“You remembered that?” Lucy seems shocked.
“Yes. It was when we were eight-years-old, and my grandfather had died. I was a mess, and it started to snow, and then you made me go outside with you. I couldn’t help but laugh at this blonde girl in pigtails, twirling around, looking up at the sky, so I asked you what you were doing.”
“And I told you that GG told me that the first snowfall is when all of the fairies come out to grant wishes for all the good little boys and girls. The wishes won’t be answered in how we see fit, but how the fairies want them to be answered.”
“I wished for Granddad to come back to life. He never did, but I never knew what GG meant, though,” I frown.
“I finally figured it out.” Lucy’s green eyes stare into mine. “I knew what she meant. You grew up to be just like him.” I’m startled by her response.
“Thank you. I wanted to be just like my Grandfather, when I grew up. He was the greatest man alive.” I tell her.
“He was, and so are you. He’d be so proud of you, Ty. There’s a reason why you are his namesake, so give yourself a break.”
“Do you want to talk about what has you so upset?” I ask her, as she sighs, before going into this long spiel about Liam not wanting to be a part of the bakery anymore. Should I tell her that I knew all of this? I decide honesty is the best policy.
“He’s talked to me about it before. Well, he mentioned the lunch and supper thing, but not leaving the bakery entirely, so that’s news to me.”
“Why am I the last to know all this?” She states, getting even angrier. “You know what? I can’t think about this, until after the holidays. I need to concentrate on…” She stops her sentence, and it has me thinking that maybe she’s keeping a secret.
“Which holidays? I’m pretty sure that a baker has at least one holiday every month.” I laugh, which makes her laugh, too.
“New Year’s. It’s too much craziness with Thanksgiving being on Thursday, Christmas being three weeks after, and then New Year’s Day is a week after that. I’m having a horrible time concentrating on things.” She pauses for a bit, as I sigh. “Well, I need to get going. Goodnight, Ty.” She walks away from me and gets into a truck. I never expected her to drive a truck. I would’ve thought it’d be a small car. I watch her leave, until her taillights are no longer in my eyesight. I turn back to head into the hospital, and I notice Renee, leaving the emergency room.
“Heading out for the night?” I ask her.
“Yes, but I’ll be up here, before school starts and after it ends.” She smiles at me.
“See you tomorrow,” I tell her, as she waves.
I know that Liam’s happy with her, but she also doesn’t like to share him, which sucks, because of Lucy being his twin sister. They have an unbreakable bond, so Renee better be careful, or she’ll lose him.
I walk back into the emergency room, and then directly to Liam’s cubicle. “Dude, you’re in trouble.”
“What now?” He grumbles, as he tries to sit up.
“Renee told Lucy about you wanting to leave the bakery,” I say, as I sit down.
“What the fuck! Why would she do that? How did Lucy take it?”
“How do you think? She’s pissed, but I thought that you two were starting to do lunch and dinner stuff?” I ask him.
“We were. We actually discussed it today, before I started getting sick, but nothing has been worked out yet.” He tells me.
“I hope that you can figure out how to make it work, so you can keep your relationship with your sister. If you don’t want to be a part of the bakery, then just tell her. I’m sure she can hire someone else to help her.” I get up, because my break is over, and I need to get some work done.
“I’m going to take some time off from the bakery to see if I miss the place to know if my heart is there,” Liam tells me, and I nod, before leaving him to rest.
The rest of the night flies by, and it’s finally quitting time. I need to head home, but before I do that, I decide to head to the bakery. It’s been open for a couple of hours already, and I need to see how Lucy is feeling. I pull up in the back, and then enter through the back door. I know that I’m pushing boundaries with Lucy, but I figure what the hell, right? I’m here now, and I want her back. We’ve never officially divorced, as I told my lawyer to stop the proceedings, and I never once heard back from her lawyer.
“Hello,” I yell out, when I hear the Christmas music blasting. “Luce?”
