Chapter 24 Daisy
The morning sun glows its gorgeous light through the slats in the blinds, letting in the sunshine that blankets the island daily. There’s no other place I’d rather live than here, and it’s even better waking up with Miles next to me.
It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been out on the water in the morning. Our time has been consumed with working on the cottage and now the bakery.
I miss it, and since I’m not working at the bar until this evening, we should be able to get an hour or so out on the water.
When I lived with Sloane and Alana, it was pretty much the first thing we did in the morning, mostly because Alana was training for Maui Pipe.
Now she’s just out there living her dream, surfing as a professional.
It’s still hard to believe that not only is she doing what she loves, but all of us have found our way to something that brings us so much happiness.
Sloane and Owen living together; she’s about to graduate college, something that is unheard of given her past. Nate and Sage—who would have ever thought he’d be happy after Mitch’s death?
But when Sage walked into his life, everything changed.
And Alana and Flynn are literally living every surfer’s dream, traveling around surfing the best waves as professionals.
I let out a hard sigh, trying to wrap my head around all of this. In less than six months, my entire life will change. The bakery will be open. Miles and I will have been back together for over a year and running a business we once dreamed about.
It’s all unreal.
“You alright?” Miles asks groggily.
“It was a happy sigh,” I tell him, curling into the side of his body, feeling the warmth of him against my skin. “What do you have planned today? Want to get out on the water this morning?”
“I have plans,” he responds almost immediately, and I look up at him, knitting my brows together.
“Plans?”
“Yeah, plans, so we gotta get moving. I need to go pick up my dad’s truck and the trailer.”
I’m now fully sitting up, staring at Miles because he obviously has something big planned, and I have no idea what it is.
Yesterday we talked about working on the bakery, finishing up demo so the crew can get in there and get started. We even set an opening date last night, and not being able to finish demo today could push that date back.
“We have a timeline. What do you have planned? If we don’t finish demo…”
He laughs, a deep throaty chuckle as he shakes his head. Reaching up he tucks a few strands of loose hair behind my ear, letting his fingers trail softly over my cheek.
“Daze, I’ve got everything under control. Kai and Owen are coming by to finish demo so we can do this.”
“Do what?” I press, questioning him more since he’s being very vague. “We don’t really have time to be fucking around with adventures and shit. The damn bakery is our adventure.”
Again, Miles laughs, enjoying how riled up I’m getting.
While I’m so damn excited about it all, I’m also nervous as hell, afraid we’ll miss deadlines.
It isn’t just about the construction end of it.
We have permits to secure, a business license, health department stuff.
The list feels endless at times, and even though I wanted to go surfing early, it would have only been for an hour. Who knows what Miles has planned.
Sometimes it feels like he’s just way too relaxed about everything. I guess that’s why we work. He has no worries, the typical Hawaiian surfer, living on island time and giving no fucks, and then there’s me, out here worrying that we won’t get everything done.
“How about you get dressed, and we can get on the road right away?” It’s a suggestion given without any more detail.
“Fine, I’ll get dressed, but just know I’m not really happy about your secret-keeping,” I tell him with a sour look on my face that only makes him laugh.
“Daze, you really are a stubborn pain in the ass, you know that, right?” He’s pulling on a pair of boardshorts, tying them off as he then reaches for a t-shirt.
“But you love me,” I quip back, pursing my lips, and he walks over, kissing me quickly. Swatting me on the ass, he tells me to get moving.
An hour later, we have Tanner’s truck with the trailer attached, and Miles is on his way, still holding firm to not telling me where we’re going.
“You need to put it into the GPS?” I ask, growing more anxious by the second. It seems that Tanner and Luna know where we’re going, as they both wished him good luck.
Good luck for what?
I swear, if we’re getting married and he didn’t tell me, I’m going to kill him. I’m wearing cutoffs and a tank—a typical outfit for me.
“Are we getting married?” I blurt out, and Miles’s head whips around so fast, I swear it might come off his neck.
“What? No! You think I’d do that without any of our friends or family?” he questions, his mouth falling open in shock.
“No, but you haven’t given me anything to go off of, and your mom and dad wished you good luck. I can’t figure out what it could be. Can you give me a hint?”
“We’ll be there in about twenty minutes, so until then, you want to ask me some yes or no questions?” Miles suggests, making it into a cute little game.
“Okay, so we aren’t getting married…” I trail off, trying to think of some yes and no questions for him. “Is it for the cottage?”
“No.”
“Is it for the bakery?”
“Yes.”
This causes me to pause, wondering what we could be marking off our to-do list today. I run through the list in my head, firing off questions like crazy now, but none of them get me any closer to knowing what we’re doing.
