Page 42 of Enemy Ex's Secret Baby

When I finally get in the front door, I see Lola working like a madwoman behind the counter.

“Lola!”

She looks up, her eyes frazzled.

“What’s going on?” I cry out.

She’s about to answer, but her attention is taken away by a biker dressed in neon yellow towering over the shop.

“Cycling club.”

I look over at the source of the voice. Little Amy Solace. Well, not so little anymore. Always little in my eyes. She’s sitting at one of the café tables, accompanied by Stella. “Cycling club?”

“Apparently, they made this their twenty-mile marker. Guess even cyclists can’t say no to sweet treats,” Amy says with a shrug.

“Yeah, guess not.”

“Hi, Axel!” Stella pipes up.

I smile. “Hey, kiddo. Your mom around?”

Stella takes a deep breath to answer, but Amy cuts her off. “I was watching Stella while Gillian goes wedding dress shopping with Harley and was just dropping her off to hang out with Lola so I can make a meeting with my editor, but…” Amy glances back at Lola who is doing her best to be grace under fire.

“Well, you gotta go meet with your editor.”

Amy glances at Stella who is working on a coloring page, so concentrated her tongue is curled outside her mouth. “I can’t just leave Stella here. Not while Lola isn’t focused.”

“I’ll be fine!” Stella chirps.

“Stella.”

“I can watch her,” I say. Me and my big mouth, always saying anything that comes to mind without actually thinking how it sounds or what it actually entails.

Stella stops coloring and looks up at me with an eager smile.

“Uh, I don’t know about that, Axel. You know with everything…” Amy says.

Guess Gillian hasn’t relayed the memo that things are hunky dory between us. “Trust me, we’ll be okay. You gotta get to your meeting, right?”

She chews on the inside of her cheek. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Amy looks at me and then at Stella. “Stella, honey, will you be–”

“Yep!” Stella answers without hearing the rest of the question.

“Uh, okay then. Well, that’s promising.” Amy bounces onto her feet and comes up to me, giving me a squeeze on the shoulder. “I owe you.”

I shake my head. “What are friends for?” And I mean it. Plus, I kind of feel like I’m lucking out. I get to hang out with a pretty cool kid without her mom around. Kids are the coolest when they feel like they’re getting away with stuff.

Amy flits out of the shop through the flurry of cyclists.

“Well? You just gonna stand there?” Stella asks brazenly before patting a chair beside her. “Sit a spell.”

I chuckle as I sit. “You’ve certainly got spunk, kid.”

“Mommy says I’m spunky a lot.”

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