Chapter Twenty-Four
Laynie
The next two weeks fly by within a blink.
I have more appointments with Fiona at the hospital.
We’ve started discussing a birthing plan and preparing everything for the big day.
Grayson has been messaging me daily to check in on me.
Some might find it overbearing, but I adore it.
He promised to be beside me through this, and that’s what he’s doing.
A few moments over the past month, I felt something on his end. A spark. A sizzle. There was something, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. The way Grayson was staring at me made me tingle all over. Every inch of my skin fizzled like soda water, and it lit a flame in my mind.
Could this friendship be evolving but neither of us are willing to admit it out loud? Is he willing to step up into the role of being a father to a baby that isn’t even his? It seems like a lot to ask, which is why I’ve been shoving away my feelings in the hopes that maybe they’ll just slip away.
So far, they haven’t, but I will keep trying.
Mum and Dad have been supportive, but maybe a little too much to the point of suffocation. I don’t have the heart to tell them to give me some space. Not after cutting their holiday short to come look after me.
My stomach is showing more obvious signs that I am pregnant, so Mum took to the streets, trying to smother all the stories being passed around about me. And some of them are quite adventurous… especially between the other middle-aged mums.
Who knew they had such vivid imaginations?
I overheard one afternoon when I was in the market that Sally, one of the said mums, was telling everyone that I was knocked up to draw attention to my bakery.
Not sure how that even works, Sally, but whatever…
With Mum going around attempting to control the town gossip, and Dad basically hovering around me like a bee every time I’m home, it’s becoming a little too much to bear.
Not to mention that Sadie and I are still sharing my childhood bedroom, with her blow-up mattress taking up half of the floor.
The house was small with just the three of us, but with my cousin living there too, it feels like we’re living on top of each other.
I like having Sadie here. She’s one of my closest friends, and we get along so well. I just wish the house was bigger, or that Mum and Dad weren’t always suffocating me as they have been, and it seems to be only getting worse.
Golden Hour has blown up online, which is a positive.
All the work Macie and I have been putting into promoting the place seems to be rubbing off.
Our last couple of videos took off, with thousands of views, and people commenting that they want to come and visit during the holidays.
This is what makes me giddy, knowing that there are others out there just excited as I am over baked goods and aesthetics.
Plus with Marigold fitting in and becoming more comfortable with the cafe, I feel as though I can take a short breath.
“I finished off the batter for the apple, pumpkin, and raspberry pies,” Marigold tells me from the other side of the smaller stainless-steel kitchen. “I’m going to grab the fillings from the fridge.” She grabs the filling bowls and sets them down.
Nodding, my eyes don’t move from the cake I’m currently decorating.
Being the only place in town that bakes custom cakes, I make everyone’s birthday, wedding, engagement, promotion, and retirement cakes.
I even make one every year for Mrs Turner’s pet dog.
She’s obsessed with her border collie, and I always like having a challenge.
This one is for Doris’s seventh birthday, which is in a few days. I know her favourite colours are purple and red, so I’m trying to find ways to incorporate the two colours without making it look like a superhero cake.
Macie’s head swings around the corner, making me flinch. “I would just like to announce that Grant Hellner is now following us online.”
My hands freeze as I peer up at Macie, who is bursting with excitement. I feel my insides cool as I drop the piping bag on the bench and take the phone she’s holding out to me.
Holy crap, Grant Hellner is following us! One of the biggest food critics and judge of the local dessert awards in New South Wales.
I think I’ve forgotten how to breathe.
Inhaling deeply, I drop the phone in my apron pocket and throw my arms around Macie’s shoulders. “What the—”
“I know!” she whisper-yells into my ear. “You’re being noticed.”
“We,” I exaggerate. “You’re just as much part of this as I am. We all know how terrible I am with making content.”
She giggles, bubbly and uncontrolled. “And we all know how much I can’t bake.”
Soaking up her hug for a moment longer, I then pull away to see flour all over her sweater. I brush it off quickly. “Sorry about that.”
Macie shrugs. “Who cares. We’re now recognised. This is so wild! Maybe you’ll be considered for an award or something. That would surely bring more customers into the area.”
My teeth chew on my lip as I fight off a grin. This seems a little too good to be true. That my tiny little bakery cafe is having this much popularity.
“It might,” I murmur, a grin breaking free.
Macie squeals with happiness. “All right, I need to go back out there, but we need to celebrate this.”
I chuckle. “We haven’t won an award yet. It’s just a follow and… one comment on a photo.” But the comment about the presentation of my cheesecakes is enough to make me fan my face.
“Yeah,” she drawls, holding onto the frame of the doorway, peering over her shoulder with a wide smile. “But this is only the beginning. I can feel it in my fingers.” She disappears into the cafe once more, and Marigold and I get back to work.
I can’t help but think some more about how good this is for the business. Pulling out my phone, I shoot a text to Grayson.
LAYNIE: Guess what!
BLONDIE: You finally found that old charger you misplaced weeks ago?
LAYNIE: Ha, no, it’s well and truly gone. I can’t find it anywhere and Sadie said she didn’t take it.
LAYNIE: So odd.
BLONDIE: So, the news???
LAYNIE: Right!
LAYNIE: Golden Hour has been recognised by a national food critic and judge!
LAYNIE: We’ve reached a bigger audience. This is wild!
BLONDIE: That is awesome news!
BLONDIE: I’m going to tell Mum. She’ll be impressed.
BLONDIE: So proud of you, Biscuit.
That last message makes me heat all over.
Grayson is proud of me? After what I did, he’s still proud of me?
He really is the greatest friend I could have asked for.
