Chapter 116

It was late Thursday afternoon and I had just gotten out of the shower. I was walking around in my flannel pyjamas and felt happy about how well things were going with Mary. She had gone out and bought an air mattress and a dresser and had moved into the apartment. I had trained her to man the register and she was a natural. She was soft-spoken to the customers, but it seemed they liked it. She would start her official training in regards to food safety the coming week. I was about to snuggle up on the couch as my phone rang. It was the door man and I frowned as I answered.

“Hello, miss. Sorry to disturb you. There is a… Mr Chef? here to see you. Should I let him up?” the doorman said, and I could swear I heard Chef sighing in the background.

“Yes, please do,” I told him. And trotted over to the door. “Hello,” I said as he knocked and I opened.

“Hi. This is for you,” he said in his blunt way. He was holding out a large bag in each hand towards me.

“Uh. Thank you, what is it?” I asked as I took the bags from him.

“Food. It’s something you can put in the freezer and then take out when you need a quick meal. It’s important for you to eat well, now that… you're in your condition,” he told me while blushing. So freaking adorable.

“Thank you, that is so kind of you. I guess Hunter told you then?” I asked.

“He told Jason and Jason told me. Neither of us give a shit,” he paused with big eyes and looked at my stomach. “Sorry, didn’t mean to use bad words,” he whispered. I giggled and nodded. The baby would be the size of a lima bean or something and would have no concept of swear words. But he was being too adorable to argue with. “Anyway. As I was saying. Neither Jason nor I care what that big piece of … poop … is doing or not doing. We will be here for you, and the little one. Don’t hesitate to call either of us,” he told me. I felt moved by what he told me.

“Thank you. The baby is lucky to have such amazing uncles. And I’m grateful for the food,” I said. He nodded.

“I’ll stop by next week with more. Have a nice evening and get plenty of rest,” he said and walked away. Was I supposed to finish all this food by next week? If he had his way, I would be the shape of a ball by the end of this pregnancy.

The following morning I was manning the register in the bakery while Mary was putting away the last things after baking. I was slowly teaching her my standard recipes. She was a natural baker and was doing better than I had expected. The little door bell let me know we had customers and I smiled as I saw Mr Smith and his daughter. They had become regulars. Now I always had mint chocolate chip cupcakes and other customers seemed to enjoy them as well. I had called Mr Smith a couple of days ago and told him I could no longer work for him in my spare hours. I was already feeling less energised from being pregnant and I needed to set up my life for the baby. Now he was smiling at me, as was Katie.

“Hello, Miss Hana,” she happily said. She was dressed in a pink dress with a pink fall jacket with purple details and her initials written in pink glitter.

“Hello, Katie. What are you doing here at this time of day? Is your dad letting you skip school?” I asked.

“No, he would never let me do that,” she said, shaking her hair. Her father laughed.

“Her school has an admin day. So squirt is coming to work with me. I promised her we could stop by on the way to get her a cupcake and to buy some treats for my closest staff,” he explained.

“Should we start with your treat? Do you want the usual?” I asked Katie and she nodded.

“Thank you,” she said as I handed her, her cupcake and she took it over to the bar table and climbed up to sit on the high chair. Both me and her father watched her.

“You make her day with those cupcakes,” he said.

“She is one of my favourite customers, there is no question she likes what I bake. What can I get for you?” I asked.

“I was thinking of a mixed bunch of things. I have no clue what everyone likes,” he told me.

“We have some different mixed boxes here,” I said and handed him what looked like a small menu. It was a list of our special orders. From cakes to cupcakes and different boxes. “The ones on the right you need to pre order at least three days in advance, but the ones on the left we can put together straight away.” He hummed and looked through it.

“I think I will go for a large ‘Mystery Mix’,” he said.

“I’ll put it together.” As I walked around and put things into the box, Mr Smith stood and looked at me. It made me a little nervous. I sealed the box and took it over to him.

“Now that you no longer are an employee of mine, I have a question,” he said as he paid.

“Really?”

“Yes. Would you let me take you out sometime? As in going on a date,” he asked. I was so surprised it took my brain a moment to kick into gear.

“Oh. That is really flattering,” I said.

“But you are seeing someone?” he asked.

“Well, no. But things are… complicated at the moment,” I said. He looked at me as he was trying to figure out what to do to convince me. “Okay. I’m going to be frank with you, but I would appreciate it if you kept it to yourself for now,” I said. Why I said it, I didn’t know. The way the news about my pregnancy was spreading I could just as well take out a superbowl ad and it would be slower than now.

“Of course. I can keep a secret.”

“The reason I needed to quit is because I am pregnant. I need to focus on that and try to get my life to work with it.” Mr Smith gave me a brilliant smile.

“Congratulations!” he said. “Wait, what about the father?” He must have seen something in my face, because he backtracked at once. “Sorry, not my business. Forget that I asked.”

“It’s okay. He doesn't want to be in the picture, and I’m okay with that.”

“Then I don’t see why that would stop us. I like kids. I raised Katie from when she was young on my own. I like you and I won’t hold a child against you. I get that things are new and scary right now. But I’m a patient guy. How about we stay friends for now? And if you need someone to talk to about being a single parent, or if you need help, you give me a call. Me and Katie will still come by and I might ask you out in a couple of months again.” I looked at him. I wasn't really interested in him in a romantic way. But as a friend, that was a more interesting offer.

“I would like that,” I told him with a smile.

“Then I’ll see you at our usual time. Come on Katie, time to go to work!” he called to his daughter. She climbed down off the chair and put the paper from the cupcake in the wastebasket I had standing by the door. The door opened and Jason stood outside.

