Chapter 16
Sydney
“Syd! There’s smoke coming from the ovens!” Melissa calls as I'm in my office, trying to work on paychecks and ordering supplies.
“What?” I shriek, leaping out of my chair and rushing into the kitchen.
This entire day has been a disaster. When I got here this morning, there was an issue with one of the ovens. I had to call the electrician to come fix it. It would turn on, but not heat up.
The oven had to be shut down and I'm not sure how long it will be before I can use it again.
Then the power went out. I'm pretty sure the electrician had something to do with that, but he’s claiming he’s innocent. Every time he ‘fixes’ the problem and turns the electric back on for that oven, sparks start flying.
Now, there’s something burning in the kitchen. In my only working oven.
“What’s in there?” I demand to know as soon as I see the black smoke leaving the oven.
“I don’t know! I didn’t cook anything. Did you?” Melissa opens the door and coughs as a big cloud of smoke leaves the oven. “It looks like cookies.”
“Oh, no!” I drop my face into my hands and let out a low groan. “I put them in there and then went to work in the office. I thought I set my timer.”
I rush to the door and open it, trying to get some fresh air into the building. Melissa takes the trays out and dumps the charred cookies into the sink. She turns the cold water on high and lets out a relieved sigh.
“Are there any customers in here?” I glance towards the front of the bakery and pray no one is here.
“No. I was cleaning while we were slow. There was a group of toddlers in here with their moms and they spilled a lot of milk and got crumbs everywhere.”
“Ok. Can you lock the door and put up a sign that says we’re temporarily closed?” I thrust a marker and paper into her hands.
As soon as Melissa is out of sight, I take in my destroyed kitchen. This is going to take forever to fix. I might just close down until the electrician is finished. Though based upon the way he’s coughing from the other room, I don’t think he’s going to finish today.
My phone rings from my office and I dart in there to answer it. At this point it could be anyone trying to ruin my day.
“Hello?” I ask without checking the caller ID.
“Hey, Syd. This is Skylar.”
“No,” I groan. “Please tell me they aren’t in trouble.”
“No one’s in trouble. Are you ok?”
“Just having the worst day of my career… It doesn’t matter. What’s going on with the kids?” I shake everything off and focus on the only thing that matters. My kids.
“Bree’s in the nurse’s office. She threw up during math class and has a fever. Is there any way you or Pecker could come to get her?” There’s a wince in her voice and I'm sure she feels horrible about calling me.
Skylar knows exactly what it’s like to have a business and needing to leave it to pick up your kid from school. Her husband, Tucker, had to do it a bunch when Skylar first became principal and his daughter kept getting in trouble.
“I’ll have to call Peck and see. I have a few emergencies happening at the bakery right now. No matter what, I’ll have someone there to pick her up as soon as I can. Thanks, Sky.”
“No problem. If you can’t find anyone, call me back. She can always hang out in my office.”
“I'm sure you really want a puking kid in your office.” I roll my eyes.
“Hey, this baby makes me puke constantly. This office is used to it. Maybe we can even share a trash can.”
She hurries off the phone when there’s a voice in the background. I can’t make out what they’re saying, but she says goodbye and the line goes dead. I'm just about to head back into the kitchen when my phone rings again.
“Hello?” I sigh into the line.
“Hey, baby. What’s wrong?” Maverick’s deep voice flows through the line. His soft voice and the care in his tone brings tears to my eyes.
“Everything?”
“What can I do to help?”
“Are you an electrician?”
“Nah, but I wish I was right about now. What happened?”
“I don’t even know. One of the ovens isn't working. Now things are sparking and I just caught an entire batch of cookies on fire.”
“Anything else?” He asks in a knowing tone.
“The school just called and Bree threw up. I need to see if Pecker can get her. If not, I guess I’ll have to leave here and come back later. I'm closing down the bakery for the rest of the day. The entire place smells like smoke and burnt food.” The first tear slips down my cheek and I sniffle.
