Page 79 of Don't Leave Me

“Everything.”

“Howdy, neighbor!” Wyatt smirks at us from their front porch. He has on a pair of pajama pants and a cup of coffee in his hand.

“I'm not sure I’ll ever get used to seeing you this early in the morning,” I mumble as I lift my own mug to my lips.

“Soph, you’ve seen me this early in the morning thousands of times.” He chuckles. “I was always waiting on the deck for Charlie to come outside.”

“Yeah, but now you’re getting old and aren’t as nice to look at shirtless.” I grimace as I look at him.

“Oh please!” He laughs even harder.

Pecker comes up behind me and presses a kiss to my neck. One arm is looped around my waist and I'm tugged against his hard body.

“Morning.” I don’t need to look at him to know he’s smiling. I can hear it in his voice.

“Did Addi give you those pants for Christmas?” Wyatt asks with a smirk.

“Yeah?”

“Aww, you guys match,” Charlie coos when she comes out on the porch.

Instead of yelling, she crosses the yard with Carter in her arms and takes a seat on the couch we have on our covered porch. I never thought when Mom asked me for a list of furniture I wanted for the house, that she’d have it all delivered before we moved in. I’m not letting them pay for all of this. I’ve been saving money for the bakery and the house. I'm going to pay them back for all of it.

“Sometimes it’s still crazy to see how much you and Wyatt look like twins.” Charlie shakes her head. “I wonder if Carter will think you’re Wyatt sometimes.”

“We don’t look that much alike.” Pecker rolls his eyes.

“Sure, ya don’t.” Charlie and I chuckle.

“As long as Charlie and Sophia don’t confuse us, I don’t care if the kids do.” Wyatt takes a sip of his drink. “But if Sophia tries to kiss me, I'm going to throw up on her.” He grimaces at me.

“Don’t worry, the feeling’s mutual.” I gag at the thought of him trying to kiss me.

Chapter 37

Pecker

Three Months Later

“I can't believe today is the day,” Sophia blows out a long breath and pinches her lips together. She looks like she’s seconds away from having a breakdown.

“You’re ready, Soph.” Sydney cheers her on from my phone where she’s on video chat. “You’re so much more prepared than I was when I opened Sydney’s Sweets.”

“That’s thanks to Pecker. He’s been my rock through all of this.”

“I trained him well.” My sister grins. “Now, stop talking to me and go open your doors!”

She hangs up before we can even say goodbye to her and silence settles around us. Sophia stares at the large picture hanging on the wall behind the counter. It was taken on Mulberry Lane and has every person who lives there in the picture. I insisted we needed it in the store if she really wanted to name the place Mulberry Lane Bakery.

I told Sophia every time she gets stressed or overwhelmed, she can look at this picture and remember how many people she has at her back.

The day we took the picture was utter chaos. Some of the people Sophia considers family but don’t live on Mulberry Lane showed up just so they could be in the picture. I made sure everyone knew it was to remind my wife of how much support she has when she’s starting this new endeavor. They all wanted to be in the picture and they didn’t care if they didn’t live on Mulberry Lane, because they belonged there too.

“You’re going to do great, baby. I promise,” I murmur as I tug her into my arms.

“How do you know?”

“Because you’re Sophia Pecker and you don’t back down no matter what you’re trying to do. You put all you have into everything you do and you refuse to fail. You’ll succeed because you’re too stubborn to fail.” I press a soft kiss to her head and hold her a little tighter.

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