Emerson carefully took out the cake from the kitchen, walking as carefully as she could to the display. She placed the cake down, sliding the case closed. She was about to go to the back when the door open. Coco walked in with Letty walking behind him. Letty gave Emerson a small smile before she walked to the back to drop her stuff off.
"Hey Emmy," Coco greeted, as he took off his gloves.
"Hey Coco," she smiled. "I baked some cookies for you guys, hold on there one moment."
Emerson quickly retrieve the cookies and brought it back to Coco.
Coco chuckled, shaking his head. "You're gonna get us fat with all these sweets."
"Hey, you guys always complain when I don't have any treats for you, so here you go." Emerson stuck her tongue out. "How are you?"
"Good," Coco nodded his head. "Hey, I know I've said this before, but I truly appreciate what you've done for Leticia." It's been 2 weeks since the parent-teacher conference. Emerson and Letty immediately told Coco and she's been working on her poems since then. Mrs. Ramos submitted her poem and they were waiting to hear back.
"Not a problem, I know how hard it can be," Emerson doesn't even know how she became involved with the club and Letty. She found Letty walking in the rain one day after getting a fight with her father, she picked her up, got her all dry and taken care of. Ever since then, she's been a presence in Letty's life. She took a liking to the young girl, reminding her of her younger sister. "She reminds me of my younger sister."
"Is she around?" Coco knew about Emerson, she just didn't want to push her. Angel requested for him to not push anything and just let Emerson come out of her shell.
"No," Emerson grimaced. "I was disowned by my father."
"What?" He didn't expect this story. Angel knew about this, but he didn't expect for her to open up since she hardly spoke about her life before Santo Padre. "Emmy, I'm sorry to hear that."
"Eh," Emerson shrugged. "Family right?" She understood Letty's feelings so well. She finally found her place and does not want to leave it, she get it.
Coco opened his mouth to talk but Letty came out from the back, tying the apron around her waist.
"Everything okay?" Letty noticed the tension in the room however, she knew they weren't upset with one another.
"Yes, we're fine," Emerson smiled. "How was school?"
"Good, trigonometry is a pain." Letty replied, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Yes it is, but lucky for you, I'm great with numbers." Emerson wrapped an arm around her. "We'll do some trig after the shift."
"You're the best," Letty wrapped her arms around Emerson.
Coco smiled at the site and put his gloves back on. "Alright ladies, I'll see you two later."
They said their goodbyes and watched as Coco rode away. They had an influx of customers cime in before Emerson closed shop at 6. As she was cleaning and Letty was doing her homework, there was a knock on the door. They both looked up and found Miguel Galindo along with his head of security, Nestor, outside the door.
"Prima," Miguel greeted her as soon as she opened the door. "Hello Leticia."
Letty waved and went back to her homework. She was used to Miguel visiting after hours.
"What brings you two by?" She looked over at Nestor and gave him a wave.
"Just checking up on you, your mother is just worried." Miguel and Emerson were not blood cousins, but due to the close bond between their parents, they grew up together.
"How nice," Emerson gave him a tight smile.
"Emmy, you know she cares."
"Stop, I don't want to hear it, she let him kick me out because I made a choice." Emerson cleaned the counter. "Miguel, I appreciate you coming to check on me, but I do not want to hear anything about my family."
Miguel nodded his head, holdings his hands up. "I get it, how is business?"
"Good, growing steadily. How are you?"
"I'm good, business as usual," Miguel leaned forward placing his forearms on the counter. "How are you doing with your memories?" His tone lowering as he questioned.
Emerson looked at him then, her eyes drifting to Letty who was focused on her trig homework, a look of frustration appearing on her face. She saw Nestor walk over to Letty, a great distraction.
"It's fine." One big secret that Emerson has not told anyone, except for the people who knew her prior to coming to Santo Padre, was that she has amnesia. A few years back, she was involved in a car accident that caused for her to lose her memories. She didn't tell people much about it, but it was a subject she hardly tried to touch upon. It was a sensitive subject. Everyone had hopes she would remember, but she hasn't remembered anything.
