43
Beckett
One month later…
“We rock paper scissoring for the front room?” Ryan asks Mack and me as we stand in our newly acquired building. It’s pretty bare in here still, but it’s got potential. And it’s ours…
Emma wraps her little arms tightly around Ryan’s leg, and Mack glances from him to me, silently asking me if he’s for real. Ryan can be a bit of an acquired taste at times, and I fear Mack is only now realising what he’s gotten himself into with the two of us. I nod, and his shoulders rise and fall as he lets out an exasperated breath, and then he holds up his fist and raises his chin. “Best of three, then.”
“Atta boy,” Ryan cheers, holding out his own fist just as the construction workers we’ve got in the back start drilling away.
I laugh as Mack braces himself and starts pounding his closed fist on his hand in time with Ryan, and Emma cheers. “Right, well. I’ll leave you two to sort this out,” I yell over the noise. “Just let me know which room is mine when you’re done.”
No one so much as glance my way, all too focused on winning, so I walk my ass across the room and through the raw timber door, joining Coffee Leaf Café to our place.
The moment I cross the threshold, the sound of Penny’s laughter hits my ears, and my entire body thrums with excitement. It’s only been three hours since I last laid eyes on her and our boy, but fuck, for me, that’s too damn long.
Her eyes meet mine from across the café, and I grin as she does. She’s got Grayson propped up over her shoulder and dressed in his little green and white stripped onesie, and her hair is piled on top of her head, in the most beautifully dishevelled way.
God, she’s stunning.
“Hi, gorgeous,” I coo as I round the front counter.
“Hi.” She beams at me and turns our son around so he can see me. “Look who’s here, baby. It’s Daddy .”
My heart thumps every time she calls me that.
“Hey, little mate,” I whisper, reaching forward and taking him from her arms. “How’s your morning been?”
He may only be two months old, but I swear he understands every word I say, and his newfound gummy smile kills me every time it’s directed my way.
“How’s everything going next door?” Penny asks, snuggling into my side and wrapping her arms around my waist.
I snort and shake my head. “Well, Mack and Ryan are currently fighting over the front room, and I can’t seem to keep the builders from taking a smoke break every fifteen minutes, so…”
“It’ll get there,” she says, gently rubbing my lower back.
“Yeah.” I sigh, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. “It will. Eventually .”
Penny hums, and I pass Grayson back to her after nuzzling my face into his little neck. “Alright. I’ve got to get back to the OG shop and see a client. You want me to grab something for dinner on my way home, Love?”
She kisses me, after listing off an incredibly detailed order from three different takeaway locations, and then, after waving goodbye to Molly and Evie as they flit around the café, I cross the room, only to spot Mack slipping in through the door joining our businesses.
Funnily enough, he doesn’t even notice me standing here, ‘cos his eyes are firmly locked on the little blonde currently clearing a table.
Interesting…
Penny
“No, no, no,” Evie says, waving around an apple and cinnamon muffin. “Your love language is quality time and acts of service.” She points the muffin at me. “Molly’s is clearly words of affirmation, ‘cos she turns into a puddle whenever Ryan calls her a ‘good girl’, and mine is physical touch, and receiving gifts.”
Molly stands in the middle of the café, mouth gaping wide. “Evie!” she squeals. “You can’t just announce that in the middle of our place of business!”
Evie rolls her eyes and finally places the muffin in her hand on the pink plate in front of her. “We’re closed. Calm down.”
I snort as I bounce my now two-month-old in my arms, as he coos at me, and Mack, who has pulled a chair right up to the counter to get as close to Evie as possible, reaches for the plate, only to have his hand slapped away.
He scowls, the small black heart he has tattooed under his right eye moving as his expression changes, and he grumbles something under his breath, but for someone that claims he isn’t interested in the tiny blonde woman in front of him, he sure as shit spends a lot of time here ‘ supervising’ the workers next door as they paint the walls of the new Inked on Agnes building.
“Mack is right there,” Molly whisper-yells, pointing the nozzle of the disinfectant in her hand at him. “And Sophie’s in the kitchen!”
“Oh, please,” Evie says with a wicked grin. “They are both aware of your little kink. It’s not like you and Ryan are discreet.”
“Oh my god,” Molly groans, giving up on the fight and bending back down to wipe the table in front of her, her cheeks flushed pink. She may be pretending to be offended, but my oh my, that’s one hell of a smile on her face.
“Anywaaaaays,” Evie singsongs. “What’s your love language, Mack?” She picks up the plate and holds it out for him. “Uh, uh,” she tuts as he reaches for it. “Answer first.”
He narrows his vibrant blue eyes at her and pushes his messy, dirty blonde hair back from his face with one enormous, tattooed hand, but a flicker of what I assume is amusement has his lips twitching. “I don’t have a love language . I’m a man…”
Evie shrugs. “A man without a muffin, it seems. That’s too bad.”
He watches, wide eyed, as she bites into the last apple and cinnamon muffin we had left in the cake display. “Oh, it’s so good,” she moans around her mouthful, closing her eyes for dramatic effect.
