Gemotions

"Do you know...you look like the woman on the cover of *Gourmet Bites*," the woman said. "The one with the…*Pecan Paradise*?"

Maya forced a smile. That cookbook! The one that had stolen her recipe. Stolen her legacy. She wanted to scream. She wanted to yell and claw at the woman’s face.

Maya excused herself and hurried into the back of the small bookstore. The world tilted. She found a chair, pulled it close to the shelves, and just sat. The sudden urge to cry made her chest tighten. She felt so lost. Her fingers traced the spines of the cookbooks, searching for something to ground her. It did not come.