“Ty?” I walk into the full kitchen area, seeing her covered in flour dust. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to check on you. Did you walk into a flour tornado?” I laugh, and she joins me.
“I knocked over the flour, when I picked it up to set it on the counter, and then flour went everywhere, including on top of me.” She smiles, and I can’t help but smile back.
“Surgery for Liam is set for eleven this morning, and the nurse is going to call me to let me know how he’s doing.”
“Okay. Can you call and let me know, please? I’ll be there later tonight. I just couldn’t get anyone to come in to cover, so I’m here from open to close again.” She sighs, as she wipes her hands on her apron.
“Do you need any help? I can find someone to cover for me.” I tell her.
“No, I got it, but thank you. This is my dream, and I need to do this on my own. If what Renee told me is true, then Liam’s going to leave. I just need to figure out how to buy him out. Why didn’t he just tell me?” Lucy says, plopping down on the stool. She looks like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure he has that answer.”
“I know, but I’m at a standstill, until he lets me know himself, and not from any other person.”
“I’m sorry. I wish I knew what to do or say. How can I help?”
“Go get some sleep. I’ll be fine.” She smiles at me. God, I’ve missed that smile.
“Is the apartment functional?” I ask her, as she swallows hard.
“I’m living there, yes. I’d tell you that you could sleep up there, but it’s a mess, and it can be loud at times.” She looks away from me.
“Loud during the day? Do you leave the television on or something?” Lucy opens her mouth to answer, but she’s interrupted by one of her employees. Something’s going on, and I want to know what it is. Do I ask her if she’s seeing anyone? We are technically still married, so I don’t think that would be crossing a line.
“Sorry about that. Go home and get some sleep.” She says, as she starts rolling out the dough.
I take a deep breath, before walking behind her. “Luce,” I whisper, as I move a strand of her hair, giving me better access to her neck. “Is there still a chance for us?” I kiss her neck, and then her ear lobe, as she moans.
“Ty,” she whispers, as she turns to face me. My heart is racing, waiting for her answer. “I want to say yes, but I don’t know.”
“I still love you. I always have, and I always will. If we don’t at least try it…” I can’t even finish my sentence because she licks her lips. I lean down to kiss her, and she meets me halfway. I kiss her the way that I’ve been dreaming about for the last five years. I pull her closer to me, as she moans into my mouth. I want to make sure that she knows that I’m not lying about being in love with her, and I’ll prove it to her every single day. Someone clears their throat, and we break apart laughing. She turns around to see one of her workers standing there.
“Sorry to interrupt, but there’s a call for you from Max and Peter’s daycare.”
“Okay, I’ll be right out,” Lucy tells her. She turns to look at me, and she’s smiling. “I need to get to work, and you need to get some sleep.”
“Who are Max and Peter?” I ask her, as she starts to leave the kitchen. When she turns around, her lips are quivering.
“They…” She starts to cry, and after a minute, she finally continues, “Max and Peter are my sons.” She tells me, and my heart sinks
to my stomach. So, she is with someone else, but why did she kiss me?
“Your sons? How old are they?” I ask. “Are you still with their father?” I ask, as she comes to stand in front of me.
“Peter and Max are four-years-old. No, I’m not with their father anymore, but he wants to be together, and I’m not sure if he’ll have me now.” Lucy looks up at me with her eyes full of tears, as I stumble backward, falling onto a stool.
“Four-years-old? Do you have a picture of them?” She nods, walking over to a bulletin board. She takes down a picture, and then grabs the phone, dialing a number, as she hands it to me.
“This is Lucy. Okay, I’ll tell their grandfather to pick them up. So, they can’t go back to school, until they’re fever-free for forty-eight hours, right?”
She continues talking, as I stare at two little boys, who remind me of Liam and myself growing up. This picture could actually be me from when I was four.
“Yes, Grandpa Peter should be picking them up soon. He’s on-call for today. Thank you so much. Have a good day.” She hangs up the phone, and then quickly dials Grandpa Peter.
