A/N: Thank you all for your continued love and support! Enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 13: Sour Lemon Drops

Ana wished she could just disappear into the floor. Or rather, she wished Jose would just turn around and walk away, and they could act as if this random meeting hadn't just happened.

Neither of those things occurred, unfortunately.

"What are you doing here, Jose?" Kate finally asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them. Her voice was flat and hard, which was understandable considering she was there with Ana during the fallout after she and Jose broke up. Kate wasn't Jose's biggest fan, to say the least.

Jose blinked and looked at Kate standing there. "Oh – hi Kate. Long time no see," he said, giving her an awkward smile. She narrowed her eyes at him, saying nothing, and Jose's smile faltered.

"I'm, uh… I'm photographing the event for The Seattle Times," Jose explained, holding up his camera. "An article about Dessert Wars coming to Seattle is going up on the website tomorrow morning, so I'm just taking some shots for it."

"Cool," Mia said simply. She and Claire clearly understood that this was Ana's ex that Kate had mentioned earlier, and remained quiet as a result.

There was another awkward silence, and Ana knew the polite thing for her to do would be to introduce Claire and Mia to Jose. She wasn't about to do that, however – they could stand here in uncomfortable silence for the rest of the day as far as she cared.

"Um… so, do you think I could get a picture of you guys?" Jose asked, not looking at Ana as he scratched the back of his head. "I wanted to get some shots of people with their baked goods, and the four of you have a nice variety. It should only take a few moments –"

"Sure, that's fine," Ana interrupted him. She wasn't super fond of the idea of Jose taking a photo of them, but she figured letting him snap a quick picture would get him to leave sooner. She turned to the others. "Are you guys cool with a picture?"

Claire, Mia and Kate all glanced at each other, looking rather uncomfortable. "Um, sure," Kate finally said after a moment, and the other two nodded.

"Great," Jose smiled, looking rather relieved at their acceptance. He took a step back and lifted his camera up. "Alright, you guys can just smile at the camera. You can hold up your treats too if you want, but it's not necessary."

Ana, still feeling supremely uncomfortable, shifted in her seat to face Jose. She forced a smile as the camera clicked multiple times, and she wished more than anything this moment could be over.

"Great. Thank you, ladies," Jose said gratefully, finally bringing his camera down and checking the screen. "I appreciate it."

"No problem," Ana said, and she turned back to the table along with the others, hoping against hope that Jose would walk away without another word.

"So Ana, you're not participating in the festival today?" Jose asked, and Ana's heart sank. Why couldn't he just go away? "I would've thought The Royal Treatment would have a booth here or something."

Ana felt her heart clench when he mentioned her bakery. The very bakery that drove them apart and what he blamed for causing him to cheat on her.

Bastard

"We were just invited to attend, " Mia piped up, and Jose looked over at her. "Dessert Wars can be pretty selective on who participates, and it can take months before a vendor is approved. Hopefully, next year The Royal Treatment can have a booth here along with all the other bakeries."

Ana smiled at Mia, thankful for her support. "Yeah, I hope so too."

"How is the bakery, by the way?" Jose asked, looking genuinely interested as he gazed at Ana.

Did he seriously just ask me that?

Ana looked at him, trying her best to hide the anger his words immediately evoked in her. This asshole did not get to just walk up to her here and act all polite in regards to her bakery. The last time they saw each other he had spit all these awful, vile things about how all she cared about was 'the stupid fucking bakery' and how she never had time for him or anything but baking.

Ana now gave him a sarcastic smile, her heart pounding in her ribcage. "Still spending all my time there," she said in a saccharine sweet voice. "Like you always said."

Jose blinked, realizing what she was referring to, and a pained frown marred his face. "Ana…" he said quietly, stepping toward her.

Kate, who was sitting closest to Ana, held out her arm in front of Ana so Jose wouldn't come closer. "I think you need to leave, Jose," she said coldly to him. Ana felt a rush of appreciation for her best friend.

Unfortunately, Jose didn't seem put off by Kate's rebuff as he continued to look at Ana. "Can we just talk, Ana?" he asked seriously, gazing at her seriously. "There's a lot I said back then that I really regret…"

"I'm sure there is," Ana said, her voice hard with suppressed anger. "But there's nothing I want to say to you anymore, so I think you should just leave. Go and take your pictures somewhere else."

"Ana…"

"You heard her," Claire piped up firmly, surprising Ana. "She wants you to go away."

Jose looked at Claire before glancing at Kate and Mia, who were also glaring at him. Ana suddenly felt incredibly bolstered by her friends surrounding her, supporting her.

Jose didn't say anything for a moment or two before looking back at Ana, an unreadable expression in his eyes. Finally, he stepped back and walked away.

"Thank God," Kate sighed as soon as he was out of earshot. She turned back to her treats. "Just forget about that loser, Ana. Let's just enjoy our day."

Ana didn't respond as Kate, Mia, and Claire began chatting about the various baked goods they got. That interaction caused an uncomfortable pit to settle deep in her stomach – clearly, seeing Jose again for the first time in months affected her more than she wanted to let on. Her mind automatically cast back to all those late-night fights between them and the awful accusations he hurled at her. She remembered that horrible feeling when he confessed to cheating on her and her whole world seemed to come crashing down around her in an instant…

Ana suddenly got to her feet. "I need some air," she said without thinking.

