“Me either,” she agreed.
“I have another brunch happening on the twenty-eighth of next month. She ordered the package that includes a cake, too. I haven’t gotten the details.”
Baisleigh was all about business and collaboration over competition. She added a custom cake option to her brunch options that her customers could choose. And for the ones who said they’d just get their own cake, she referred a cake lady who happened to be me. Either way, it was me who was responsible for the cakes in the end. It was a win-win for me.
“When you get them, just let me know. I’m going to get out of your hair. I have some work to do.”
“Let me walk you out,” she insisted, coming from around her desk.
We both stepped out onto the main floor and headed for the door. The smell of freshly cooked bacon usually made my stomach growl, but I was trying my hardest not to barf. I rushed toward the exit so that I could free myself from the fumes, leaving Baisleigh in the dust.
“Call me!” I turned around and shouted as I opened the door. Before I could get the breath of fresh air I craved, I walked straight into someone’s chest.
“My bad, baby girl,” the familiar voice spoke.
I tried to place it but nothing came to me immediately. It wasn’t until I looked up and saw the dark line across his handsome face that I recognized Scar. It had been months since I’d seen him, but his voice was unforgettable. It was as dark and cold as he was.
“Ever?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“Uh. Hi.”
“What’s good?”
“I’d love to stay and chat, but my flight leaves in an hour. It was nice seeing you, Scar.”
I didn’t stick around to listen to his reply. Neither did I care to hear it. I was too focused on my visibly trembling body from the lie I’d just told and running into someone that was so well-connected to my past. He and Dewayne had always been thick as thieves, and at one point, they were thieves.
Scar had always shown me nothing but respect, even more than Dewayne, and he wasn’t the man I was in a relationship with. Yet, that didn’t stop me from believing that within the next ten minutes, Dewayne would know my location. That was the point of the lie I’d told, and I hoped it stuck with him. Visiting Channing wouldn’t be unlikely for me in the event that Dewayne did hear that I was in town. I just prayed that Scar didn’t leave out the little detail about my flight.
FUCK!I thought as I rushed through the sun’s heat to my Sprinter. Baisleigh had finally gotten some trees on the edges of the parking lot. It didn’t matter how far away they were, for once I was thankful for the walk. With the parking lot being so big and full all the time, it made it hard to see exactly where I washeaded. That meant it was highly unlikely that Scar saw the van when I got inside.
Calm down, Ever. Calm down. Luca was the first person who came to mind, but before I called him, I wanted to make sure that I had a leveled head and my emotions were in check. When I felt the fresh hot tears on my face, I knew it wasn’t smart to dial his number. I would only scare him about something that was practically out of either of our control at this point. All we could do was wait it out.
You’re okay, I coached. Seeing just how shaken I was by encountering someone from my past let me know I wasn’t healing as well as I’d imagined. I was living and thriving, which kept me from dealing with the trauma of my past instead of healing from it. I felt like I was back at square one, only this time I wasn’t afraid. This time, I had someone beside me who would make sure that I was safe at the end of the day.
Yet and still, I wanted to continue the peaceful run I’d been on for the last three and a half months. My girls hadn’t heard an argument since the day I left their father. The toxicity that he brought to their world ended when we made it to Channing. They were living in peace and harmony. Dewayne would only fuck that up for us all.
As much as I wanted to act like he didn’t exist, he shared their blood. I hated that for them and for me. He didn’t deserve such perfection. Luca had loved those little girls enough for a lifetime in the short time he’d been in their lives.Hewas their father. Not Dewayne. It didn’t matter what the DNA said.
I rubbed my sweaty palms against my black leggings, trying to find relief from the elevation of my body’s temperature. My world felt like it was spinning. Hyperventilating with tears running down my cheeks, I counted down from twenty.
Nineteen.
Eighteen.
Seventeen.
Sixteen.
Before I reached fifteen, my cell rang, scaring me to the point of leaping from my seat.
Boop!
My head hit the ceiling of the van and began throbbing immediately. Slightly confused, I removed my cell from my bag and checked the caller ID. Einsenberg’s Smiles was calling. I felt my mouth drain of all its fluids as I answered the call in haste.
“Hello?” I wiped the tears from my face as I tried focusing on what was being said to me on the call.
“Emorey had an accident on the playground. She scraped up her knee pretty badly, and we can’t get her to calm down. We thought maybe we should call you to come pick her up.”
