Page 42 of Don't Leave Me

“It’s a close call, but I’ve known him for over twenty years. I think we’re at a solid four days.” She chuckles. “I need help filling some orders for Christmas. I was wondering if the two of you would want to come to the shop tomorrow and help me. Iknow I said I didn’t need you until the twenty-sixth, but I figured it could keep you busy and I know when I'm stressed out, baking helps.”

“I don’t know what Peck has planned, but I wouldloveto help. Would you mind if I cook a few batches of things in your kitchen to take for Christmas? I don’t really have a place to bake unless I take over Colt’s kitchen and I feel like they need some alone time together.”

“Not at all! You can use my kitchen whenever you want.”

“I'm following you around like a puppy until I have to go back to work.” Peck wraps his arm around my waist and presses a kiss to my temple. “I'm not letting you out of my sight unless I'm forced to.”

Chapter 18

Pecker

Hopping up on the stainless-steel counter, I watch the woman I love scurry around the kitchen with Sydney. She’s so happy and in her element. I don’t think her smile could get any larger. She’s talking with her hands and is so animated. I can't look away no matter how hard I try.

“Uncle Peck! Aren't you going to play with us?” Bree groans as she tugs on my shirt.

“Nope. I'm watching my girl,” I mumble, barely paying attention to her.

This is a rare thing. Normally if Bree and Danny are around, I'm right there with them. I’d do anything to make them happy, but right now, I'm too focused on Soph and making sure she’s ok.

“C’mon, Bree. I told you I wanted you to play with me.” Danny takes her hand in his and leads her over to Sydney’s office.

Sometimes when I can't watch the kids, Sydney will let them hang out in there while she’s working. She’s a great mom and tries to make sure it doesn’t happen often because she doesn’t want them to get bored and hate being at the shop. She’s hopingas they get older, they’ll want to work here and help. It would be a dream come true for her.

“Are you going to help or what, Peck?” Sydney plants her hands on her hips and smirks at me.

“I'm too busy watching this beauty.” I motion to my girl.

“I never thought I’d see the day a woman brought you to your knees,” she teases.

“I haven’t dropped to my knees yet.”

As soon as the words fall from my lips, Sophia’s gaze snaps to me and she watches me carefully.

That’s right, sweetheart, I said yet. I plan on dropping to them soon though.

“Oh! Do you know those DNA things you can do? And they can tell you if you have a long lost relative?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I did one of them! I was talking to my friend about how we could have a cousin or something out there and she bought the DNA test for my birthday. I’m just waiting on the results.”

“Syd, anyone you match with isn't going to want anything to do with us.” I roll my eyes. “We’re complete strangers to them.”

“I don’t know about that,” Sophia mumbles as she pipes some macaroons onto the baking sheet. She’s so focused I'm surprised she’s even paying attention to us.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, my brother-in-law would probably love it if he met someone he was related to. His parents died when he was little and he has no family that he knows of.”

“You mean other than Mulberry Lane?” I smirk.

“Yes.” She rolls her eyes. “He’ll always have Mulberry Lane… Though he didn’t really for a while, but that’s a different story.” She waves her hand in the air like she’s erasing the comment from existence. I make a mental note to ask her about it later.

“What do you need distant relatives for if you have Mulberry Lane?”

“You can never have too much family, Peck. You can never have too many people in your corner or too many people going to bat for you. It’s hard to explain, but when you grow up like that, it’s difficult to understand how anyone can go through life without a family like mine.”

“It’s only ever been us,” Syd says softly. “Our entire lives it’s been Pecker, our parents, and me. No one else.”

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