Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Bray
“Make it a large,” I say to Cam as I order my coffee. “Oh, and a large caramel latte, a small hot chocolate, and three blueberry muffins,” I add.
Cam looks over at me. “Is one of them for Ava?”
I frown while nodding.
“Then, you’ll want the cinnamon raisin sparkle muffin,” she says as she taps the counter over the section of glass with muffins.
I glance down to see cinnamon and what looks like sparkly sugar granules on a muffin top.
“OK,” I reply slowly.
“Apparently, a little girl at school got one, and she’s popular, so now all the little girls want one,” Cam says with a shrug. I groan.
“I wish we could put her in a time capsule,” I lament as I run a hand through my still-wet hair. I just finished a workout with Kasen, Gray, and Hutch.
“Tell me about it. At happy hour last week, she asked me if I liked my martinis dirty or neat,” she says with a shake of her head.
My eyes widen. “What?”
Cam waves me off as she froths milk. “She heard her mom’s fellow teachers discussing it. That kid is like a sponge.”
I relax a little. She is growing up too fast, and I’m determined to make her spend time being a kid this summer.
“Maybe I shouldn’t invite her friends on any outings if they are all like that,” I huff.
Cam laughs as she passes me a coffee tray with my drinks.
“Good luck with that one,” she says as I tap my credit card on her card reader.
I grab the bag of muffins and the drink tray and head back across the street. I look over to find Hutch on the bench at the park that our street dead-ends into.
I turn and walk over to him.
“You’re out here early,” I state as I nod to the flowers that have magically appeared on the bench once again.
It’s the biggest mystery of Hearts Lane.
For as long as anyone can remember, flowers appear with a card every morning.
It almost always says the same thing and is always signed by the Guardian of Hearts Lane Park.
He holds up his phone, and I watch a video he has playing. The screen shows this bench. The flowers aren’t there, then a breeze blows a branch in front of the camera, and once the leaves are cleared from the view, the flowers are there.
“It’s like this every time. Leaves obstruct my view, and then, bam, flowers,” Hutch grumbles.
“Did you try moving the camera?” I ask.
He nods. “Same thing happens.”
“Maybe it’s a ghost,” I tease.
He glares up at me. Hutch isn’t just my friend and neighbor, he’s our resident mystery detective when it comes to these magically appearing flowers. He has backed off slightly since he started dating Jocelyn, who works in the bookstore beneath our apartments.
“Any luck visiting flower shops?” I ask. Hutch has made it his mission to go to every flower shop in the metro area to see if he can find out who supplies the flowers. He’s already visited all the ones near us.
He shakes his head. “Last week, I went to some across town. Whittaker’s flowers, which was closed, so I’ll have to go back another time.
Although it’s so far away, it’s likely not the one.
And then I went to The Feral Florist.” He holds up his finger, and I see a scratch.
“I managed to get scratched by the owner’s cat but confirmed it definitely wasn’t that shop.
The owner only delivers in a ten-block radius. ”
“Well, good luck. I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually. I’m off to babysit Ava,” I say.
Hutch laughs. “Good luck with that.”
“Thanks, fucker,” I groan as I leave with my breakfast treats in hand and head into our building.
I juggle the drinks and muffins as I knock on the door. It opens mid-knock, and I look down to find Ava standing there.
“Did you get me a sparkly muffin?” she asks excitedly when she sees the bag.
I nod.
Carly pokes her head out from the hallway. “I’ll be there in a minute. You know, you can just come in, right?”
This has been our debate for the better part of three years. She wants me to just come in, and I can’t do it. I feel like I’m invading her privacy.
“Breakfast?” I say, ignoring her comment, as this is our normal morning banter.
“Yes! You’re a godsend,” she says as she walks over and grabs her coffee.
“Mom! Unca Bray got me a sparkly muffin!” Ava says with all the excitement of a small child who has had too much sugar. I can’t help but smile because I love her nickname for me.
Carly smiles. “Well, Unca Bray is off to a great start. What else do you have planned?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.
Ava is already stuffing the sugar muffin in her mouth while chasing it down with hot cocoa in record time.
“I thought we could go to the science museum,” I state.
Carly nods her agreement. “Sounds like fun,” she adds as she hurries back around the corner, emerging a minute later with her bag in hand.
“Have fun, Peanut. I’ll see you later,” she says as she kisses Ava on the head.
“No more sparkly muffins today,” she warns as she points to Ava and then me.
Ava rolls her eyes. “Fine,” she mumbles as she eats, the word coming out sounding more like “mime.”
I make an “x” over my heart, and now it’s Carly who rolls her eyes.
“I’ll try to be back by three forty-five,” she says while opening the door.
“Take your time,” I assure her. My shift at the hospital starts at four, but it’s only an eight-minute walk. One of the many reasons I love where I live. The woman walking out the door is another.
And in some parallel universe, we’re together, not as friends but as lovers. Unfortunately, I live in this universe. And that’s never going to happen.
“Can we get ice cream after the science museum?” Ava asks as she finishes the final bite of her muffin.
