For half a month, Ivana's phone didn't receive a single message from Ernest. What filled it were nine-photo collages posted by Sydney.
Some showed them eating, some showed them shopping. Some showed Sydney baking a cake while Ernest helped on the side and some had Sydney smearing cream all over Ernest's face like a painted clown …
The latest post read: [My baby craving the taste from five years ago …]
Ernest's call came through, "Ivana, make one of your signature brownies and deliver it to Stellar Hotel, Suite 888 tonight."
"I can't." Ivana looked at her hands and, for the first time, refused Ernest's request.
"Don't forget who paid to open your dessert shop!" he threatened.
Beep ... before Ivana could reply, the call was cut off.
The next moment, a message came in: [Ivana, thank you for taking care of Ernest these past years. Now that I'm back, Ernest should return to me.]
Ivana gripped her phone tightly. For a moment, she felt her heart clench so hard she couldn't breathe. But gradually, she relaxed.
Lifting her hand under the sunset, she looked at it. Five years ago, it was this hand that Ernest held tightly, telling her the desserts she made were the best in the world.
He said he'd protect her hands forever and let her make desserts only for him. The fingernails she lost to frostbite hadn't even fully grown back. Her hands looked frightening.
The cloud storage sync kept flashing and her home camera sent notifications. Ivana stared at their increasing photos and listened to Sydney's voice messages.
They talked about everything: the past, the future. In hours-long recordings, not a single word they mentioned Ivana.
It was only at the end that Sydney asked Ernest, "Ernest, during all these years I wasn't around, you and Ivana were doing well, right? Seeing you happy, I feel at peace. In a few days, I'll move to another city and we should stop contacting each other."
Ernest sounded anxious, "No, no, it's not like that. Ivana is great, but I was with her because ... only her desserts taste like yours. Every time I eat her desserts, I think of you. Every time I see the dessert shop, I think how nice it'd be if it were you making them."
The recording ended abruptly. Ivana touched her face, it was covered in cold tears.
So it was just as she thought, she was only a substitute. She had believed that, in these five years, she had warmed Ernest's heart.