Chapter 5 Austin
FIVE
AUSTIN
Austin hadn’t slept brilliantly the night before.
By the time he got home from dropping Maisie at school, he was ready to go back to bed, but he had a long to-do list today.
He wanted to get it all done so the weekend could be completely free to spend with Maisie.
Austin was far too excited about taking his daughter to meet Liam, which was something he wouldn’t be saying to anyone.
He knew his friends wouldn’t be able to help but take the piss out of him.
Thinking about Liam reminded Austin of what had kept him up all night.
The man was burning himself out. Yes, he was a lot younger than Austin – well, not a lot, it was only twelve years.
Perfectly acceptable. That still didn’t mean he could run on empty forever; anyone could see he was frazzled.
Liam had people around him he’d known a lot longer than Austin, who should say something.
Maybe they had, and Liam was ignoring them.
There was no doubt he’d have a stubborn streak in him.
Would Austin be overstepping if he said anything?
They barely knew each other. Could he even refer to Liam as a friend?
He wanted to refer to him as a lot more, but Gerard was right, the timing was lousy.
No matter how much he tried, Austin couldn’t get Liam out of his head, and last night had only intensified his feelings, holding the man in his arms while he let out his pain.
Austin wanted to be that person for him whenever he needed it.
Why the fuck had the universe put them together now? It didn’t seem fair to either of them.
“Here you go, Austin. You’re good to go,” said Michael.
He took the permits, pleased he could now start trading locally.
He’d already put out some feelers and had some client calls booked for early February, hoping all the paperwork would be sorted in good time.
Given the village had a parish council, many business permits had to go through them and could take months, but Michael had worked his magic and made it happen sooner.
Who you knew still mattered, which wasn’t a great way for society to function, but if it gave him an advantage with local bureaucracy, then Austin would take the win.
“Thanks, Michael. How’s it going?”
“Good. Just busy. We have the first festival of the year in two weeks, and it only feels like yesterday we were doing Christmas.”
“What is it?”
“Festival of Love.”
Austin smiled. He couldn’t help it.
“Thinking of inviting someone?” said Michael with a teasing smile.
Austin knew what he was doing, but wouldn’t bite. He remembered the Valentine’s Day festival from years ago. It was a staple of the town and had probably gotten even bigger with Michael in charge. The guy was a hopeless romantic, although it was for everyone but himself.
“Will you be inviting someone?” he asked Michael.
“I’ll be working.”
“That wasn’t a no. Is there someone you’d like to invite if you weren’t working?”
“I don’t have time for all that, and who’s going to be interested in this?” He gestured to his body.
Michael had put on a fair bit of weight over the last few years, though Austin still thought he looked great.
But then, his opinion didn’t really matter.
What Michael thought of himself was the priority.
His friend was a handsome man who’d be the perfect partner for a lucky guy, but he didn’t see himself as the catch he was.
“What can I do to help?” asked Austin, taking a seat. He wanted Michael to know he wasn’t in a hurry.
“I don’t know, Austin. I don’t have time to go to the gym, which I know is a bullshit excuse, but I genuinely don’t have time with everything here. By the time I get home at night, I’m too tired to eat anything healthy. I can start something, but it peters out by the end of the week.”
“Why don’t we go to the gym together? I know you don’t like to let people down. Would that help?”
“I don’t know. I’ve looked into going to Turkey for surgery.”
“Isn’t that a bit drastic?”
“I need to do something, Austin. I can’t do it by myself, but to have the surgery I’d need to take two weeks off from this place, and then for the next six weeks I’d be very limited with the activities I could do. And nobody could know what I’d done.”
“Why not? It’s nobody else’s business.”
“I’m at the top of the tree here. People will judge and say I’m not being a good role model because I can afford to do this but others can’t.”
“Fuck them, Michael. Sometimes you need to be selfish.”
Michael snorted.
“What?”
“Are you ever selfish?”
Austin thought about it. Sometimes he put himself first, but not often. He nodded.
“How about I make you a deal? You be selfish, and I’ll do the same.”
“Selfish about what?”
“I think you know what I’m referring to.”
Austin did not know until Michael pointed at his empty coffee cup from Sylvie’s Slice. Austin chuckled.
“Subtle.”
“I don’t share the same view as the others.”
“You did the other day.”
“I was just bowing to peer pressure.”
