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Chapter45
Keely
The sun hasn’t risen yet and my feet already hurt.
Actually, everything hurts. My back, my shoulders, my knees. My big, enormous belly. Jamila’s bustling around, moving twice as fast and doing ten times the work, but I try to carry my weight.
“You can take a break, you know,” she says, slipping past me with a tray for the glazer.
Our first employee, a young girl named Fallen, hustles by going the other way. “She’s right. You’re due, what, next week?”
“Yesterday,” I complain. “I was dueyesterday.”
Fallen stops in her tracks. “And you came in here, at five in the morning, to make freaking donuts? You should be at home. Hell, you should be in the hospital getting all the drugs.”
I wave her off. “I’m fine. Being on my feet helps. Well, maybe. Allegedly.”
“All right, enough, come on.” Jamila escorts me to a nearby stool. “Sit down, take a break. The donuts will be here when you’re ready.”
I try to protest, but the kitchen continues on without me. Our second ever employee, Arabella, gives me a wink as she mixes batter. Then there’s Evie, working the glazing station, as the others ferry donuts and dough all over the place.
The kitchen’s coordinated chaos. We’ve been doing this for a few months now, and things couldn’t be going better. The front’s packed every morning with a line down the black, and my personal recipe donut is by far the favorite. No matter how many we make, it sells out in an hour. Jamila’s already talking about hiring more people and expanding in a nearby neighborhood.
But we’re taking it slow for now. Making sure we’re profitable. Really getting the process and the recipes right. Making sure demand is stable and this isn’t some fluke.
Despite my worries, every day is like heaven.
Even though I’m getting up at an ungodly hour to commute from the house in the suburbs, the lack of sleep is easily worth it. I’ve never felt happier, more fulfilled than I do in this place, working with these girls, running my own business. And each afternoon, after we close, I head on over to Smoke where I spend time with my other family.
The back door opens. I look over as Nolan steps into the kitchen. The girls greet him as he passes out coffees, the way he does most mornings, and finally spots me. I wave to him, feeling sheepish.
“You’re sitting down,” he says. “Why are you sitting down?”
“Jamila made me.”
“Good.” He kisses my cheek. “You should still be at home.”
“I’mfine. Just pregnant. The more I move around, the more likely it is this baby’s gonna get out of me.” I stand, swatting his hands away as he tries to help. “I know I’m huge, okay, like a walking bus, but—” I gasp as something sharp tightens in my stomach.
It radiates out, down through my core to my back. I groan, grabbing onto Nolan for support. His eyes widen in panic. I clutch him, fingers digging tightly into him, until it passes seconds later.
“Keely,” he says, helping me to sit back down. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay? What the hell was that?”
I rub my belly. It still feels hard, and I let out a little laugh. “I think I’m going into labor.”
The entire kitchen stops and everyone stares at me.
“Did, uh, your water break? Like on TV?” Evie looks around at everyone else. “Does anyone see water on the floor anywhere?”
“That doesn’t actually happen,” Jamila says, but hesitates. “Does it?”
“No,” I confirm, rubbing my back with a grin. “No, it’s supposed to happen like this. They’ll be pretty far apart for a while, but as they get closer and closer, we should head into the hospital.”
“We’re heading therenow,” Nolan says.
But I shake my head, standing once again. This time, no contraction. “Seriously, it’s fine. We might even have hours. I can help finish the morning prep, then we’ll drive over. You head home, get the bags—”
“Keely, like hell am I going to let my pregnant wife go to labor in the back of a fucking donut shop.” Nolan’s raging, his eyes practically on fire. “I don’t give a damn if you have fiftyhours. We’re going to the hospital.Right. Fucking. Now.”
