Page 31 of Cupcake
I strode to the back door and grasped the handle. “You’re wrong, Amber. One day she will look different. One day, she’ll look happy. One day, she’ll look stunning in a white gown instead of white bakery pants. One day, she’ll be glowing with the look of new life growing in her belly.”
I swung out the door on the laughter of a woman I had hopefully just won over. I was going to need her in my corner.
One down. One to go.
Twelve
Isucked in a breathand stretched my neck out before I climbed the stairs to Haylee’s apartment. I glanced down at the two boxes of food in my hands and prayed that she was still up. I planned to be here sooner but got caught up in the busyness of The Modern Goat. I had a couple of beers while I waited for the burgers, and suddenly, I regretted the mellow feeling they offered me. I had to be careful and consider this as important as anything I’d ever done in my life. No. This was the most important thing I’d ever done in my life.
At the top of the stairs, I knocked on the door and waited, bouncing slightly on my toes while I did so. I doubted Haylee was in bed already if she was as worked up about the kiss as I was, and I was still pretty damn worked up about it. Mostly because I wanted to do it again, all night and all over her.
“Coming,” I heard her call out, and I groaned because the first thought I had was that I wanted to make her.
I noticed the door handle start to turn, but then it hesitated, likely because she was looking through the peephole to see it was me standing there.
“It’s me, Haylee. I brought dinner.”
“I was just going to bed, Brady,” she said through the too-thin wooden door. I didn’t like that anyone could break this door down in a matter of seconds. At least we lived in a town where the likelihood of that was slim.
“Please, Haylee?” I asked. “I just want to talk.”
There was a beat of silence, and then the door swung open. “We don’t have anything to talk about.”
I walked through the open door and locked it behind me, setting the boxes of food down on the coffee table. “We do, but first, we eat.”
She eyed the boxes from The Modern Goat. “Maybe I already ate.”
“If you have, you can feel free to keep it until tomorrow, but something tells me you haven’t because you’re too worked up.”
“Now you’re a mind reader, too? Good to know.”
I popped the boxes open and sat across from her, biting into a burger. “Nope.”
She sighed with what could only be construed as frustration. Her eyes darted to the box of food. “Burgers and cheese curds. Looks like heaven.”
I held up my burger. “It is. I know you gave Amber yours yesterday. Thought you might want a mulligan.”