“Right, give it here, blondie, or I swear to God,” he growls before attempting to swipe the muffin from her hand.
She giggles, jumps back, and wipes away the crumbs left in the corners of her mouth.
Quickly, he stands and rounds the counter. I step back and hold Grayson firmly against my chest, not wanting to get in the way, and then Molly and I laugh as Evie manages to duck under his arm as he reaches for her again. She sprints into the middle of the café, dodging a stack of chairs. Mack follows as she prances around, her blonde hair blowing in every direction as she weaves around the tables, and he tries his best to catch her.
My cheeks ache from smiling so widely by the time Sophie emerges from the kitchen to see what all the fuss is about. “What are they doing?” she asks, standing beside me with her arms crossed, a strawberry blonde ringlet stuck to her cheek and flour coating her black t-shirt.
We aren’t exactly friends, but I’m warming up to her. The smile she keeps plastered to her face night and day kind of makes it hard not to. That, and the fact that the lactation cookies she continues to bake for me, are both delicious and effective.
She’s also kept my kitchen going while I’ve been recovering, and navigating parenthood, and for that I’m grateful. A little resentful, too, but grateful.
“I think they’re flirting,” I reply, while we both watch the show.
She nods. “Makes sense.”
It really doesn’t, but fuck, it’s entertaining.
“Jesus, you’re fast for such a little thing,” Mack pants as he finally stops and leans on a table for support while trying to catch his breath.
“Hell yeah, I am!” Evie gloats, shoving the last bit of muffin into her mouth.
Laughter fills the room, along with the sound of Macks laboured breathing, and then movement by the front door catches my eye. I turn my head just as it swings open, revealing an incredibly angry-looking, dark-haired woman in a black maxi dress with a set of car keys in her hand.
“YOU!” she screams across the café. “You fucking whore!”
All eyes turn to me, and I frown. “Seriously? I don’t know her! Why are you all looking at me?”
Confused, everyone looks back at the crazy lady lingering by the entrance, holding her keys like a weapon, wondering who the hell she’s referring to. That is until she narrows her eyes at Evie.
“You,” she sneers, pointing directly at her. “It’s not bad enough that you fucked my husband, but you had to go and plaster your relationship all over social media, too? What’s wrong with you?”
I can feel the rage radiating off her from here, and the moment she takes a step toward Evie, every protective instinct inside me roars to life.
Evie wears flowers in her hair. She rides a pink bike to work and stops to help the elderly carry their groceries to their cars. She’s a goddamn saint, and the furthest thing from a whore I can imagine. This bitch insinuating otherwise is going to earn her a punch to the fucking nose.
I hold Grayson out toward Sophie, my eyes zeroed in on the woman now advancing on my best friend, and say, “Sophie, hold this.”
She takes him immediately, and watches, wide eyed, as I round the front counter. “ This being your baby? Penny! Come back here!”
I cross the room as quickly as I possibly can, but before I manage to get to Evie, Mack fills the space between her and the woman charging at her.
He pulls Evie behind him, shielding her with his body. “I suggest you calm the fuck down,” he says, his tone low and menacing. Hell, the unspoken warning has me stopping in my tracks, and that’s saying something.
“She fucked my husband!” the woman shrieks.
“I swear, I would never,” Evie says, stepping around Mack to face her. “You’ve got the wrong girl, I promise!”
“ Kyle Cramer !” she screams, over pronouncing the name, and Evie’s eyes go wide. “Sound familiar , you homewrecking tart?”
“Oh, shit,” Molly whispers, side-stepping over to me.
“Told you he was a fucktard,” I whisper, and she nods in agreement.
“No…” Evie mutters, shaking her head. “I swear I didn’t know he was-”
“You’re a liar!” the woman yells, lunging forward.
Mack, once again, steps in front of Evie. “You watch your fucking tone when you speak to her, you hear me?” He snaps, forcing the woman to stop and look up at him. “And if you so much as disturb one hair on her head, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” He lowers his voice. “Now, back. The. Fuck. Up. She didn’t know he was married, and your husband is the one who should be answering for his infidelity. Evie hasn’t seen that piece of shit in three fucking weeks, and they only went on two dates. She didn’t sleep with him, so whatever he’s told you is a lie,” he sneers, and the woman takes a step back as he curls his lip viciously. “So, how about you take all that hate and spite that’s inside’a you, and you direct it at the right fucking person?”
Her bottom lip trembles, and she releases a shuddering breath. “I…” the woman whispers, watching Evie move to Mack’s side and wrap her hand around his corded, blacked-out forearm. “I shouldn’t have come.”
I’d feel bad for the bitch if she hadn’t come in here swinging and calling Evie a whore.
“No!” he barks, making us all jump. “You shouldn’t have. Now, leave .”
The woman stands there, stunned, for a moment, before she visibly gulps, and then turns around, and practically sprints from the café with her hand covering her mouth.
Holy shit…
“What the hell was that?” I whisper to Molly as she leans into my side, and we both stare at the woman’s retreating form through the front window.
“I think that was Mack’s love language…”