“Sure, kiddo. Let’s get your shoes on, and we can head out,” I state as I usher her to her room. I walk inside and wince. It looks like a tornado came through here.
“Change of plans. Let’s find your floor first,” I say as I begin picking up stuffed animals.
“Wait!” Ava shrieks, running over and grabbing a stuffed moose from my hand. “They’re having a tea party. Morris is the host. He can’t leave.”
She motions to the other stuffed animals.
I lean down to find that they are indeed in a circle on the floor with small tea mugs and plates.
“Fine,” I grumble as I step toward a pile of games.
“No!” she yells and flings herself at my leg. “That’s Mount Monopoly! Edgar and Taylor are going to scale it.” She points to two dolls that are arranged to look like they are, in fact, climbing the boxes.
“OK. Can you find at least one thing we can clean up?” I ask, giving it one last attempt.
She places her hands on her hips and surveys the room. I fight a grin because she looks one hundred percent like her mom, and she’s fucking adorable.
Eventually, she steps over two small toy cars and leans down, picking up a stuffed animal that looks like a pillow. She gently places it on her bed beside at least a dozen other stuffed animals.
Turning around, she crosses her arms and smiles proudly. “There,” she says.
I fight an eye roll. “Anything else we can pick up?”
I watch her peruse her room.
“What about those glasses?” I ask, pointing to the cups on her bedside table. There are four of them.
She leaps between me and the nightstand and puts out her arms in a defensive position, seemingly trying to block me. She shakes her head back and forth with vigor.
“Absolutely not. That’s an experiment,” she says.
“An experiment?”
She nods and relaxes her arms. “Mr. Hutch said it would take a month for the water to exasperate.”
“Evaporate,” I correct.
“Exactly,” she says, crossing her arms and giving me a pointed look. “So, I can’t move them.”
“Why do you need four?” I ask, trying to get her to put at least two in the dishwasher.
She sighs as if she is an astrophysicist trying to explain her job to a toddler who won’t listen. “Because,” she starts and points to each glass as she speaks, “week one, two, three, and four. If I take away one, I’ll ruin the whole thing. That’s what Mr. Hutch said I had to do.”
“But it’s been a month, so…isn’t it over?”
“No. Mr. Hutch hasn’t seen it yet,” she says with exasperation.
I run a hand down my face. How can something so cute be so irritating? After a beat, I realize I’m asking myself a rhetorical question.
She grabs her shoes and puts them on while I watch her.
“OK, we’ll get him to stop by this week,” I say as I turn and head back out of her room. She follows after adjusting her climbing dolls.
This is going to be the longest summer ever.
Ava stares mindlessly at the television.
We spent the day at the museum, and then I had a brilliant idea as we walked past a toy store on the way home.
I pretended that she was so good that she was getting a surprise.
The surprise happened to be a pop-up tent that looks like a clubhouse. Thank God for window displays.
We set it up in the corner of her room and moved her tea party and Mount Monopoly into it. Along with her pretend kitchen.
I got her to help vacuum her room, and thankfully, Hutch came home early and saw the experiment. After taking forty photos, we put the glasses in the dishwasher. Now her room actually looks livable.
I put a lasagna I had prepped in the oven. I’m waiting for it to finish so I can take some with me.
Meanwhile, I’m checking emails and prepping for my day at work.
The door opens, and Carly walks in carrying her bag and a giant box of veggies and fruit.
I jump off the sofa and run to grab it from her, where she’s clearly struggling to not drop it.
I place it on the table and turn to her.
“How was your day?” I ask.
“Hey, Mom,” Ava yells from the sofa.
“Hi, Peanut. It was good. How was your day?” she asks.
As if suddenly remembering we had a whole day, Ava pops up from where she sits and grabs Carly’s hand. “Mom! Come look!”
Carly glances at me, and I nod toward the bedrooms.
She gives me a curious look but continues to let Ava drag her across the living room. I follow them and watch her face break into a giant smile when she sees the clean room.
She hugs her daughter and kisses the top of her head, mouthing, “Thank you,” to me. I nod, loving seeing her happy and wishing I could make her happier more often.
“This looks amazing!” she declares as Ava bounces around the room and explains everything we did.
I walk over to Carly, and she leans against me. I can feel her tired body sag, and I wish I could stay and take care of her. She deserves someone who will love her and care for her as much as she does for everyone else.
The oven beeps and I head into the kitchen to pull out the tray of lasagna, carefully cutting a slice and sticking it in Tupperware.
“You made dinner too?” she asks as she walks in behind me.
“I figured it’d be easiest on both of us,” I say.
She motions to the box. “I’ll prep something for tomorrow.”
“OK,” I reply with a smile.
“You are the best!” she says as she walks over and hugs me. I wrap my arms around her and hold her against me. She smells of honeysuckle shampoo and her floral perfume.
“We need to find you a girlfriend,” Carly whispers against my shoulder. My chest tightens because the only woman I want is the one in my arms, and I can’t have her.