Page 41 of Baking With A Rockstar

My chest actually hurts from her words. “Hannah, I—”

She shakes her head and stands up. “No, you don’t need to explain anything to me. I know you’re scared after everything that happened. I get it, Ireallydo. And there’s a lot happening right now. All of this drama surrounding his career and private life is exactly the reason why I never tell anyone who my grandchildren are. It puts so much pressure and prejudices on them, which I don’t think they deserve. But anyway, just think about it. I have to run now, or I’m going to be the one late this time and will never hear the end of it. You guys have a good day, okay? Call me if you need anything.”

With that, she’s out the front door, leaving me alone with my jumbled thoughts and a rockstar to meet at the bakery.

Chapter Sixteen

“Charlie, where do you want these?”Gabe is barely visible when he walks in the back door of the bakery, a stack of boxes piled up high in his arms.

I rush over, ready to help. “Just over there on the counter, please.”

After putting all the boxes down, he looks at me and shakes his head. “How does she sleep in this chaos?” He points at Mirabelle who is strapped to my back in a carrier.

I chuckle and peek over my shoulder. “I have absolutely no idea. Sometimes the noise actually seems to be soothing. Go figure. Seems like it’s just one of those things. Some babies sleep through everything while others wake up from the slightest noise.”

“Babies are such a mystery. Good thing they’re cute.” He’s looking at her with a smile on his face. From the looks of it, the whole Mitchell family is a little baby crazy, but I’ll keep that fact to myself.

The oven beeps, and I walk over to turn it off, taking the baking sheet full of apple cinnamon muffins out to slide it onto the counter. I point my oven mitt at Gabe. “They have to be cute, or we’d all be extinct, trust me. Remember those words for whenever it’s your turn.”

“Yeah, thanks.” He looks a little uncomfortable, and I have to chuckle. It’s actually pretty adorable.

I press my lips together to keep from laughing. “Gabe, are you still in the phase where you love babies as long as you can give them back after a while?”

His cheeks turn slightly red. “I guess so.”

I clearly embarrassed him and feel a little bad about it. “Nothing wrong with that. You’re only a year older than Hudson, right? You still have plenty of time.”

He nods. “Tell that to my mom. She loves to whine about wanting grandbabies. Thank goodness you guys are here now. Mira should quench her baby thirst, at least for a little while.”

That makes me snort. “Yeah, Hudson told me about that.”

Gabe looks taken aback when he studies me. “He did? Really?”

Taking the muffins out of the baking form, I put them on a cooling rack. “Yeah, a while ago. Is it bad that he mentioned it?”

“What? Oh no, I didn’t mean it that way. He just has this weird thing where he usually doesn’t like to talk about babies, so I guess I’m just surprised he talked about it with you.”

Something inside me snaps, and I get defensive. “Maybe he has a reason for his behavior, don’t you think?”

Gabe raises his eyebrows, picking up on my tone.

“You know what? You’re right, maybe he really does.” He studies me for another moment before shrugging his shoulders. “Speaking of Hudson, do you know where he is?”

I sigh and shake my head, feeling like a jerk for lashing out at him. “He said he was going to meet us here, so I’m guessing he got caught up somewhere.”

“Dang it, he didn’t answer his phone either. I’m worried he’s going to do something stupid.”

Hudson acted completely normal earlier, but I can’t help and feel a little nervous at Gabe’s remark. Maybe I didn’t imagine it then, or Gabe knows something I don’t. “Why? Did he say something to you?”

Shaking his head, Gabe looks everywhere but me.

I stare at him until he finally turns around to look at me. “You’re keeping something from me. What is it?”

He throws his hands up in defeat, letting out a big breath of air. Well, that didn’t take long. “You’re just as bad as Grandma. Can’t get anything past you guys.”

“Well, you obviously know something… I’m waiting.” I’m barely refraining from tapping my foot in annoyance.

“Something about wanting to make things right. I’m not sure what exactly he was referring to. The phone call lasted all but a minute. I’m guessing it has something to do with Addy, not that he’d tell me if it was, since he doesn’t talk about her.” He shakes his head. “We still don’t even know why they broke up.”

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