Jessa's POV
The poor man looked bored out of his mind. Sighing, I grabbed my things and stood up to leave.

The writing session has been unproductive and a complete waste of time. My thoughts were too scattered in my mind. I might as well just head home.

At least that way I'd feel less guilty about Thomas. The little bell at the top jingled when I stopped out of the door. I opened the car door and slid across the black leather seats.

"Hi Thomas! I got you some scones."

"Oh thank you Miss Brooke, you really didn't have to." He said, turning around to collect the brown paper. I glared at him disapprovingly.

H smiled sheepishly at me, red ringing hid cheeks. "Sorry...I mean Jessa."

I smiled and handed the bag to him. The bald headed man smiled at me before putting the paper bag in the passenger seat.

"So... Where to?" " Uh.. let's go home." He nodded and started driving. I was yet to memorize the roads so I stared out the window, watching as we whizzed past blooming flowers.

Spring in LA was beautiful. A few minutes later, the car parked in the garage of Alec's huge mansion. After waving Thomas bye, I headed into the house praying Alec wasn't around.

I avoided him as much as I cold...I could barely handle all the harsh words he threw at me. When I opened the door, a meow caught my attention.

I looked down to see the green eyed Abyssinian cat staring at me. Crouching, I spread my arms and picked the eager cat up.

Dahlia-Rose, Jenna's annoying cat. It'd been a gift for her thirteenth birthday. The minute I took on the black cat with piercing emerald green eyes, I just knew I'd hate her.

And I had! I'd hated her with a passion because was not a cat person. I'd even gone as far as to dumps her in someone else's house, hoping they'd adopt her and I'd be free.

Unfortunately the cat found her way back and refused to leave my side. She  wasn't my cat but with the way she's followed me around, you'd thought she was.

Jenna got jealous at one point and kidnapped Dahlia-Rose, keeping her in her room for a week. She could've kept her there for a year and I'd have been glad to not see that cat walking around sassily.

But here I was cuddling the same cat years later. Dahlia was a reminder of my past, back when things were good and Jenna was still alive. Despite how friendly Abyssinians were, Dahlia kept to mama and I only.

I had no idea why. Ever time someone else tried to pick her up or pet her she'd hiss at them before strutting her way to me. Yes! I said strutting.

The cat had some attitude and sass in the way she walked. She purred as I stroked her fur. The sound of voices and squeals drew me towards the kitchen.

I sat her down on the couch, ignoring her whine as I went to investigate. Trudging silently to the kitchen, I prayed it wasn't Alec with one of his bimbos.

I was tired of seeing him with someone else. I followed a trial of flour on the floor only to get hit in the face with more flour.

It was so sudden. I coughed as the powedery substance field my eye and nose.

"Oh my God! Shit Jessa! I'm sorry, I thought it was Damien." A voice said while i coughed and furiously rubbed my burning eyes. I couldn't see and my eyes were stinging.

"Here, lemme do it." A voice said. Hands pried mine away as a wet cool towel was rubbed all over my face. I blinked trying to see big all I got were blurry images.

"Are you alright?" I blinked again, my vision becoming clearer as the stinging went down to a dull throbbing sensation in my eyes.

I could finally see who it was. Aaliyah. She'd been avoiding me since I got back. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt like a bitch. I deserved it though.

She stood in front of me. She'd changed. Her black shiny hair has been cut. It no longer reached her waist, rather it ended at her shoulders.

Her dark brown skin seemed lighter than before. She'd gotten taller and lost weight giving way to curves. She looked beautiful, her long eyelashes shadowing her intense brown eyes.

She had no make-up on. I wasn't surprised. She'd always hated "war paint" as she called it.

Her once warm eyes that shone with love everytime I looked in them brimmed with indifference as she stepped away from me as if she'd been burned.

I winced at that. Before I could answer her, the pitter patter of little feet and a squeal caught my attention.
I smiled, dropping to my knees before spreading my arms to engulf the little ball of happiness.

"Aunt Jessa! I missed you...sorry about the flour...it wasn't mama..it was Uncle Alec." She yelled in my ear, whispering the last part.

"It's alright Nessy." I said before pulling away to admire Aaliyah's carbon copy. I'd wanted to nickname her Nessa but Aaliyah would have my head for naming her daughter after the Lochness monster.

Nessy flashed me a bright smile and I couldn't help but smile back at the gaps in her teeth. She looked ridiculously adorable. Aaliyah wanted nothing to do with me but her daughter was the exact opposite.

