Friday (Timeless Series #5) (20 page)

“That’s different. I can give her the world and I still wouldn’t deserve her.”

I wasn’t sure why I kept bringing up this subject when I understood it less and less.

“One day she’ll get married and forget about me entirely. And I’ll be happy when that day comes.”

She’d been a lot happier lately, and I knew she would find a good guy someday. But I suspected she would never forget about Hawke no matter how much time had passed. I knew I wouldn’t forget about Marie no matter what happened between us.

“Let me know when they’re done with the remodel. I’d like to see it.”

“Sure. It’ll be a few weeks.”

“Keep me posted.”

I kept glancing at my phone, waiting for Marie to text me when she was going to bed.

Hawke noticed my behavior. “A watched pot never boils.”

“Am I making it that obvious?”

“Axel, you’ve been making it obvious for an entire year.”

Love In Bloom

Marie

“It’s weird seeing you around here.” Francesca teased me every time I walked through the door. I was at Axel’s place more than I was at the apartment, so it didn’t surprise me.

“You must be enjoying it. Having the place all to yourself.” I set my bag of dirty clothes on the couch.

“You would think, but not really. It’s actually a little lonely…”

Now I felt guilty.

She turned off the TV. “Everything still great with Axel?”

“It’s perfect.” There was no better way to describe it. He treated me like a queen, pampered me like a goddess, and he looked at me like I was the greatest piece of art the world had ever seen.

“I told you.” A triumphant look was in her eyes. She loved being right—and making sure everyone knew it.

“Alright. I’ll give you the win.” I didn’t have a problem doing that because I was so happy.

“He’s wrapped so damn tight around your finger.” She shook her head. “I’ve never seen a man whipped harder.”

Hawke was pretty whipped when they were together. “What have you been up to?”

“Met some guy the other night. We went out for a few drinks then stayed at his place.” Francesca was returning to herself in stages. Now she was almost exactly where she used to be before Hawke stepped into the picture.

“How’d that go?”

“He was hot and good in bed but I don’t see it going anywhere.”

She slept with him? She really had jumped back on the horse. “Why not?”

“He’s a hotdog vendor.” She cringed. “That’s just not sexy to me.”

“You want to open a bakery.”

“That’s different. My store won’t be outside on a street corner. And hotdog vendors pick their noses…”

“Says who?”

“I don’t know…people.”

“If you didn’t like him why did you sleep with him?”

“I didn’t know about the hotdog vendor thing until after I slept with him. If he told me before…it probably wouldn’t have happened.”

I laughed. “I didn’t realize you were so picky.”

“I’m not. But that didn’t get my fire burning, you know?”

“So, when is the shop going to be open?”

“I don’t know…not for a few weeks. Now I need to start finding some employees.”

“You need to jump on that.”

“Yeah…I just don’t know where to start.”

“Well, I can help. Axel can too.”

“When you say help do you mean actually help?” she asked sarcastically. “Or just make out the whole time?”

“Hey, you want help or not?” I put my hand on my hip and gave her attitude.

She knew she was in the lower position. “I’ll take whatever I can get.”

“What have you decided to name the place anyway?”

She looked down at her hands for a second before she looked at me again. “The Muffin Girl.”

I remembered the times when Hawke called her that. It eventually became shortened to Muffin. It wasn’t clear if she picked that name because of him or because she thought it was appropriate. And I didn’t ask.

She answered on her own. “I can’t shake the name off. It’s fitting and it has a ring to it. Honestly, the name will always remind me of him but that’s not a bad thing. When I think about him it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“For what its worth, I like it.”

“I do too.”

“It gives it a small town feeling in a big city. People will like that.”

“Probably.”

“It’s a good marketing strategy.”

“So…when do you think you guys can help me?”

“Well, I’m available now. And I know if I called Axel he’ll be here in a heartbeat.”

She chuckled. “To suck your neck.”

“He’ll be productive. Of the three of us, he wants you to succeed the most.” He took out a loan in his own name just to help her get started. If that wasn’t a declaration of belief then I didn’t know what was.