"Have you been seeing your therapist?"
"No,"
Miguel could sense her closing off and stood up straight once more. "We just want to help you Emmy."
"Yes, but it's been 5 years, there's obviously a reason why I haven't remembered. Maybe I'm suppressing those memories cause I don't want to remember."
"Or you're not trying hard enough," Miguel felt for her, he really did. But she needed to try and remember, she had a life prior to the one she made in Santo Padre now. He was certain she would like to come back to that life along with the people she left behind.
"Miguel, please, I know you're looking out for me, but I don't need this right now." Emerson pleaded.
"Okay, I get it," he turned to speak to Nestor who was surprisingly helping out Letty with her trig homework. "Radio silence from your family?"
Emerson was kicked out 3 years ago by her father. It was upsetting as her and her father were close, he was much closer to her than the rest of her siblings. But she refused to marry someone he had arranged for her and he kicked her out. It was brutal, especially with her memories not being intact, but she was thankful that Miguel decided to help her out.
"They reach out, I never reply." They all watched as her father kicked her out. She had nothing to say to them.
"Have you spoken to Elijah?" He was the man she was arranged to be married to. In retrospect, she should have just done it, he was a good man and to this day, he still helped her out. But there was something stopping her and as much as she wanted to swallow her pride and marry him, she couldn't. It was odd, the way the whole scene was, it seemed familiar, but she of course had no recollection.
"Yes, he drops by every once in a while to check on me." Emerson took the cakes and cookies Miguel had ordered.
"Why didn't you just marry him Emmy? He was a decent man and you two got along well." Miguel never understood Emerson's reluctance to marry Elijah. Whenever he saw the two interact, they got along well, he treated her like a queen, they had a great relationship.
"I can't explain it to you, I obviously weighed out my options. But I realized that I couldn't marry him. There was just something in me that kept saying no." Emerson really couldn't explain it. She let Elijah slide that ring on her finger and everything. But when they began planning the wedding, she couldn't go through with it. Elijah knew her well and immediately called it off. This wasn't the 1800s, she had a choice regardless of what her parents believed.
Miguel just nodded his head. "When is he due to visit you?"
"In a few weeks," Elijah's visits were sporadic and random. He would usually just message her to let her know that he was already at her apartment. She enjoyed Elijah's company, but she knew they can be nothing more. At times, she hated herself. He truly was a great guy, but whenever she looked at her future, she never saw Elijah as her husband, a friend definitely, but never anything else.
"I have business with him, you two should come to dinner." Miguel offered.
"That shouldn't be a problem." Emerson checked at Letty again who looked more at ease as Nestor explained a problem to her. It was surreal since she knew what Nestor did for a living, but he was a nice guy.
"Prima, you know I'm here for you." Miguel reminded her.
Emerson gave him a small smile, nodding her head. "Thank you, I know you are. I appreciate your concern and your updates. But they disowned me, you don't get to take that back."
Miguel merely nodded his head, gesturing for her to come to him. He enveloped her in a hug, giving her a kiss to the side of her head before he pulled away. "MC treating you well?"
"You know they are,"
"Good," Miguel walked towards the door, calling for Nestor. He gave Letty one more smile before joining Miguel.
"Always nice to see you Emmy," Nestor gave her a quick hug before he walked out with Miguel.
Emerson locked up once again before joining Letty.
"How's trig?"
Letty looked up at her and shrugged. "Not so bad, who knew cornrows knew so much."
Emerson laughed. "Dork, hurry and finish, I'll bring you to my house so you can get a proper dinner and not fast food."
"Can my dad come?"
"Of course."
By the time Emerson and Letty arrived, Coco, Gilly, and Angel were waiting for them. Emerson greeted them before leading the way to her apartment.
Once everyone was in her apartment, Emerson closed the door, touching the lock on top and the door knob lock 3 times before turning around finding Angel's eyes on her.
"You do that all the time?"