I move onto my family chat to update Mum and Dad on the news. Mum’s name appears on my screen, and I answer her call immediately.
“Laynie girl, this is awesome!” she squeals, almost deafening my eardrum. “I knew you would do well with this. You always had it in you to dream big and now you’re achieving that. This is amazing.”
“Thank you, Mum. I feel like this is the beginning of a whole new chapter for Golden Hour.”
“It might be. And who knows, maybe you’ll be one of those shops that appear on those sites for tourists. The ones that say the top ten places for an apple pie or whatever.”
I snort. “Yeah, maybe it will. I just feel like I have made another accomplishment, though. I mean, this guy Grant is massive. He’s even on one of those baking shows that he judges. He’s not just a random person.”
“And to think, if he’s seen it, then there must have been others too in his field.”
That makes me swallow.
I hadn’t thought about that. Maybe there are others who have seen the place too?
I feel the jolt of nerves beneath my skin and the phone shivers against my ear.
“Yeah, maybe,” I let out, trying to keep my voice steady despite my rushing pulse. “I should go now, Mum. Still have a lot to get done in the next hour. I need to finish Doris’s cake for tomorrow.”
“Oh, of course. We’ll see you at home, then. Your dad is making stew tonight,” she says airily.
The thought of strew makes my stomach churn the wrong way. I haven’t been able to eat soup, let alone look at it after my morning sickness, but I don’t want to change their plans.
I utter blankly, “Okay, great. I’ll be home soon.” I hang up the phone, my stomach gurgling.
“Is it really great?” Marigold teases, peering at me from behind the trays of desserts.
I look at her and sniff a laugh. “The last thing I want is some sloppy soup. It reminds me too much of my morning sickness.”
She pulls a face, and I nod, my face scrunched with slight disgust.
“That’s valid. Maybe you should make your own dinner, then?”
“Yeah, I might have to.” I wash my hands again before getting back to Doris’s cake.
The moment I step into the house, the suffocating feeling returns, like a scarf being tightly wound around my neck.
Mum flutters down, taking things off me and nudging me towards the couch, when all I want to do is have a bath.
Dad is at the stove, and the intense smell of beans and celery makes me feel queasy.
But the delight in his face is everything.
I think he’s enjoying looking after me, possibly because he missed this time with Mum when she was pregnant and now he’s making up for it, but neither of them have asked if there’s anything I can’t eat during this pregnancy.
They don’t even know what I want. They just assume, even if it’s wrong.
Swallowing and fanning my face, Freddie trots over, brushing himself against my legs. At least Freddie is still acting normal around me.
Picking him up, I go to walk towards my bedroom when Mum stops me, “What are you doing? You should be relaxing before dinner.”
“I know, but I really want to have a bath.”
Dad’s ears prick up. “Dinner will be ready in only a few minutes. Can’t you have your bath afterwards?”
I sigh and drop Freddie on the ground, who promptly curls at my feet.
Mum asks, “Also, have you been taking your medication? You should have finished the bottle by now, and there’s still some in there. You need to take them, Laynie girl.”
“I’m taking them,” I let out, bile biting at the back of my throat as my toes scrunch uncomfortably.
Her lips roll inward, like she doesn’t quite believe me. “Well, you should have some with your dinner just in case. You know how sometimes women can get pregnancy brain.”
I go to tell her that I will eat after a bath, but Sadie comes through the door in her ballet clothes and announces, “I’m home!
” She disappears into our bedroom, and I have to admit, I’m a little envious of her right now.
She can come and go as she pleases. There’s nobody trying to tell her what to do or what she needs to eat.
Blowing out a breath, I feel my nerves bubbling up inside me like boiling water. Why aren’t they listening to me? “I really want a bath after being in the bakery all day, so I’m going to eat after,” I tell them, a little sterner than I anticipated.
Mum’s eyebrows rise.
Dad stares at me. “But your dinner will be cold by then.”
“I don’t even want it,” I bite back. Dad drops the ladle into the pot.
Tipping my head back, I shake it, needing to be in control once again before I drown in panic. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you, but this is too much. I don’t want stew because it makes me feel sick, and all I want right now is a bath, because I’m sore and tired and—”
Sadie comes down the hallway wearing my comfy slippers she must have found in my wardrobe. When was she looking in there?
I let out a frustrated sigh. “I need some air.”
“Laynie…”
I brush past Sadie and head for the front door. “I just need a moment, Mum. Please.” I close the door behind me.
Sighing heavily, I now realise I’ve left my coat inside, and it’s freezing out here. Digging out my keys from my pocket, I move to sit in my car when my ringtone blasts through the quiet evening air.
“Hi, G,” I answer glumly.
He must hear the tiredness of my tone, because his own mellows. “Are you okay?”
I sniff, opening Betsie with the key and slam the door shut, nestling into the seat that’s molded itself around my body. “No, I just—I love my parents, you know that, but recently, they’re just so in my face.”
“Too overbearing?” he asks.
I nod, even though he can’t see me.
Grayson exhales gently. “Where are you?”
“Sitting in Betsie. I just had to get out of there before my anxiety took over, and this seems like the best place to hide.” My lips wobble. “All I wanted was a hot bath.”
“Come here then. You can have a bath here.”
I hold in a sob, my eyes glassing over as I peer at the front door again. No doubt they’re discussing my random outburst, but I don’t think I can go back in there right now.
“Okay. But I don’t have any—”
“I’ll get Macie to bring up some things for you to change into. Don’t worry. Just come. I’ll get it ready for you.”
“Thank you, G. I’ll just text Mum that I will be out for a bit so she doesn’t send out a search and rescue party.”
“Good idea. I’ll see you soon.”