Page 72 of Building What's Meant to Be

Chapter Sixteen

AIDEN

Adrenaline courses through my veins as I sprint across the street. Dark scenarios rush through my mind involving everyone from Puma to the Kravens.

From the front, Sweethearts looks perfectly normal with no signs of trouble. I take note of the cars parked on the street. No customers inside. The air carries the faint scent of smoke. I open the door, annoyed by the jingle altering my presence, and it gets stronger.

My eyes pin to the pair of glass heart windows in the doors. Instead of clear, they’re gray.

“Tinsley!” I shout.

“In here.”

“Get out of there,” I say as I bust into a wall of smoke, billowing in the air.

Her eyes are wide with fear and red from the smoke.

“What’s burning?”

“Brownies,” she squeaks.

“Go to the front, open the doors.”

She does as told as I wade through the smoke to the back and open the door. I flip all the switches on in case one of them belongs to an overhead fan. Creating some air circulation,I search for a fire extinguisher and have it at the ready when I open the oven door.

Instead of a blaze, I pull a very charred pan of brownies from the oven. It’s little more than ash. I toss the thing in the sink where it lands with a sizzle.

Meanwhile, my phone beeps repeatedly. I’d just been researching the Kravens and making connections to their corporation and the governor. Perhaps it’s one of my leads. I’ll have to ignore it for now.

Another fan sits on a shelf mounted to the wall, and I turn it on to help clear the place. A cross breeze works well to eliminate most of the smoke when I finally find Tinsley in the front. Her apron is in her fist and her eyes aren’t just red. She’s crying.

“Come on, let’s get you some fresh air.”

She shakes her head. “No, I ruined everything. Rhondy is going to fire me. I can’t do anything right.”

“It was an accident.”

“I set the timer for an hour and twenty minutes instead of twenty minutes.”

“Honest mistake.”

“No, Aiden, it’s my job. It’s simple. Teenagers can bake. Adult women. Grannies. I’m useless.”

I want to comfort her, tell her that it’s not true, but my phone continues to beep and now rings.

“Aiden, it’s me. Mae is having the baby,” Taylor shouts from the other end of the line.

My heart leaps. I grip Tinsley’s cheeks, give her a gigantic smoosh that I’d like to have turn into a kiss, then rush out the door. “Keep everything open until the smoke clears out. I’ll be back. Love you!” I holler.

Those last words only catch up to me when I park in front of the birthing center—a purple and green Victorian house with a ramp going up the side.

I love her. My breath shudders at the realization, but I know it’s true in every cell of my body. Every fiber of my being.

I take a deep breath and go inside. I can hide my job from my sisters. But no way can I keep love under wraps.

Inside, Bess and Cassian stand in the hallway. My sister scrunches her nose. “You smell like burned chocolate.”

“Yeah, uh, there was a brownies mishap.”

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