The others looked at her in concern. "Ana?" Mia asked, but Ana ignored her as she immediately headed for the doors nearby.

Ana pushed through the doors leading out to the atrium, which was still packed with people. She almost wondered if it had gotten more packed as she began to push her way through the crowds toward the front doors leading outside.

It was only a few seconds after walking into the mass of people that she was starting to regret her decision. People were pressed up against her on all sides, pushing her this way and that, and Ana was trying her best not to stumble or fall over.

Ana was about halfway to the door when she realized there was no way she could push her way through this crowd anymore. She decided to shift toward the edge of the room, where she could see some extra space, and began walking to her left.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hey!"

Ana had barely turned to see the commotion when she noticed at least a dozen people falling to the ground, one after the other like dominoes. Someone fell directly into Ana, and she crashed to the floor, instantly feeling pain shoot up her leg as she fell on it awkwardly.

"Ah!" she cried out, feeling overwhelmed by the shock and pain of it all. What the hell just happened?

"Ana!" Mia had shoved her way through the raucous crowd, which was still riled up from what had happened. She kneeled next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Ana pushed herself up to her elbows and glanced around. "What just happened?"

"I think a guy tripped and fell, and it caused a chain reaction of people falling into each other," Mia explained, frowning at the crowds of people still pressing in all around them. "Seriously, it is way too crowded here. We should leave."

She grasped Ana by the arm to help her to her feet, but the moment Ana put weight on her right foot, she felt a sharp pain shoot up her leg.

"Ow!" she yelped, falling back to the ground and grasping her leg. "Shit, that hurt!"

"Oh my God, did you break something?" Mia asked in alarm, looking at Ana's leg with immense worry. She met Ana's eyes, and Ana swallowed.

"I don't know," she said, her voice low and shaky.

God, could this day get any worse?

~/~

~Several hours later~

Christian idly ran a finger around the rim of his whiskey glass as he sat in a chair on his parents' expansive backyard patio, listening to his mother going on and on about the wedding. It was just him and his parents at the Grey Estate now – Gia had been here earlier since the both of them often came by for Sunday dinner, but she had to leave early due to a work call. He honestly wished he were somewhere else now, however, since both his siblings were busy and there were about a million other things for GEH he would rather do right now. Anything but sit here and listen to his mother gush about his upcoming wedding with Gia.

"…And the flowers Lorraine picked out were simply gorgeous! Oh my gosh, I don't know if you saw them Christian, but they are perfect," Grace said happily, holding a glass of Pinot Grigio as she, Carrick, and Christian lounged on the patio after dinner. It was a warm summer evening out, and Christian watched the sun set over the trees in the distance as he sipped his whiskey. "I initially wanted roses, but Lorraine insisted on calla lilies, and she was absolutely right. Don't you agree, Cary?"

"Yes, those flowers are very nice, dear," Carrick agreed idly, not looking up from the newspaper he was reading. Grace simply rolled her eyes at her husband.

In the past, Christian felt he could sit through his mother's fawning, figuring that his wedding with Gia was the only opportunity she would have to plan a wedding for her middle son, so she might as well enjoy it. Now, however, he wished more than anything he could leave and not be reminded that he was going to be hurting his mother when all this was over.

Not for the first time, Christian wondered why he had agreed to this stupid arrangement with Gia. It's not like he needed her money – he just thought he was doing a favor for a friend, while also making an advantageous business move. It was a win-win.

Doesn't feel like it so much, anymore.

Before Christian could dwell on his melancholy thoughts for too long, however, his phone rang. He looked at his screen and saw it was his sister.

"Mia's calling," Christian said to his parents before answering the phone. "Hey Mimi."

"Hey Christian," Mia said, and Christian thought she sounded exhausted. "Sorry to call you out of the blue like this. Am I interrupting something?"

"No, I'm just at Mom and Dad's," Christian said, glancing over at them. "What's up?"

"I just thought you should know I'm at St. Vincent's Hospital right now," Mia explained, but added quickly: "I'm fine, I promise. I was with Ana, though, and she fell and broke her ankle."

Christian felt a shock run through his body as he immediately jumped to his feet, surprising both his parents. "What? Ana's hurt?!"

"She's okay now," Mia assured him. "But we had to take her to the emergency room. They splinted her ankle and gave her some painkillers. She's probably going to be discharged soon, but I thought you should be made aware since this is probably going to affect business in the future…"

"Don't leave the hospital," Christian insisted firmly, his heart hammering in his chest. "I'm coming by."

"Christian," Mia said, clearly shocked. "You don't have to do that -"

"I'm coming," Christian said firmly, almost angrily. "And that's final. Don't move, I'll be there soon."

He hung up the phone before Mia could protest, and he turned and hurried off the patio and toward the front door, ignoring his parents calling after him as he left.

A/N: Poor Ana, can't catch a break :( But at least Christian is coming to her rescue lol.

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