Epilogue #2
My eyes widen with realization as I look from him to the keys, seconds before they mist over with tears. “What? H-how… how did you know? I… I didn’t tell you about it.” I look deep into his eyes for answers.
He cradles my cheeks and presses his lips to mine. “I saw it saved on your laptop.”
“But how did you know it was this one? I had multiple saved,” I ask when he pulls away.
“I went through your history and noticed you constantly came back to this one, so I called up the number on the ad and bought it for you.” He wipes away my tears with his thumb.
“Whatever needs to be done to it, we will do. If you want to tear it down completely and start from scratch, we can do that too. It’s yours, Aubrey. Your bakery.”
“Oh, Shane...”
I throw my arms around my husband, overcome with so much love, joy, and devotion.
He’s always been so attentive to me, and I can’t thank him enough for it.
I kiss him fiercely as our tongues dance together, here on the middle of the sidewalk as people bypass us and go on with their day, like Shane didn’t just make my world a million times better.
“Can we go inside?” I bounce on my heels as we pull apart.
“Of course.” He grins and does a show of the hand toward the door to let me be the first to open it. “I haven’t seen the inside yet, but we’ll have an inspector come by at some point to assess what needs to be changed and fixed.”
“You bought it blindly!?” My brows rise. “What if you overpaid?”
“Oh, I know I did. But seeing that beautiful smile on your face makes it worth every penny.” He kisses my cheek as I turn the key in the lock and push the door open.
After looking over the wide space, we’ve noticed a few things that will definitely need fixing, mainly the roof with all the water damage to the ceiling. But I don’t care, when all is said and done, this place will be magical.
It will be mine.
I twirl with giddiness, looking all around again.
“God, I’m going to have to start looking for people to hire.
I’m going to need bakers, a manager, and people to work the register.
I’ll have to find suppliers. I guess I could look into the ones we used at One Sweet Tooth at a Time.
” I name off things to do as I quickly note them down in my phone.
“I know who you could hire as a manager. I’m sure she’d love to come work for you.” Shane grins. “Why don’t you call her up and see?” He nods toward my phone in my hand.
I bite my lip, smiling as I pull up the person in question’s contact. It rings twice before she answers. “Hey, boss! How are you? Calling to tell me how wonderful your husband is again?”
I’m not technically her boss or manager anymore since Shane convinced me not to return to the bakery right away. I’ll admit that the thought alone of leaving Stellina was enough to convince me to extend my maternity leave. But now I know the real reason why Shane didn’t want me to go back to work.
I blush instantly, knowing Shane heard her since she’s on speaker. “Hey, Tavie. I’m wonderful actually. And no, that’s not why I’m calling, but there is a reason. I have a proposition for you.”
“All right, shoot.” I can hear the curiosity in her voice.
“How would you like to be the manager of my new bakery?” I grin as she shrieks with excitement on her end of the phone.
SHANE
~ Ten and a Half Months Later / July ~
Today is Little Sugary Stars grand opening, my fabulous wife’s very own bakery. And with the talent she has, I have no doubt it won’t be the only one in our future.
Stellina is growing at rapid speed. She’s the most gracious and beautiful baby girl I could have ever asked for. She clearly takes after her mother; she also appears to have inherited that famous blush. Aubrey was not too thrilled about that, but I find it amazingly adorable.
Julian and I are riding together to Aubrey’s bakery today, while my Angel and Little Star are already at the location, prepping the place.
Most people wouldn’t bring their kids along on such a big and busy day, but Stellina is such a model child when it comes to being in public and understands when Mommy and Daddy need to focus on important things.
She’ll just quietly hold our hands and follow us around.
Plus, she loves going to the bakery with her mom.
I think our little girl has taken on her mother’s love for baking.
Every time Aubrey starts whipping up some new recipes in our kitchen, Stellina climbs onto her kitchen stepstool and watches everything her mom does with curious eyes.
She even started participating in the mixing process and decorating.
Even though today is the grand opening of the bakery, Aubrey decided to keep the business open for only half of the day.
She didn’t want to be overwhelmed with everything in one day.
It also gives them more time to fix things before tomorrow if there are things that need changing or improvement, which is when they’ll start opening at regular business hours.
I step out of the house and make my way down the steps toward Julian’s McLaren and climb inside. “Nice of you to join, Jefferson. I do not have all day to sit around,” he says as a form of greeting as he turns the car around and drives down the long driveway, toward the gates.
“Nice to see you too, Jules.” I chuckle when he glares at me. You’d think after thirty years of friendship, he’d be used to the name by now.
“You have tanned. It does not suit you.” He looks me over quickly with a distasteful expression. Julian has never been a fan of change. To him, it represents losing control over things. I disagree. It shows improvement.
I laugh even harder. “Well, yes, Storm. This is what happens when people go on vacation.” I shake my head. “Don’t worry, it’s not permanent.”
Aubrey and I finally took our vacation to France two weeks ago, where we mostly stayed in Paris the whole time.
We visited over thirty different bakeries during our seven-day trip, where Aubrey had behind-the-scenes access to fifteen of those, and even got to meet a few pastry chefs.
She had a million questions for them, whether it was about baking or the business itself.
“Thankfully so,” he replies.
“Jesus, what gotten up your ass today? You’re moodier than usual.” I frown with concern.
“Nothing of importance. Simply business,” he answers sternly, but then sighs. “I have been putting out fires all week. It seems all my employees are incompetent at doing their jobs properly.”
“You do realize both your brothers are technically your employees too, right?” I smirk.
“Yes, and they are included in the matter.”
I chuckle and shake my head again. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry to hear you’ve been having a tough week.” I squeeze his shoulder. “You should take some time off, maybe not work on weekends for a start.”
He looks at my hand with disgust and it only makes me laugh as I retrieve it. I’m used to this side of Julian. It doesn’t bother me in the least. “Taking time off is not an option and will not fix my problems since I appear to be the only one capable of doing so.”
I don’t bother continuing that conversation, since I already know where it’s going to lead. Nowhere. We’ve had this talk many times in the past, even his brothers have tried to persuade him as well, but he still believes that taking a day or two of rest won’t reward him in any way.
As we arrive near the bakery that already has a few people waiting in line to enter, I spot all our friends making their way out of their cars, coming to show support to Aubrey. My girls are also there on the sidewalk, talking to a few customers, with Octavia at their sides.
I smile through the window, prepared to jump out and run to them when Julian makes a strange sound at my side, pulling my attention. I look over to find him extremely tense in his seat as he stares out the window toward my wife.
Julian is always tense, but I’ve never seen him like this. His nostrils flare as he gets this haunted look in his eyes while holding the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turn white.
“Who is that?”
I furrow my brow at his question. “What?”
“The girl with your wife and child! Who is that!?” he barks out.
I look over and conclude he must be talking about Octavia. “Oh, that’s Tavie. She’s the manager for the bakery.”
He works his jaw with an angry expression then nods. “I need to take care of a few things. I will return later,” he says without looking at me and simply staring straight in front of him now.
“Okay…” I frown and step out of the car.
He drives off immediately, barely giving me time to close the door. I watch him leave but then refocus my attention on why I’m here. I greet our friends along the sidewalk as I make my way toward my wife and daughter.