Over the past few weeks I'd bonded with the five year old Jamaican. I desperately wanted to know who her father was but I had no right to ask.

Aaliyah wasn't married which meant Nessy had been born out of wedlock. My heart tightened in my chest. A few years ago, Drey had gotten me pregnant. I was not in the right position to raise a baby and neither was he.

So without telling him, I aborted it. Would my baby have been like Nessy? Full of life and joy? I see the way Aaliyah's eye shine when she looks at her daughter. I wish at that time I'd been strong like her.

I'd never know what it felt like to hold my baby..to hear him or her call me mom. I killed my baby.

Getting up, I looked around. Alec, Aaliyah and Nessy were covered in flour and so was the entire kitchen.

"Aunt Jessa, can you help us make a pie? Mom can't make any and uncle Alec keeps throwing flour." she said turning to glare at Alec.

He smirked at her before sticking her tongue at him. She glared again before turning to me. I felt awkward. Alec and Aaliyah certainly didn't want me around and I didn't want to impose.

"Erm.. Nessy..I can't...I've got-"

"It's alright Jessa." Aaliyah said making me look at her, a question in my eyes. It'd been a while since I'd heard her familiar Jamaican accent.

She nodded her head and I took that as a yes. "Uhm..okay..how about we make..an apple pie? Yes?" I asked softly looking at Alec and Aaliyah.

I felt the need to walk on eggshells around them. They hadn't forgiven me yet. I wasn't stupid enough to think they had.

They were doing this for Nessy's Salem the little girl didn't know what had happened and they wanted her to have a normal childhood..not one where her aunt and her mom and Uncle fight.

She squealed in excitement and grabbed my hand, dragging me towards the counter, her pigtails dancing in the air. She walked exactly like Aaliyah.

I admired her childlike innocence. It made me miss times when everything was simple and my biggest worry was choosing what to eat for breakfast.

I grabbed an apron and put it on, tying the straps beging my back. "Okay..uhm.... let's clean this place up, then we can start baking, yeah?" Alec suggested.

He hadn't looked at me since I walked in. He was in just a shirt and sweatpants but he still managed to take my breath away. Around people, he ignored and pretended I wasn't there.

At home, he made things hard for me and treated me like shit. I'd cried so much because of the horrible things he's said to me. I never retaliated.

Don't think this is a cliché story where the guy mistreats the girl because he can't process his feelings for her and she allows him because she's shy and timid. This was real life.

In this case, I deserved the treatment and he most certainly did not have any feelings towards me other than hatred and contempt. I deserved the horrible treatment. I just hoped that one day he'd decide to forgive me.

After cleaning I assigned tasks to everyone. It'd been years since I'd baked and it felt amazing to be back in a kitchen. I'd loved baking ever since I was a kid.

I could still remember waking up every Sunday to freshly baked cupcakes. It'd been my favorite and I decided to take banking as a result.

I stuck to my mother like glue whenever she started baking in our little kitchen back at home. Little by little I learned how to bake.

"Aaliyah and Alec can handle the apples?" They nodded. "Okay...Nessy and I will make the dough."

We got to work immediately. I poured the flour, granulated sugar and slat into the food processor and pulsed it till it combined.

Nessy added the butter while I added the eggs. For a five year old she had incredible balance. Removing the dough, I pay it round, put it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.

I melted the butter in the skillet and added the sugared apples Alec and Aaliyah had made. When the apples softens, I strained the juice.

Returning the juice to the skillet i allowed it to hear until it thickened.      

Taking the dough out, I rolled it into a circle, layered it between wax paper on a baking sheet and refrigerated it

"Im sorry guys. I have to take it. I'll be back." Alec said as his phone rang. He stepped out of the kitchen leaving Aaliyah, Nessy and I to finish the pie.

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Hi. I know it's been a while😔😔
Sorry guys, I have exams. But I'm trying to make up for the lack of updates.

You'll get three chapters before the week ends.

So...don't judge my recipe, yeah? I don't actually know how to make apple pie....yet.
I googled a recipe 😏😏. Anyways an

Abyssinian is a type of cat that is extremely friendly and always wants to be within petting distance of it's owners.

My cat hates me unless he's hungry so... definitely not an Abyssinian 🙄🙄🙄

Don't forget to vote for the book covers if you haven't and draw my attention to any mistake you note...either privately or in the comment section. Thanks.

Anyways hope you enjoyed it. No song for this chapter but..I'm open to any suggestions.

Don't forget to vote, comment and share.

Love y'all.. even those spamming my DMS with death threats because I didn't update 🙄😂😂💔

-Daisy