"Yeah, it helps my nerves." She walked past him and made her way to the kitchen, Angel trailing behind her.
"Someone break in your home before?"
"No, but I watch enough horror movies." She didn't share much with Angel, she try not to. If she could, she kept the MC at bay and the only person she shared much to was Letty. But it was weird since Angel seemed to take such an interest on her. Maybe it was due to her being new, which was obvious, or maybe cause she's knew to town and close to Letty. But he wasn't her father. Though, he was close to Coco.
"Horror movies make you ritually check your locks?"
"What?"
"You do it when you lock the bakery. You turn the door knob three times then you walk away."
"How do you even know that?" She gave him an odd look.
"I'm observant," he shrugged.
"Angel stop flirting with her so Emmy can cook." Coco called out from the living room.
Angel chuckled at Coco's words and moved out of Emmy's way since he was in front of the fridge.
"What you gonna make?"
"Fried chicken and rice." Emerson shrugged. "I'm not some gourmet chef, but my chicken is pretty darn good."
"Sounds good to me, any home cooking is my dish."
Emerson laughed. "Do you know how to cook?"
"I can hold it down," Angel smirked. "How's Coco Jr. doing?"
"She's doing good." Emerson took out the breaded chicken she already prepared from the fridge, placing it on the counter beside the stove. "She's definitely making an effort and that's the most we can ask."
"You're a good influence on her."
"She's a good kid, it's not me."
"If you only knew,"
Letty shoved past Angel, and went beside Emerson. "Stop flirting with Em and go with my dad. She's not interested."
"And how would you know Coco Jr?" Angel ruffled her hair causing Letty's frown to deepen.
"She has a boyfriend, Elijah's his name."
"Letty," Emerson softly scolded out.
Angel's face soured then, nodding his head. "Not like I was interested anyway Leticia." With that, Angel made his way to the living room leaving Letty and Emerson in the kitchen.
"Letty, you shouldn't say things like that." Emerson frowned.
"But it's true, besides, you don't want to be involved with Angel. He has a girlfriend."
"It wasn't even on my mind."
"Do you need any help?" Letty asked.
"Prep the pan for me, please?" Emerson went over to the cupboard so she can make some rice. Angel's sudden change in mood threw her off, she was wondering why it seemed to immediately upset him. He even called Letty her full name.
Emerson shook her head and focused at the task at hand. Maybe Angel just didn't like Letty's tone or something. Regardless, it wasn't any of Emerson's business.
Angel sat beside Coco as he aimlessly changed the channel.
"You gonna pick something soon?" Angel questioned.
"What crawled up your ass?" Coco noticed the change in Angel's tone.
"Your smart ass kid."
"She cockblocked you again?" Gilly laughed with Coco joining along.
"Have you seen anyone around Emerson's shop when you two pick up Letty?"
Coco and a Gilly both shook their head. "Why?" They questioned in unison.
"I need you both to look out for Elijah."
"Elijah? I thought he hasn't been existent since Emerson's father disowned her." Coco was confused. From what he knew of Emerson's story, Elijah was the man she was slated to marry, but she refused and was kicked out from her family. Considering that, Coco just assumed that Elijah did not speak to Emerson anymore due to her refusal to marry him.
"How do you think Emerson got the bakery?" Angel pointed out.
"Elijah funded it?"
"Don't ever doubt Elijah's love for Emerson. She may have never entertained the idea of marrying him, but I'm sure he tried to make it happen more than once." Angel's hands unclenched and clenched as he thought of Elijah's manipulative ways towards Emerson. He was a decent guy, but Angel was never his biggest fan.
"How have you let this guy live for so long?" Gilly questioned, knowing just how things truly were between Elijah, Angel and Emerson.
"Galindo does business with him, too much trouble." Angel looked over at the kitchen door frame and heard Emmy and Letty laughing.
"So you have another reason to remove Galindo from power," Gilly commented.
"Not exactly, but it's a perk," Angel replied.
"You ever gonna tell her?" Coco questioned.
Angel nodded his head. "In due time."