Austin laughed, then put his serious face back on. “Let’s make a plan to go to the gym together at least. That’s good for your heart, even if the diet doesn’t improve.”
“Fine, but after the festival.”
Austin narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You’re stalling.”
“I’m busy.”
“Fine,” he said, standing up. “I’ll speak to Rodrigo about membership.”
“He’s hot!”
“I’ve heard, but . . .”
“You prefer them to have floppy brown hair and smell of flour.”
“No comment.”
“I look forward to seeing you both at the Festival of Love,” said Michael.
Austin left, laughing. He could never stop his friends interfering in his life, and he’d never want them to.
“Can I have a cake, Dad?” asked Maisie as they walked into Sylvie’s Slice.
Austin watched as Liam looked up and broke into a huge smile when he saw who it was. That had to mean something, didn’t it? Austin couldn’t help but smile as well, and his stomach fluttered. He was so fucked!
“Hi, Austin, and this beautiful young lady must be Maisie.”
Maisie was suddenly bashful and looking at the floor. Austin couldn’t blame her.
“Maisie, this is Liam. This is his family’s bakery.”
Liam came round the counter and crouched down so he was at her height.
“What’s your favourite flavour cupcake?” he asked with a beaming smile.
Austin was momentarily jealous of his own daughter getting all this attention from Liam. Yeah, he might need to speak to someone about that.
“Chocolate,” said Maisie with a smile.
“Then I’ve got something special for you. Get a table with your dad and I’ll bring it over.” He stood up. “Your usual, Austin?”
He nodded and smiled at Liam, who blushed. He then hurried off and whispered something to Chloe before going into the kitchen. Austin took Maisie to one of the booths and got her settled. They peeled off their respective layers. It was always warm inside the bakery.
“Are you okay, Maisie? You were quiet with Liam.”
“He’s so handsome,” she whispered.
Austin chuckled. Well, that could be awkward if anything did ever happen between him and Liam. They chatted about her homework for a bit before Chloe arrived with Austin’s coffee and a mango drink for Maisie. How they knew she loved mango he wasn’t sure, but she squealed with delight.
“Liam will be out with the cupcakes in a second. He didn’t want to ice them until the last minute.”
“Oh, he didn’t need to make fresh ones. We can have whatever’s in the counter,” said Austin.
“These aren’t available in the counter,” she said with a wink, before walking away.
What was that all about?
Austin didn’t have time to ponder it too much as Liam came out with a box that he assumed housed the cupcakes – and he was thinking plural, as it looked to be the size that held half a dozen.
“Sorry about that. I just needed to take care of something in the kitchen. These are for you, Maisie. I’m sure your dad will let you take the rest of them home after having one now.”
He slid the box over to her. Maisie carefully opened the lid and practically deafened them all with her scream.
“Dad, look at this,” she exclaimed, pushing the box towards him.
Inside were six beautifully decorated cupcakes with unicorns on them.
One of Maisie’s teachers had commented she was a bit old to still be obsessed with unicorns, but his daughter loved them, and Austin would never take something away that brought her joy.
There was something about the design that looked familiar, and then it hit Austin.
They looked like the unicorn she was holding in the picture he showed Liam the other night.
He’d made these specially for his daughter.
Austin felt his eyes watering, but kept his voice steady.
He was also fighting the urge not to grab Liam and kiss the fuck out of him.
“They look amazing, sweetheart. I assume you’re keeping them all to yourself?”
“Well . . . I suppose you could have one.”
“No need for that, Maisie,” he said before walking back to the counter and taking a plate off Chloe which had a cupcake on it.
Liam put it on the table in front of Austin. It was decorated in colours that resembled several of his plaid shirts. He laughed.
“Chocolate orange flavour,” said Liam with a grin.
Fuck! This guy was too much.
“Are you going to join us?” asked Austin.
Liam looked at Chloe. She nodded at him, gestured to the coffee machine, and made a shooing motion with her hands. Liam chuckled and sat down. Sadly, he took the seat next to Maisie, but then at least Austin could look at him and hopefully not be too creepy about it.
“What do I owe you for the cupcakes?” said Austin.
Liam shook his head. “Nothing. My treat.”
Austin frowned. Liam had gone to a lot of trouble to make these for his daughter. They weren’t even part of the menu. The least Austin could do was to pay him for his time. Before he could say anything, Liam put his hand up to silence him.