“Uncle Jason!” Katie exclaimed happily.

“Well hello, Katie,” Jason said. He took a moment to talk to Katie and her father before holding the door open for the two and stepping inside. I could guess why he was here.

“Hello, Jason,” I said.

“Hi, Hana. Do you have a moment?”

“One minute,” I said and walked to the kitchen. “Mary, a friend has come by. I need to talk with him for a moment. If you hear the bell, can you come and take care of the customer?” I asked.

“Sure. Do you want me to put on some coffee for you?” she asked. I made a face. I still had a hard time with the smell of coffee.

“No thank you. But I will bring some milk and those hazel nut cookies,” I told her.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked as I walked out with a tray. He rushed around the counter and took the tray from me.

“I’m pregnant, Jason. I’m not sick. And I’m early on, I can still carry a tray. Let's sit at the round table. Sorry that I didn’t bring you coffee, I can’t handle the smell of it,” I said. He placed the tray on the small table where I usually took consultations.

“Are you kidding me? How can I turn down milk and cookies?” he said, sounding like a kid. I smiled and sat down. “How are you feeling?” he asked after eating a couple of cookies.

“I’m good. It’s sweet of you to ask, but I’m doing good. No morning sickness except when I sniff coffee. I have my first doctor's appointment later today. Things are good,” I told him. He nodded, but he looked angry.

“I’m sorry,” he then said.

“For what?”

“For how Hunter is handling all of this,” he told me. I smiled at him, even if I could feel it wasn’t a genuine smile.

“That is not for you to apologise for. It’s not something anyone should apologise for. He was always honest with how he felt about kids. We were careless and now I’m here. I’m not angry with him,” I said.

“You should be. You should have called Chef and me. We would have beaten some sense into him. We might still give that a try.”

“No you won’t. It’s not worth the three of you being at odds with each other,” I told him.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I tried talking some sense into him, but I failed. That man is old, grumpy shit and more stubborn than a herd of donkeys,” he said, looking deep into the almost empty milk glass. I tried to keep my smile in place.

“Thank you, Jason. But you don’t need to do that. He has a right to feel the way he does.”

“But that’s the thing. That is not the way he feels. It’s what he thinks he should feel. It’s all ghosts in his mind,” he objected.

“Even so. Hunter is a big boy, he can make up his own mind. I wouldn’t want him if the reason he came back was that you, or anyone else, had nagged him to do so.” Jason nodded.

“Well fuck him. Even if he decides to hide away, I want to be a part of the baby's life. Would that be okay?” he asked. My smile became brighter.

“Of course it would. The baby is lucky to have you as an uncle. I will not keep good people away from them. If I have learnt anything, it is that you can never have too many people loving you,” I told him. One of my biggest fears as a single parent was that my child would end up in the foster system, like myself, if something happened to me. Jason was about to answer me when the doorbell chimed and a customer walked in. Jason turned around to see who it was. The old lady apparently didn’t trigger his protectiveness and he turned back towards me. Something caught his eyes and he looked like he was lost to the world. I followed his gaze and saw Mary. I smiled.

“Who’s that?” Jason asked.

“That is Mary, my new assistant. Pretty isn’t she?” I asked, trying not to giggle.

“Yes,” he said as if in a daze. “What? No, I mean, she’s alright, I mean, you know,” he said as he came out of his state. I had to giggle at his flushed expression.

“Okay, sure.”

“When did you hire her? Why didn’t you let me know so I could do a background check?” he asked.

“I hired her about a week ago. Things have been great. I need someone I can rely on when the due date approaches. I didn’t need a background check, I know what I need to know.”

“You can’t just believe what she tells you,” he lectured me.

“Sure. I know. I just know she is the right one. And Jason, this is important. I wouldn’t mind if you asked her out. You are a good guy, she could use one of those. But, and please focus on this, you need to be kind to her. No dating and then dumping, no quick sex, nothing like that. If you want to pursue her, you do it the right way,” I told him.

“I’m not interested in her,” he told me at the same time I saw he had a hard time not looking at her.

“Yeah, right. I’ll remind you that I still have Chef on my side. If you hurt Mary, I will make sure Chef beats you to a pulp and then you won’t get any more of my baking,” I threatened him.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he told me. We talked a little more. Jason kept reminding me I could call him anytime, for anything.

“Does Tom stop by often?” Jason asked, trying to sound casual about it.

“He and Katie come by every Wednesday after her riding lessons and then on Saturdays,”I told him.

“Uhum. Is there something going on between the two of you?” Jason asked.

“No,” I said, but I felt the heat on my cheeks. Jason just raised his eyebrows. “No. We are friends,” I insisted.

“I’m guessing that is because you have put up a boundary,” Jason said. It wasn’t a question so I didn’t say anything. As he got ready to leave, I called for Mary. She came walking and I introduced them. It was entertaining to watch Jason trying to flirt with her and Mary having no clue what he was doing.

“Jason is the one that installed the security alarm we use,” I told Mary.

“Oh, that is such a nice thing to have. It makes me feel safe,” she told him. By the way he smiled at her, she could have told him she thought he hung the sun and moon.

“I’m happy to hear that. That is what it is for,” he said.

“Jason, would it be okay if I give your number to Mary. In case something happens when she is at the bakery on her own?” I asked. I thought it would be a good idea if her old fiance tracked her down.

“Sure. Please feel free to call if you need. Maybe I should get your number as well? In case I can’t reach Hana for some reason?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, that makes sense,” Mary said, and they exchanged numbers.