Page 110 of Bake You Mine
“Why hello there, Daphne,” Tom said, leaning over the table. “How are you doing this morning?”
When she merely shrugged, Aubrey looked to Chris.
“She’s in a mood. She got a B on her algebra test,” he whispered. “And there’s some eighth-grade drama?—”
“Shecan hear, you know.” Daphne whipped around. “I see my friend over there.”
Without waiting for either parent’s permission, she entered the crowd.
“I think sometimes we forget she is still a kid.” Chris pulled out his wallet. “She should cheer up after a scone and a hot cocoa.”
She waved his money away. “I hope so. A B isn’t so bad.”
Aubrey passed over the scone and cup to Chris and scanned the crowd for their daughter. She found her in an embrace with a man Aubrey couldn’t place. “Who the hell is our kid with?”
Chris took a few steps forward. “Oh. That’s Liam. He cut his hair.”
She squinted. Where there were once dark waves, now, the barest hint of dark hair hugged Liam’s scalp. Still the prettiest bastard in Port Fortune, though.
She exhaled a shaky breath. She shouldn’t be missing him this much. She also hadn’t told Daphne about what washappening with Liam. Especially as the longer they were apart, the more she was sure she needed to be by his side.
If he’d have her.
Her therapist had squeezed her in for an emergency appointment. She’d seen her doctor, who’d written her a new prescription for a second anxiety medication to supplement her original medicine, as well.
She could see now that this situation was challenging, but she loved Liam. They could make it work together. Of course, she was still terrified. But she didn’t have to figure things out alone.
“You want me to get her?” Chris asked.
“They’re fine.” Aubrey’s heart swelled at the sight of the two of them. She’d had enough time—no matter what it took, Liam was her person.
Customers approached the booth, and Aubrey found herself grateful for the distraction. She couldn’t just march over there and word vomit all over Liam. She needed time to come up with the right words to say. To show her support, no matter the choice he made.
Seeing Liam was an inevitability. Daphne returned to the booth alone. Chris handed over her scone and hot cocoa. She came behind the booth and hugged Aubrey before leaving, and Chris chased after her.
“Make good choices!” Aubrey shouted. “I love you.”
Daphne gave a thumbs-up as she vanished into the crowd.
thirty-seven
Aubrey toldherself life was normal again. Okay, normal adjacent. But that was a lie. Sure, she could function. That was because she was operating at approximately thirty percent of her usual workload. She only had a few outstanding cake orders and the advent calendars to keep her busy, aside from her thrice-weekly farmer’s market days and standing order with Port Fortune Roastery.
It’d been four days since she’d seen Liam with his freshly shorn head at the farmer’s market.
She wanted him back by her side, but she found herself in analysis paralysis. What was she supposed to do, sidle up to him and say,Hey, my bad, sorry about that; I’m taking new meds now, and talking about my feelings?You and me are totally meant to be, we’ll figure it all out?
They could make the distance work. She juggled every other part of her life, so what was adding travel time in? She might need to upgrade the Mom Van if it came to that, considering she’d purchased it when Daphne was still in diapers.
He’d given her the time she’d needed. Sheneeded to find a way to tell him she was all in. Every time she tried to figure out a way to tell Liam, her words jumbled up, or she’d start crying.
She’d overheard Leroy and Tom whispering, which had automatically gotten her back up (Leroy was captain of team Mind Your Own Goddamned Business), but they’d both clammed up when they’d seen her. Tom had given her some flimsy excuse for what they’d been discussing.
“What do you have a puss on for?”
She turned to Tom. In the morning, they’d wrapped up the last farmer’s market before Halloween, and they’d made a killing.
The previous night, she’d stayed up late making several batches of Halloween macarons, which sold out in ten minutes.