My dad knew the whole time?
When she hangs up, I start right in, “My dad knew that I have kids?” Lucy won’t look at me, so I grab her arm to face me. “He knew, but didn’t say a goddamn word to me? Why didn’t he tell me? Did you tell him not to tell me?”
“No. Your dad thought it’d be best if you didn’t know. You were doing so well, and he knew that you’d come back here and give up your career.” She rambles out.
“What? Why didn’t you tell me? You were pregnant when you left me!” I raise my voice at her.
“Keep your voice down. This is my place of business. Yes, I knew. I also knew how you felt about having kids. You made it clear that you didn’t want them for a while, or even at all, since you were still paying off your loans. I was still going to come back here, whether I was pregnant or not.” She goes over and starts working, like she didn’t just drop a bomb on me.
“I can’t believe you kept this from me.” I say, slamming my hand on the counter. “I have two sons who don’t even know me.”
“Yes, they do know you. The boys have seen your pictures, and your dad is always telling them stories about you. You can’t be mad at me.”
“I’m very disappointed in you, and I’ll be contacting my lawyer.” I walk out of the bakery, slamming the door, as I call my brother.
“Hey, dude. What’s up?” He says, when he answers the phone.
“I have two sons.” I sigh, putting my head down, as Andrew is quiet. “You knew, too?”
“Yeah. Dad told us right after they were born.” He whispers.
“Thanks for the heads up. I can’t believe everybody lied to me.” I slam my fist on the dashboard.
“You made this bed. You didn’t want kids, and you didn’t want to be a husband either.”
“What the fuck does that mean? My wife left me, and she didn’t want to be married anymore.” I’m trying to keep my temper under control, as I navigate to my dad’s house. If he’s picking up my kids, then I’m going to meet them today. I don’t care what Lucy has to say about it. “To know that I had children with the woman that I love, and everyone thought that I wouldn’t be happy about this, says a lot about who I was back then. I never would’ve made her choose between the kids and me, and I would’ve done something, anything to be a part of their lives. You made this choice without even trying to tell me. How would you feel if you couldn’t be a part of your child’s life?” I tell him.
My brother knows me better than anyone.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t know how to handle it because I’ve loved every moment of the pregnancy. I’m sorry that you weren’t a part of it, but you brought it on yourself. Your selfishness led Lucy to feel like she couldn’t have it all, unlike you. She worked two jobs, while you went to school, so you didn’t have to worry about the bills. When she needed you, though, where were you? Oh yeah, you were busy making her feel like shit for needing to be with her family. GG was sick and didn’t last long. If she would’ve missed that time with GG, then she would’ve never forgiven you.”
I continue telling him everything that’s happened, since I’ve been back. He listens to every single detail, as I spill my guts out. “What do I do now?” I ask, as I pull into my dad’s driveway.
“One of the first things that you need to do is leave Dad’s house, and then meet the boys, when Lucy is there. You don’t want to wreck what you’ve started back with her. Did you call your shark bitch yet?” I laugh because Andrew hates my lawyer. She always made things worse for me, when it came to my divorce. Well, non-divorce, I guess. “Call her off.”
“I didn’t call her. I just threatened to do it. Alright, I’m coming home. I need to get some sleep, and I’ll stop by the bakery, before work to talk to Lucy.” I tell him.
“Don’t wait. Call Lucy now, before you make it worse.” Andrew hangs up the phone, as I dial the bakery’s number.
“Mistletoe Bakery. This is Lucy speaking. How can I help you today?”
“Don’t hang up on me, please. I need to say something,” I tell her.
“Only if you let me say something first. Ty, you were the best thing that ever happened to me, before the boys were born. They were made from our love for each other. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about them. You missed a lot, and I want you to meet them.”
“I’m sorry that you didn’t think that I’d want to be there with you,” I tell her.
“I knew you would, and that’s one of the reasons that your dad thought it was best not to tell you. Ty, you needed to live your life, and you needed to prove to yourself that you could achieve your goals. I didn’t want to stop you. When GG got sick and needed me here, I couldn’t stay.”
