"Thank you for calling Cakes by Claudia…Where we can make your wedding a dream with flour, sugar and butter cream. This is Betty. How may I help you?" Chanted Betty into the phone.
Claudia bit her lip to keep from laughing at Betty's way of answering the phone. I honestly think that woman is on drugs sometimes. she thought to herself. She hummed quietly to herself as she put together a list for the next order they were about to make.
"Claudia!" Yelled Betty. "My God, child do you not listen when I call your name?"
Betty shook her finger at Claudia who stared blankly back at her. "There is a Ms. Wakefield on the phone for you."
"Betty, I have no clue who that is. Can you just take a message and I'll call them later? I want to get this order in before noon…" Claudia let her voice trail off as she realized Betty had stopped listening and had in fact walked into her office.
"Claudia here. How can I help you?" She frowned as she realized she had the called on speakerphone and was unable to turn it off.
"Claudia? This is Jessica. Well Jessi as you know me…" The voice on the other end giggled nervously.
"Jessi Ramsey? No kidding!" cried Claudia in disbelief.
"Well it's Jessica Wakefield now. Terrance and I eloped last spring!"
"Do you mean to tell me that your married name is Jessica Wakefield? Like from the Sweet Valley High books?" exclaimed Claudia as she laughed until she cried.
"Gee thanks Claud, I've never heard that joke before…" remarked Jessi sarcastically.
"I'm sorry. I just thought…I, well, I." Claudia stammered nervously. "So what can I do for you? Did you need a post-elopement cake?"
"Relax, it's ok, I'm just giving you a hard time." Replied Jessi softly. "I actually wanted to get a hold of you. I heard that you are organizing the old crew from the BSC back in Stoneybrook soon? I wanted to be sure you had my info because I would love to see everyone."
"Oh, of course!" said Claudia. "I didn't know where to send your invite so I sent it to your parents' home hoping they could track you down…"
"Actually Mary Anne told me about it. " replied Jessi. "You know that we work at the same hospital right? Every now and then I'll see her in the cafeteria. Well last week I saw her and she filled me in so let me give you my phone number and email address."
Claudia quickly jotted down the info all the while trying to prevent her brow from wrinkling in confusion. "So you are a nurse too?" She asked hesitantly.
"No, I'm an Occupational Therapist. When I tore my calf muscle senior year I knew my dreams of dancing were over. As I began going through the therapy I realized it was something that interested me." Jessi paused. "Then again you might know this had you ever called me back..."
Claudia sighed and took a deep breath. "Look Jessi, I'm sorry if I didn't reply to you. It wasn't because I didn't care; I was just at a point in my life where I was too wrapped up in myself to put effort into others. I feel awful about it, which is why I am trying to get everyone together for Kristy's sake. It's not a time of my life that I'm proud of."
"I just wish you would have realized that your friends always stood behind you even if you were too blind to see us there. Look, Just keep me on the list and let me know when or where ok Claudia? I have to run. Bye!'
Claudia stared blankly into the phone which was now buzzing with the sound of a dial tone. She saw a shadow dart past her.
"Betty!" she called. "Stop pretending you didn't hear that whole conversation. How about you get in here and help me try to figure out how to straighten this mess out?"
Betty peered around the corner with a guilty look on her face. She was glad Claudia wasn't too angry for eavesdropping.
"Honey, your friends still care about you, even the ones you blew off when you were with Mark. The only thing you can do is make amends, welcome your friends back into your life and put the bad parts of your past behind you. Most of your other friends have forgiven you; it's just a few that you still have some kinks to work out."
Claudia stood up and wrapped her arms around Betty breathing in her familiar Orchid perfume.
"Thanks Betty, Now can you also get me a date for this get together next week?"
Betty looked at Claudia with a twinkle in her eye. "Now that you mention it. A nice man just moved into my neighborhood. I took him some of my Apple dumpling cake to welcome him."
Claudia looked up a small smile twitching at her lips. "Is he single? Good looking? Able to fall in love with me by next week?"
"He is nice looking. I haven't seen any women over there. He's probably around 30-31 years old. It's interesting because he was telling me he is from a large family and is actually 1 of a set of male triplets."" Exclaimed Betty not noticing Claudia's face turn into a look of disgust. "Now what was his name? Andrew? No…Adam. That was it Adam."
"Betty!" wailed Claudia. "That is Adam Pike who is the younger brother of one of the girls I used to be friends with. I used to baby-sit FOR him. UGH. He's not boyfriend material, he's...I don't know what he is!"
Betty clucked her tongue at Claudia as she walked out of the room. Before she exited she turned to say "You know for a little girl who is desperate to find a date, maybe you shouldn't be so damn picky…"
Claudia sank down in her chair. "I am not too damn picky" she muttered her feelings wounded. "But Adam Pike?!"