“Don’t cry, babe. I'm here to help.” Keys jingle in the background. I hear a door shut and then an engine roar to life. “I'm going to get Bree now. You take your time at the bakery and I’ll take care of her. Does she have a key to your house?”
“No, only Danny has one.”
“Ok, then I’ll bring her to my house.”
“Are you sure you’re ok with watching her? I’m sure you have better things to do.” I close my eyes and massage my temples, trying to get my growing migraine to go away.
“I'm positive.”
“I guess we’re not getting our alone time today, huh?”
“I don’t think so.” He chuckles. “Handle the bakery. I’ll handle Bree… Since it’s almost two o’clock, do you want me to just bring Danny home with me too?”
“I don’t know. You’re already taking Bree and she’s sick. I could get him on my way home, I guess.”
“Sydney, would it make your life easier if I take Danny too? And are you ok with him missing an hour or so of school?”
“Yes, to both,” I whisper.
“Ok. Then I’ll see you at my house later.”
“Thank you, Maverick.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. You should stop at home and get your bathing suit. Maybe we can use the hot tub later tonight.”
It takes me only an hour or two to get everything cleaned up. Right before I was about to leave, a man walks in through the back door.
“Can I help you?” I frown at the man filling my doorway.
“My name’s Barry. My buddy, Maverick, called me and said you’re having an issue with your electric. He asked me to come take a look at it.”
I blink in surprise, unsure of how to respond. Not only is Maverick taking care of my children, but he also took the time to call in a favor and get someone here to work on the oven.
“Yeah, uhh, sorry. Maverick didn’t tell me you were coming.
I had an electrician here earlier and I think he made it worse.
We’ve had issues keeping power to this oven and when he ‘fixed’ the issue,” I use air quotes because he totally made it worse, “sparks started flying. I don’t know what’s wrong with it. ”
“Ok. Let me take a look at it.” He drops his bag to the ground and grabs a flashlight.
He takes about three minutes to diagnose everything.
“It will take me a few hours to fix it. You look like you were on your way out. Do you want to leave and I’ll just call you when it’s finished? I don’t need you here to fix it.”
I nibble on my bottom lip, unsure of what to do. I hate the idea of leaving my bakery unattended, but I really want to go to Maverick’s house.
My phone vibrates in my hand and I quickly excuse myself to answer it without giving Barry any sort of response.
“Hello?”
“Come home, baby. Barry’s a friend of mine. He’ll fix it and have everything up and running for you before you go back in tomorrow,” Maverick’s soothing voice calms some of my nerves.
“Shouldn’t I stay here while he’s working?”
“Nah, he won't do anything to the bakery. We’ve been friends forever and he knows I’d kick his butt and start charging him at the bar if he screwed with your business. Just make him a little box of treats and he’ll be more than thankful.”
“Are you sure?”
“Sweetheart, you need to learn to trust me.”
“I do. I trust you more than I probably should.”
“Then leave Barry to work and come home.”
After quickly grabbing two boxes and stuffing them full of desserts, I hand one to Barry with a smile.
“Thank you for helping me. I truly appreciate it. This is for you and then please let me know what I owe you for fixing this.” I motion to the oven.
“I’ll leave an invoice on the counter for you.”
“I appreciate that. I need to go rescue Maverick from my sick children.”
“Have a good night, Sydney. I’ll let Maverick know if I run into any problems, but I think this will be pretty straight forward.”
As soon as Barry turns back to his work, I take the other box of desserts to my car and make the quick drive over to Maverick’s house. This time, he doesn’t greet me at the door. I debate on knocking, but he knows I'm coming and I don’t want to wake up Bree if she’s sleeping.
I slowly and quietly open the door and peek inside. Maverick’s sitting on the couch with Bree sound asleep in his arms. He smirks when he spots me.
“What are you doing?” He chuckles softly, careful not to shake Bree.
“I wasn’t sure if I should just walk in or not.”
