I fell asleep around 12:00 a.m. after finishing cleaning up from the night’s festivities. Today was the Friday meet-up, so I got up before three in the morning to make extra bread and baked goods. Since coming back from New York, I was sleeping a max of 4 hours a night anyways, so it didn’t matter. By the time David showed up, I had three batches of four different baked goods already cooling. Not including tripling my bread batches. “Holy cow.” David placed a bag of flour on the shelf. “How long have you been up?” “Hours?” I laughed, brushing some hair out of my face. “Do you want a muffin to go with your coffee?” “You know I could never say no.” “Let me grab your coffee. Hold on a second.” I headed to the front and made his coffee. I already had warmed up the machines at around three-thirty, so it was immediately ready. Pouring the cup, I put the lid on it and placed a fresh muffin in a to-go container. Heading back, I saw David was placing two large bags on my counter. “What
We got to the cafe and Mike was already putting the chairs up on the tables. I opened the door for Zach, who was still carrying Elliot. “Uncle M! Look! My dad came to visit!” There was an imperceptible look that fell over Zach’s face, but Mike cracked a smirk before turning to Elliot. “That’s great, kiddo! Why don’t you head up and get dressed for tonight? Your mom and I need to get everything together.” “Okay!” Elliot dropped out of Zach’s arms and thundered upstairs. “The cakes are cooled and ready for frosting.” Mike ignored Zach. I sighed. “Do you know how much I love you?” “Too much.” Laughing, I hip checked him as I walked by to the kitchen, but he barely moved. “You know, if you didn’t lose those thirty pounds this month, I might have felt it.” “Cállate, pendejo.” [Shut up, asshole.] I yelled at him. He yelled back. “Estas enojada porque sigues casada.” [You’re mad because you’re still married.] I laughed. “El único que está enojado por eso eres tú.” [The only one who
The beach day had been chaotic. On more than one occasion, I had to step in before someone tried to give Zach a piece of their mind. Elliot, luckily, hadn’t noticed and had the time of his life. Running and playing at the beach, he ran circles around Zach. I only laughed. It felt good for once not being the one chasing him around. Ron had headed back early to the hotel, claiming he had a meeting he needed to get to in the morning. Elliot fell asleep in my arm around 9 p.m. after tiring himself out completely. I figured he would sleep in pretty late tomorrow, but it was always a coin toss with him. “Let me.” Zach stepped in and took Elliot from me as we walked home. I smiled as my little man snuggled into his father’s arms. Getting to the cafe, I unlocked the door and opened it wide so he could walk in. “I’ll make some coffee if you want to put him in bed. Just don’t forget Fitz, his unicorn. He’ll wake up if he doesn’t have him.” Nodding, Zach quietly walked up the steps and disap
He was quiet for a moment before he turned and picked me up in his arms. I squeaked as he walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Setting me down on the edge of the bed, he seemed a little lost as what to do next. Grinning, I took his hand and led him into the bathroom. Leaving a crack in the door, I turned on the shower. My hand went to pull off my shirt, but Zach’s hands were already there, pulling it off for me. He slowly undressed me. A blush ran across my face. No one had seen me naked since having Elliot. Zach took in every part of me with his eyes. He touched only what was necessary to remove my clothes. Once he was done, I reached up and helped him take his shirt off. He undid the button on his jeans, but I unzipped him and pulled them down. Smirking, I turned from him before he could say anything. Stepping into the shower, there was a long moment before I felt Zach step in behind me. I didn’t acknowledge him and just rinsed off all the sand from the day’s festivities.
My eyes slowly opened and I looked around the room. I was alone in the apartment. Rubbing my face, I reached over and grabbed my phone. I coughed when I looked at the time. It was 10 a.m. Scrambling out of bed, I pulled on some jeans and a shirt, quickly pulling my hair up. Thundering down the stairs, I slid into the cafe. “Well, look who decides to wake up.” Mike smiled from behind the register. “I’m sorry! I…” He shook his head. “You needed it. When was the last time you slept more that four hours?” “Years…” “Asshat and Ron left this morning with Elliot. They were going to a bookstore, I think. So go get the lunch sandwiches started. You don’t have to worry about anything.” Nodding, I smiled. “It’s weird not waking up with Elliot. After the lunch rush, I’ll head up and strap on my arm. It would take too long right now.” “Got it. I’ll make you a cup of coffee.” “Thank you!” I hopped into the kitchen, feeling more refreshed than I had in a while. I started building sandwiches
“So, Ron, Jacob, Anne, Elizabeth, David, his wife, and your dude…probably.” “Elliot wants to invite the girls over as well. So, add their parents if they want to come. Maybe Frank and his family?” Mike nodded, scrolling through his phone. “I’ll send out the invite. I already have the girl’s number from the last family day.” “Thanks.” Another knock on the door and Mike went out. He came back, followed by Ron and Zach. Elliot didn’t acknowledge either of them. Ron ruffled his hair, but Zach looked upset. “Hey kiddo, you alright?” Zach came up behind him and went to rub his back but Elliot moved away. “El…” I started but he huffed and grabbed his book. “I’m going to read.” Jumping out of his seat, he disappeared through the doors and I could hear him walk up the stairs. The door to the bedroom slammed shut and I winced. I held my cup of coffee tight in my hand. It started to shake until I finally couldn’t take the frustration. Throwing the mug at the cabinets, the ceramic shatter
“Mike, I don’t think Jacob knows.” I spoke up after we broke apart and I served everyone a glass of lemonade. “Knows what?” Jacob looked from me to Mike. Mike’s smile rivaled the Cheshire Cat. “I don’t believe he does. Should we tell him?” I hummed. “Maybe we show him?” Mike nodded. He went over to the shelf and grabbed the bag of French flour. I bit my lip from giggling. This was such a rare chance and it had me giddy. “This whole reason why we closed down today.” Mike set the bag down gently and caressed the top of it. Jacob came over and his eyes grew wide. “Fucking hell. Holy fucking hell. Make me a line and I’ll do it right now on the counter.” We snickered and I patted him on the back. “What should we do first?” “What shouldn’t we do? Bread? Cakes? Pastries? I mean…the possibilities!” Laughing, Mike slapped him on the back much harder. The three of us were what was left of our culinary class friends. This was a huge deal for us. Having access to this particular French f
***Zachary’s POV*** Looking out the window, I stared out the side of the plane. It hurt to be flying away from them. The longer into the flight we got, the more I wanted to fly right back. I knew I needed to help Adrian, though. The transition would probably not be as smooth as I would like. He had sent over the documentation with a few alterations while I was in LA, but now that it was signed and submitted. On Sunday at 11:59 p.m. my time as CEO of Anderson and A. Wright Group would end and it couldn’t come soon enough. I also needed to tell Stacy and Jason. Adrian had requested for them to stay, and even though I wanted to take Stacy with me to DV, I didn’t want to upend her life in New York. Plus, her work was exceptional enough for the Anderson Group. DV was small and seemed a little beneath her at this point. There was a huge list of things I needed to get done and I had made a schedule for myself to do all of them in between helping Adrian. The worst would be the press conf