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“Yes please.” He reaches up and tickles the little girl who will someday become his stepdaughter. Everyone knows he and her mom are forever. It’s just a matter of time before he asks them both to consider changing their last names. “What kind do you want, Bug? Looks like Mom made fairy cakes today.”
“I want one of those, please.” She swings her jean-clad leg over Preston’s shoulder and waits patiently, entirely trusting, for him to bring her down and not let her slam to the tile floor. “Did you see Uncle Axe today, Hannah?” The second her feet touch the floor, Juniper rushes forward and plasters her face to the glass cabinet—a distraction that, thankfully, means she misses the way my lips crinkle into a frown.
“He didn’t come over and see me today,” she continues. “And Daddy’s still in the hospital.” She reaches back for Preston’s hand, but her eyes come up as I bag their cupcakes. “Uncle Axe usually comes to see me every single day. But maybe he can’t drive with his broken leg, huh?”
“I think he’s just resting.” I extend my arm and pass the bagged cake to the little girl. “Uncle Axe hurt himself pretty bad, and he’s got that big old cast to carry around now. I reckon he’s just a bit sleepy.”
“I heard he can’t go to work for months.” She’s only six, which means that what she intends as a whisper still comes out on a hissing almost-shout. “He’s not gonna like that, huh? He loves going to work.”
“He sure does.” I bag the second cake for Preston and accept his crisp twenty-dollar bill, though we both know he doesn’t have to pay. Stepping to the register, I ring up the sale, and shake my head when he waves me off before I count the change. “Uncle Axe has wanted to be a firefighter his whole life, June. I think he likes to climb ladders the most.”
She makes a loudpsshtnoise in the back of her throat. “He likes chopping doors with his axe most. It matches his name and everything.”
“Well, of course.”
The bell rings above the bakery door, drawing my attention across until I stop on Axel himself, hobbling through on crutches and a nasty bad mood.
“Coulda called ahead and asked for help.” Preston rolls his eyes and strolls closer to hold the heavy glass door wide open.
He doesn’t see the way Axel’s gaze crosses the room and pins me where I stand. Juniper doesn’t notice how his eyes are all for me, despite her whooping cheer when her wish to see the man comes true. She runs to her uncle and wraps her arms around his good leg. And still, Axel’s piercing stare burns me where I stand.
“Hannah?” Nicole’s distracted voice comes from the back of the store, where she spends most of her time preparing desserts to be sold. “What’s going on out—” She stops in the entryway and startles when her eyes meet our newest visitor’s. “Axel.”
Then she takes off like a shot, around the L-shaped counter, and takes up position under his arm, like she could help carry her much taller, heavier brother. “What are you doing here, Axe?” She kicks a chair out from beneath the single café-table in the corner of the room, then circling it with her shoulder under Axe’s, she helps him lower.
I’m quite certain he could do it all himself. It’s a broken leg, not a broken spine. A cast makes walking clunky and weird, not impossible. But he allows her to mother him, while Preston laughs, knowing Axel’s actions are for Nicole.
“I’m so happy to see you, Uncle Axe!” Excited, June throws herself into his lap and wraps her arms around his neck until his eyes close and his anger ekes away to acceptance. Love. Unconditional foreverness. “I was just saying to Hannah how I didn’t see you yet today. I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” Pulling back, he presses a kiss to her cheek. Then another to the opposite side. “It’s been a whole day since I last saw you.”
“Feels like forever!” she whines. “You didn’t even come over for dinner last night. Mom made homemade pizza and everything.”
“Ms. Sullivan?” I startle at yet another voice, spin, and come face to face with Raul and his clipboard.
His cheeks are rounder than Axel’s. His eyes, light green and sweet. Kinder. He’s the ‘boy next door’, his softer appearance no doubt overlooked by girls throughout high school while they preferred to stare at the star quarterback.
“If you could sign for this delivery, Jenson and I will get out of your hair until tomorrow.”
“Sure.” Closing my eyes for a single beat, resetting myself and washing the image of Axel—broken and bitter—from my mind, I open them again and smile until Raul returns it with one of his own. Then, accepting the clipboard and a pen, I scribble my signature across the bottom—once, twice, three times.
Handing it all back, I snicker when he winks and skips his way into the rear of the store. “Thanks, Raul. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Turning around once more, I watch the foursome interact. Preston is still kinda new in our lives. He’s a sweetheart, a little on the crude side, and adores the ground Nicole walks on; which is all I need to know to approve of their relationship and sleep at night. Then there’s Nicole, who loves him right back and still can’t quite accept that someone so selfless and sweet has feelings for her. Juniper, who adores everyone, always. And finally, Axel… who can be free with his loveexceptwhen it comes to me.
It’s both infuriating and challenging.
But I don’t mind a challenge, so I tear the display cabinet open and take out a cupcake I know Axel will enjoy. Setting it on top of a paper bag, instead ofinit, I close the case and saunter around the counter.
“Hey, June?” I grin when her head swings around and her gaze locks on to mine. “I whipped up some buttercream frosting for you this morning, and stole a few of your mom’s cupcakes so you could ice them yourself.”
Her expression, bright and beautiful, lights up. She and Axel share the same silver gray eyes: it makes me eternally sad I rarely get to see his so happy these days. “Really?” She looks to her mom, then to Axe. Finally, back to me. She bounds off her uncle’s lap so he hisses from the movement. “Can I do them now, Mommy?” She grabs Nicole’s hand and yanks her across the store. “Please, can you help me?”
“Sure, baby.” Not at all sure, Nicole frowns and casts a glance back to her brother, but June is strong and determined.
When they’re gone, I meander closer, my focus locked on Axel, while his drops to my lips as they curl into a smile. Coming to a stop in front of the man whose shoulders are ridiculously broad, I remain still. Silent. And smirk when curiosity gets the better of him.
“Wh-what are you—”