“You should think of my home as your home.”
“I'm not sure you want me to get that comfortable.” I strip off my jacket and toe off my shoes.
“I definitely want you to view this as your home and be comfortable here.”
“How is she?” I drop down onto the couch next to them and brush Bree’s hair away from her face. I press a gentle kiss to her head and feel for a fever.
“I gave her some children’s Motrin when we got home.”
“You had children’s medicine?” I arch a brow.
“No, I stopped to get some on my way to pick her up. I called Skylar to ask what I should have on hand to take care of her and she gave me a list.” He nods towards the bags on the counter.
I glance back at Bree and notice for the first time, Maverick is shirtless. I frown at his bare chest, wishing I was the one cuddled up against him instead of Bree.
“Why are you shirtless?”
“Because little Miss Bree puked on me right before I got the door open. I stripped off my shirt and got a new one, but then I realized she had vomit on her, so I gave her my shirt to wear. She started crying and I didn’t think it was worth getting a new one when I could be holding her.”
“You’re the sweetest man ever… Though you’re making me jealous of a six-year-old right now.”
“I’ll hold you like this whenever you want, baby.” Mav winks at me, making butterflies swarm in my stomach. “Danny’s in the basement practicing his batting.”
“I think he’d live here if you let him.” I shake my head, but I can't hide the smile on my face. It makes me so happy they both love him so much and enjoy being here.
“He can move in whenever he wants, but he has to bring you and Bree with him.”
“Something tells me it wouldn’t be difficult to convince Bree to move in either. She hasn’t stopped talking about the dance studio.”
“So, it’s just you I need to convince?” He arches a brow. “I’ll remember that.”
“Do you really want an instant family, Mav?”
“As long as it’s your family, yes. Any other one, nah. Come over here.” He holds his arm out and I curl into his side, laying my head on his chest, just like Bree is laying. “How’s the bakery?”
“Barry said it seemed pretty straight forward. Let’s hope he’s right. I don’t even know where the other electrician went. He just said he’d be back, but I don’t think he will be.”
“He won't be. It was Glenn. I called him and told him to go home. He worked on the bar last year and almost burned it down. I didn’t want something like that to happen to you, so I paid him for his time and kindly told him not to come back.”
“Maverick! I don’t know if I should be mad or happy at you for stepping in!”
“You should be very happy. In fact, you should reward me for doing it.”
“How much do I owe you for Glenn then?” I groan at the thought of how much this electrical issue is going to end up costing me, especially with having to close the bakery.
“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t much.”
“Mav…”
“Let me take care of you, Syd.”
“Taking care of me doesn’t mean paying the bills for my business.”
“It means helping you and making your life a little easier. I handled him and I’ll handle whatever else you let me help with.”
Bree lets out a soft whimper and snuggles deeper into Maverick’s chest. My heart breaks for my little girl and how horrible she must feel. If I could take away all of her pain and sickness, I definitely would.
“Do you want me to take her?”
“Nah, I like holding her. She made me sing her a song earlier. She almost started to cry after she threw up on me. She thought I’d get mad at her.”
“Rob would’ve yelled and he never would’ve held her like this. I don’t think he took care of either one of them a single time they were sick. He’s such a horrible excuse for a father.”
“He sounds like it. I rarely had to deal with him, but when I did, it was never pleasant. I always wondered how you ended up married to someone like that.”
“I got knocked up.” I shrug. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Huh, is that the best way to force you to marry me?”
I fly out of Maverick’s arms as I sit up and stare at him. The corner of his lips lift into a lopsided grin as he watches me with amusement.
“You could just ask me, you know.” I roll my eyes as Maverick tugs me back into his arms and presses a kiss to the top of my head.
“Sydney, will you marry me?”
“Oh my gosh! Not now! We’ve only been secretly dating for a week! We need to actually date before you can propose!”
“And what do I need to do if I want to change this from secret dating to real dating?”
“I don’t know. Show me this isn't temporary?”