Chapter three- Emma's Haven(1)

After the horrible weekend which involved a dramatic family dinner Rachel found herself in Ethan's kitchen, getting in touch with her passion for baking. It kept her mind off things and helped her be creative. She started with simple sugar cookies and then found herself baking a red velvet cake with white chocolate toppings. She had been in the kitchen all morning which wasn't a bad way to start her week. The fact that Ethan wasn't around was even better. It gave her time to breathe since he had been hovering. It was his way of clinging to her, afraid of losing what they had. The fact that she was pulling away made him hold even tighter onto her. It was suffocating and didn't help with her getting her thoughts straight. Baking was a blessing. She hummed the tunes of one of her favorite classical songs, finishing off her red velvet cake with some shaved white chocolate curls on top. Admiring her creation she reached for her phone, ready to capture the cake she was so proud of. The sound of a door slamming shut and footsteps heading her way caused her to nearly drop her phone. Thankfully she caught it before her cake and her phone were ruined. She tightly held onto the device and watched as Ethan made his way into the kitchen, greeting her with a bright smile. He lowered his gaze to her cake which caused his smile to shine even brighter.

"That looks amazing!" He told her, his eyes taking in the creation in front of her.

"Thank you." She knew she sounded hesitant, leaning toward confusion, but then again she didn't expect her boyfriend to come home a little after twelve in the afternoon, "Calling it a day already?" She asked him, half-jokingly and half concerned.

He trailed his eyes up, meeting her gaze, "I need to pack a suitcase, something came up in Boston and I need to head there sooner rather than later. You think you can come with me?"

Her phone slipped through her fingers, falling right into her perfectly baked cake. Ethan reacted much faster than her, grabbing the device and cleaning it with a paper towel.

"I wanted to stay home and bake this week." She told him, "Besides if it's an emergency, won't it be better if you head to Boston alone and fix whatever came up."

He placed her phone upon the counter beside her hand and got rid of the dirty paper towel, "It would be better to head there alone, but I just thought a change of scenery would make you feel better."

It didn't sound too bad to explore the city while Ethan took care of business, but she knew it was better for her mental wellbeing if she stayed home and got in touch with herself again. She needed to focus on herself and figure out what she wanted. Ethan being away on a business trip was the perfect time to actually focus on herself.

"I rather bake." She admitted to him, "I'm sure you'll be back soon anyway."

"I don't plan to stay longer than a week." He agreed.

She walked around the counter and gently ran a hand over his arm, "Then you focus on you and I will focus on me and when we get back together we can you know, get in touch with each other again."

He chuckled, leaning in to press a kiss to her head, "Didn't we do that already this weekend?"

She leaned into him wrapping her arms around his waist. When he wrapped her up in his arms and showed her gentle and kind she forgot about everything else which was burdening their relationship. It was easy to forget but when those burdens hit her square in the face it was a lot tougher to deal with.

Ethan patted her gently on the back, just holding her while they let minutes pass them by. The scent of his cologne lingering around them, intoxicating her and causing her mind to fog up and come up with stupid ideas like keeping him around a bit longer and doing naughty things to him which involved licking hot white chocolate off his body. She couldn't give into those desires. She needed to see if she could fix her cake while Ethan needed to pack his suitcase. They couldn't hold each other like that forever.

"Anyway, when you get back I'm thinking a romantic dinner."

"Sounds good to me." Ethan kissed her head once more and then pulled away, "I should get my things and head to the airport. Last chance, you really don't want to tag along."

Smiling she shook her head at him, "I'm good here. Don't forget about dinner though."

He chuckled, "I give you my word." He told her and then walked out of the kitchen.

Rachel moved back to the counter and took in the damage her phone did. Almost half of the cake was unfortunately not looking that great anymore. She cut it off and served it on a plate, drizzling white chocolate all over it. It didn't look great anymore, but surely it would still taste great. She made herself some tea and ate almost half a cake for lunch and she didn't feel guilty at all doing that.

***

When Friday came along Rachel felt recharged, baking all week and focusing on herself instead of her relationship made her feel refreshed and a lot more gentle. She was looking forward to tonight. Ethan was going to take the plane back and meet her for dinner at some fancy restaurant he made reservations at. She was currently out, looking for a perfect dress. Doing some window shopping Rachel reached into her bag to grab her phone when it started ringing loudly. She answered it right away, a smile spread across her face.

"You ready for tonight?" She asked.

Ethan chuckled, "Yep, on my way to the airport right now."

Her eyes wandered every window she passed, she hoped to get inspired enough to head inside the shop and find her dress. So far none of the shops were calling to her to head inside.

"I'm looking forward to it." She admitted to Ethan, "I'm actually out now, looking for a dress."

"And?" He asked, actually sounding intrigued.

"So far it's a bust." She sighed, "I'm just not feeling it, but I'm sure I'll know what I'm looking for when I see it."

"You know sometimes you need to head in without thinking too hard about things. You never know, maybe you find what you're looking for by mere chance."

She could hear the amusement in his voice. Happy and kind Ethan also made her feel more alive. It was time to completely move on from that terrible weekend and focus on them again. She stopped walking when something caught her eye. A little shop serving sweets, coffee and tea were looking to hire someone. It felt like she stumbled onto something which she was looking for. An opportunity which she stumbled on by mere chance. Ethan couldn't be more right about this.