Page 59 of Enemy Ex's Secret Baby

Okay, I don’t actually fear the wine. But I do wonder what Lola knows about my daughter’s feelings that I don’t.

Stella sits on the counter, her legs kicking back and forth over the edge. “Where are we going tonight?”

“Hmmm…pizza or burgers?”

“Burgers! Please burgers!” Stella cries out.

“Is that alright with you, Mom?” Lola asks.

“More than. You two go to town,” I say. I do my best as a vegan to deal with the trials of raising my child eating animal products. Beef is where I draw the line. Especially burger meat. You’re telling me ground up, red animal chunks are appealing to people? Please. Makes me gag just looking at it. “You can even have a milkshake.”

Lola and Stella exchange a look of excitement. “Seriously? That’s a lot of sugar,” Lola says. Stella pokes Lola on the arm. Don’t say that or she won’t let me have one!

I laugh, “It’s Saturday. It’s fine.” Plus, we’ve already arranged for Dana to look after Stella at our dad’s house afterward so I can get started on getting our financials for taxes this upcoming quarter. When you run a small business, every time you turn around it’s tax time again. Drives me crazy.

“You heard the woman! Burgers and milkshakes for all!” Lola announces and lifts Stella off the counter and takes her by the hand. “You all good here, Gillian?”

“Right as rain. You two have fun.”

Stella comes up to me and hugs me. “Bye, Mommy. See you later.”

I wrap my arms around her; I can smell the whole day in her hair. Grass and sweat and dirt. Just a kid being a kid, not knowing how complicated everything else is. I hope I can protect her for as long as possible. “See you tonight. Be good.”

Lola and Stella walk hand in hand to Lola’s car. I wave at them through the window and then lock the bakery door behind me. I’m in for a long night of number crunching, so I pour myself a cup of coffee and get to work.

I hole up in the office and go through more excel sheets than I ever thought I’d have to in my adult life. Number crunching isn’t a fun job, but between Lola and me, I make less errors which means less time we have to pay a tax specialist. Helps out in the long run.

After about an hour, I’m sitting in silence staring in frustration as the numbers aren’t adding up. I hear a soft knock. I look out through the office door which gives me a clear view of the front door. No one is there. They must be at the back door.

And hell if I’m going to open the back door of the bakery when I’m here alone.

However, whoever is out there is persistent. They knock again.

I swallow. What the hell could anyone want with a bakery after hours unless they wanted to rob the place or hurt someone?

I reach into the bottom drawer of the desk and pull out a canister of pepper spray. If I’m going to answer the door, I’m going to be prepared.

I creep into the hallway and stare at the back door. For a cute bakery, the back door is ugly. Dark gray with a crash bar spanning the width of it. We’ve never gotten around to painting it in the light blue and green color scheme of the rest of the place. After all, we’re the only people who see it. However, right now, I’m wishing it was a friendly color rather than dark and ominous.

As I walk toward the door, there’s another knock and I practically leap out of my skin. “Who’s there?”

There’s a muffled response.

Dammit. I’m going to have to open the damn door.

I creep up to the door, press on the latch, and open it just an inch. “I have pepper spray and a gun, so–”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I hear Axel’s voice on the other side. “Gillian, it’s me!”

I open the door fully. “What are you doing here?!” I cry out. “You scared me half to death.”

“Sorry, I’m just–” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “The front was locked and I…” He trails off and frowns. “You have a gun?”

I stand up straighter. “No. Just the pepper spray,” I say, holding up the pink plastic cannister.

We stare at each other. He hasn’t given me a reason for being here and I’m not sure I’m going to get one. At least not in words.

“Lola’s gone?”

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