“I know, and I shouldn’t have made you choose. I don’t know why life has gone this way for us, but I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you know that I love you. I want to make our marriage work and be a family.”
“I can’t make any promises about making our marriage work, but you meeting Peter and Max is a good start.” She tells me, and I smile.
“That’s all I ask for is a chance,” I say, as I pull into my driveway. “Okay, I’m going to crash for a little bit. I was planning on stopping by before work. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, that sounds good to me. Your dad will have the boys, until about three or four, since he has to lay down for work. Now, go get some sleep, and I’ll have a fresh pot of coffee waiting for you.”
“Goodnight, Lucy,” I say, unlocking my apartment door, and then hanging up the phone. Once inside, I start looking around, seeing how I can make this place suitable for my kids to stay with me.
Before I lay down, I call the surgical wing to check on Liam, and Nancy answers.
“Good morning, Nancy. This is Tyler Smith, and I was wondering how Liam Avery is doing?”
“He’s in surgery right now.” She tells me.
“Okay, and you know to call me, when he gets out to let me know how he’s doing. I’m crashing, so leave it on my voicemail if I don’t answer. I’ll be seeing his sister after I wake up.” She tells me okay, and then hangs up.
I look around the apartment, wondering if I should sleep on the bed or the couch. The bed is more comfortable, and I need some good sleep for the twelve-hour shift that I’m about to embark on. I fall face-first onto the bed, closing my eyes. I’m dreaming about having Lucy in my arms all night, and when I’m about to slide into her, my alarm starts to go off, and I open my eyes and swear.
“Goddamn it.” I sit up, muttering to myself. “Right when I’m getting to the good part of the dream.”
I shower and decide to pack a bag, so I can stay in the apartment with Lucy and get to know my kids. At least, I’m hoping she’ll let me stay over.
A little while later, I walk into the bakery kitchen, and I notice that there’s a coffee on the end table with two sugars next to it, and I smile. �
��You remembered,” I say, as Lucy looks up from baking and smiles.
Lucy Avery Smith
After Ty left to go get some sleep, my day got hectic. On top of Liam being in surgery and off for a while, two of my workers called out due to exams. I called my mom, but she’s out of town with some family, doing some last-minute shopping for Thanksgiving. I’m also upset, because I won’t even be able to see Liam, until tomorrow now.
Hours later, I’m still in the kitchen, baking and trying to keep up with the bakery’s needs. I also haven’t even begun to touch my orders for the next week. I hear the back-door slam, as Ty comes in, grabbing his coffee that I made. “You look like the walking dead.” He says, as he steals some of the chocolate chip cookie dough off the cooking sheet, popping it into his mouth.
“Hey.” I hit his hand with the wooden spoon that I’m using.
“I can’t help it. Your dough is better than the cookies.” I blush. “You do look exhausted, though. Have you even eaten today?”
“I had some cookies and apple fritters,” I say, as he gives me a look. “I haven’t had time to eat. I had two workers call off tonight, and I haven’t even started on the orders for next week. I’m so frazzled right now.”
“What can I do to help?” Before I get a chance to answer, he snaps his fingers, “I know. First things first, let me get you something to eat. Do you still love pizza?”
“Yes, I still love pizza,” I say, as Ty kisses my temple, before he leaves, and I shake my head. I set the timer on my cell phone for when the cookies will be done, so I can check on the front of the store. When I get up there, the bakery gets slammed pretty quickly. I talk to several people, as I make notes of what needs to be made, while also checking out customers. It’s a good thing I’m skilled at multi-tasking. My eyes light up, when one of my part-time workers comes through the door.
“Hi, Alice. I was wondering if you wanted some more hours. I’m so busy baking that I can’t be out front, as much as I should be, and now, with Liam needing time off, due to his appendix surgery, I’m going to be here open to close.” I exhale.
Kneading Love Page 3