“We’re not getting permits. We’re only going twenty minutes away. It’s not meeting with more contractors.”
“All of this is correct, except the twenty minutes part,” Miles clarifies, and I look at him confused because that is what he told me earlier. “It’s not twenty minutes now. It’s like thirty seconds,” he adds, pointing at a building in front of us.
Pulling around back, it’s an industrial building with basically nothing distinguishing about it. I scan the area, again finding nothing but a few more buildings that look similar. If anything, this is not a place I would have gone to on my own, so hopefully Miles knows something I don’t.
“Ready?” he asks, climbing out of the truck. I follow him, leading to a door that is flanked by two oversized garage doors.
He pulls the door open, revealing a massive warehouse with tons and tons of items that I quickly realize are restaurant supplies—things we’ll need to start the bakery.
“Okay, so everything here is used, but in great condition. If something isn’t working, it’s noted on the attached tag,” Miles tells me. “This place is only open on Thursdays, and we have to take everything with us. No deliveries.”
I pull out my phone, bringing up the list of things I’ve researched I’ll need to get the bakery up and running. It’s a lot, but this place looks to have everything, and it’s even better that it’s discounted.
Commercial ovens can cost thousands—possibly tens of thousands. Mixers and refrigerators, display cases and scales, proofing cabinets.
“How are we going to get this all home?” I now ask, taking in the vast size of everything.
“That’s why we have the truck and the trailer, but we might need to come back. I’ve got Kai, Nate, Owen, and anyone else on call to help us unload it all too.”
Miles has thought of everything, and this warehouse literally has everything we need, but I’m hit with the cost—something Miles keeps telling me not to worry about.
How can I not worry about it? It’s more money than I ever thought I’d see in my life. I get that Miles did well, and the band is still making money despite being broken up, but that money won’t last forever.
“Listen, Daze,” Miles says, slipping an arm around my shoulders.
He pulls me into his side, kissing the top of my head.
“Stop worrying about the money. Neither of us has ever lived beyond our means, and we’ve never struggled to get by.
The bakery is going to take off, and all of this will be worth it. I promise.”
I lean into him, letting the weight of his body comfort me and taking in his words. He’s right about it all.
I’ve worked at the bar and managed to pay rent, and I never felt like I was missing out. At times, I had to cut back to fix my Jeep or if the girls and I wanted to go out to dinner, but nothing major.
Miles has lessons and the surfboard company with his dad and brother. They’ve always landed big names in the surf world too. Custom boards bring in a lot of money, and eventually, Tanner will retire, and Miles and Kai will take over.
All of this is going through my head, knowing we can make this work. I want to make it work more than anything, and so does Miles.
“Okay, let’s do some shopping,” Miles announces, throwing his arms out in front of him, indicating the massive space.
We spend several hours walking the aisles, checking out tons of items. There are so many it’s hard to decide what to get, but after researching, we settle on a convection oven, two display cases, a mixer and a refrigerator.
A man working at the warehouse helps Miles load everything into the bed of the truck and onto the trailer, and before we know it, we’re on our way back.
“This feels crazy,” I say, trying to process it all. “We just bought everything we need to get started, like it’s happening.”
“It’s always been happening, Daisy. This is your dream, something we talked about daily, and now that I have the money to make it happen, I wasn’t going to let that slip by.”
He stops for a second, reaching over to take my hand. Lacing his fingers with mine, he brings it to his mouth, pressing a gentle kiss on each knuckle.
“Leaving you was horrible, and what happened after was even worse, but it made it all worth it by getting to do this with you,” Miles admits, and I couldn’t agree more.
Without the money he made from touring, we wouldn’t be able to do this. All I can hope is that one day I can repay him by making this bakery a success.
Not only do I want it for myself and Miles, but I want it for our little community too. I want to be able to give back to them, give them a place to come and enjoy, for tourists to explore and see what a local bakery is like.
The dreams I have for this aren’t just about me, but about everyone around me. Someday, Miles and I will pass this business along to our kids, and the same goes for Olsen’s Boards. Our kids will have something to be proud of, a career they can keep going.
“Thank you,” I say as we’re pulling around back of the bakery. “I honestly can’t thank you enough.”
Slipping my hand around the back of his neck, I pull him to me, kissing him. Resting my forehead against his now, I close my eyes.
“Miles, what you’re doing is nothing short of amazing. I just hope I can—”
He cuts me off, kissing me again.
“I want you to know that no matter what happens, Daisy, we’re in this together. You don’t have to have hope. We just need each other. We’re doing this. Together.”