She glanced at the phone to see who had called. "Damn." Shaking her head, she went into the kitchen and pulled out a frozen pizza. As she set the oven, the phone rang again. This time she answered. "Hi, Mom."
"Aurelia! Where were you? Why didn't you answer the phone? I could be dying and do you even care? No. You just ignore me!"
"I wasn't ignoring you, Mom. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine now, but it has been the most trying day! I have had a migraine from Hell, and can you believe that Le Gourmet Chocolat didn't get my purchase correct? I always order my favorite chocolates to be delivered and they sent me the milk chocolate instead of the dark! Can you believe them? You know the milk just gives me acid reflux, but do they care? No. They claim that I placed the order wrong! As if it was my fault that they sent the wrong order!"
"Did you check your order?" Aurelia asked quietly.
"I don't need to check my order! I know what I ordered! Anyway, they finally agreed to fix it at no expense to me. You have to be firm with these people or they will just take advantage."
"Okay." Aurelia was barely listening. Her mother was always the like this. Everything was a drama, she was never in the wrong, it was always, ALWAYS, someone else's fault. Usually, it was Aurelia's when her mother couldn't blame some other entity.
"You still didn't answer my question."
"What question," Aurelia murmured, frowning. The oven beeped and she shoved the pizza into the oven, then set the timer.
"Why didn't you answer my call? You know I don't like you being so far away, Aurelia. What if I needed you?"
"I'm sorry, Mother. I was asleep and didn't hear it ringing."
"Sleeping? So early? I knew you shouldn't have made this move. Working is too stressful for you; you should come back here. Marcus would be thrilled to have you back with him—"
"Mother, I am not getting back together with Marcus, ever. So just stop."
"But darling, he gave you everything."
Aurelia cringed. Yeah, he gave me everything alright. Crabs, heartache, low self-esteem, a desolate social life… "I really don't want to talk about him, Mother."
"He's been asking about you, dear."
Aurelia straightened and drew in a sharp breath. "You didn't tell him where I am, did you?"
"Well, no…"
Aurelia blew out the breath in relief. "Thank God," she muttered. "Please don't."
"I still don't understand why you left him, Aurelia. You lived in a ten-thousand-square-foot home, had a pool with a jacuzzi, a chef, and a maid; you barely had to lift a finger!"
"Yeah well, he was fucking them both, treated me like crap and I'd had enough of being a doormat," Aurelia muttered.
"Language, Aurelia!" her mother exclaimed as a knock sounded at Aurelia's front door.
"Look, Mom, I need to go, there's somebody at the door."
"Fine. Don't forget to call me tomorrow."
"I won't."
"But don't call until after five. I'm having a spa day and I don't want to be disturbed before that. And don't be all whiny when you call, I don't want you messing with my relaxed vibe after my massage."
"Of course." Aurelia rolled her eyes as another knock rapped loudly. "Seriously, gotta go."
"Fine then, go." Her mother sniffled.
"Mother, there's a person at the door, I can't help it if—"
"Whatever. I need to go anyway; I have dinner plans. Ta!" She hung up.
Aurelia really wished at that moment she had one of those old fashion phones that she could slam the receiver down on. Instead, she just hit the end call button and set her phone on the counter. She hurried over to the door, peeked out of the security peep hole, and saw her neighbor, Kelly with her dog, Bella.
"Hey, Kelly, sorry. I was on the phone with my mom."
"No problem, I knew you were home. I saw you coming up the walk about forty-five minutes ago." Kelly grinned. "Figured you might be in the shower and didn't hear me."
"Come on in."
Kelly picked up Bella and stepped into the house. "I just came by to ask if you could watch Bella this weekend?"
"Sure, where are you off to this time?" Aurelia asked as they headed into the kitchen. She pulled the cookie jar over to her and lifted the lid, pulling out one of the dog treats she kept for Bella. "Who's a good girl?" she whispered to the little Pomeranian puppy as she gave her the treat.
"Atlantic City, there's a fashion event going on that is in need of covering and I took the contract."
"Cool." The oven dinged and Aurelia pulled the pizza out. "Have you eaten?"
"Please tell me you aren't going to eat that?" Kelly stared at the loaded with meat and cheese pizza.
"I am."
Aurelia had taken to eating anything she wanted when she wanted since leaving Marcus. He'd controlled everything she ate for the last ten years, even made her take diuretics when he thought she'd gained a pound or two, which was all the damn time. He'd had her on a strict diet and had her exercising at least two hours every day to keep her in a size one. Since leaving him, she had gained ten pounds and was now in a size three, but she didn't care. Kelly knew all about Marcus and what a controlling asshat he'd been.