one person that I knew named Nora, and that was Nora Oberick. I thought she was killed in the explosion, wasn’t she?
Even though I was looking straight at the woman’s face, I could not confirm if she was the Nora I knew.
Suddenly, the storekeeper brought a well-designed box over to Nathaniel. “Here’s your order, Mr. Hall.”
Instead of taking the box, Nathaniel turned to smile at us. “You should take the cake. My treat.”
Because of the man’s offer, the storekeeper, too, turned to us with the box. “Here’s your cake, sir.”
“You don’t have to do that. I did nothing to deserve this.” With that, Ashton unceremoniously turned down Nathaniel’s generosity.
Still stuck with the box, the storekeeper found herself in an awkward position.
“You worry too much. It’s just a cake,” reminded Nathaniel nonchalantly.
Ashton remained silent for what felt like forever before finally breaking the ice. “This is just the way I am. You don’t know Letty, just like you don’t know me.”
The man then turned to me and put his arm around me. “Now that I think about it, the desserts made in a bakery have way too much sugar in them anyway. Come on, let’s go home. I’ll make some for you and Audrey myself.”
Since we drove all the way there only to end up not buying anything, I suspected that the cakes in the bakery were never the reason why Ashton wanted to be there. With a look, the man gestured for me to leave empty-handed with him.
However, as if he could not understand what Ashton was insinuating, Nathaniel continued to pretend that he was a close friend. “I know how much you love your kids, so I’m not going to take up more of your time. Since Audrey likes desserts so much, I’ll be sure to remember to bring some over when I visit.”
Ashton only gave the man a half-smile in response before walking out of the bakery with me.
“You knew Nathaniel was going to be there, didn’t you? Is that why you brought me there?” I questioned Ashton as soon as we stepped into the car.
“Not exactly,” replied Ashton as he fired up the car with one hand and placed the other on the steering wheel. “I knew he was going to be there today but not the exact time. We just got lucky.”
“We should’ve tried to find out who that woman is. We left too soon,” I stated while fiddling with my fingers anxiously.
Even though bumping into my doppelganger saved me a lot of trouble, it also meant that I would face plenty more in the future, so I had to be vigilant.
“You already know who she is. She’s exactly who you think she is,” informed Ashton confidently.
Shocked, I stared at Ashton for a few seconds before finally breaking the silence. “Nora Oberick? Could it really be her?”
“You’d rather she be someone else?” asked Ashton rhetorically.
“No, of course not. But you and I both know that she was at the center of the explosion that day. There was no way she could’ve survived.”