“Then give him a call.”

***

We worked at Axel’s apartment since it was four times the size of mine. There was a lot more room, and our elbows weren’t wedged in each other’s sides.

“I like this girl.” Axel held up the application. “She worked in a bakery for four years. She’s done pastries, cookies, pies…everything you can think of.”

“What about wedding cakes?” Francesca asked.

Axel skimmed through the application. “Doesn’t look like it…”

“So strange.” Francesca grabbed another slice of pizza from the box. “I can’t believe not a single person has any experience.”

“Maybe they already work full time somewhere else,” Axel said. “You haven’t posted any full time positions.”

“Well, I will. I just can’t afford it right this second.”

“I’m just saying…” He held up both hands and retreated. “You can’t expect competitive people to apply if you don’t offer competitive salaries.”

“I’m a bakery, not an investment company,” Francesca argued.

“Whatever.” Axel kept going through the pile. “This guy is good. He worked as a cook in a few diners then as a chef in a high-end café downtown. I think he’ll be good for the lunch portion of the bakery, sandwiches and stuff like that.”

I took the application and read through it. “He sounds great on paper.”

“Alright,” Francesca said as she chewed. “He’s in.”

Axel grabbed another folder and handed it to her. “These are all the manufacturers I could find that will help with your products. Flour, sugar, eggs, etc. If we buy in bulk the price is pretty cheap.”

Francesca looked through the items. “I care more about quality than quantity.”

“They’re good,” Axel argued. “They are suppliers to all the big places in Italy. Shipping will be a bitch but your stuff will be so delicious it won’t matter.”

Francesca nodded as she kept reading through it. “What about the shipping costs?”

“That’s a little pricey…” Axel shrugged. “But it’ll be worth it.”

I felt like I wasn’t contributing to this at all, but I really had no input. Axel and Francesca were good with numbers. I was good with words.

While Francesca was occupied with the list, Axel turned to me. He gave me a smolder then rubbed his leg against mine under the table. His look was as easy to read as a book.

Francesca didn’t look up. “Please don’t start making out.”

“How did you know?” Axel snapped.

“I can just tell.” She flipped through the pages. “Alright. I’m in. With all the competition in the city I definitely have to be different. Quality product is key to that.”

Axel kept staring at me, but his affectionate look disappeared. “I have a great idea.”

“What?” I suspected this had something to do with me.

“Marie, can you write something about The Muffin Girl when it opens?” he asked. “Even just a paragraph? Tons of women read Prada.”

“I can’t just write anything I want.” If that were the case I’d have the best job ever.

“Maybe you could pass it along to your boss?” Axel asked.

“I haven’t been there long enough to stick out my neck like that.” I turned to Francesca. “I’m sorry. You know I would if I could.”

“It’s really okay,” she said. “No hard feelings.”

Axel fell silent, still brainstorming.

“Alright,” Francesca said. “I’ll call these people for interviews and get the ball rolling. We’ll need to order our first batch of ingredients so they’ll get in here in time. We still need a marketing strategy. There’s not much point in having a bakery if no one knows about it.”

“I’ll keep thinking.”

“Yeah,” Axel said. “We’ll come up with something.”

***

Francesca left and I stayed with Axel. I didn’t have much choice in the matter because Axel refused to let me leave. He wanted me by his side at all times—not that I minded.

“How about I take you out to dinner?” Axel pulled me onto his lap as he sat on the couch. “Somewhere nice? I can feel you up in the bathroom.”

“How romantic…”

“Come on, you hungry?”

“A little. But I don’t really want to go out.” I straddled his hips and massaged his chest.

“That works for me.” He grinned from ear-to-ear. “I can order another pizza.”

I’d been eating out way too much. Every since I started this new job and got back together with Axel all we ever did was eat and screw. “Can we just eat something here?”

“Sure…but I don’t have anything.”

“You never go to the grocery store?”

“Not unless I need toilet paper and beer.”

“Well, I’ll have to make more stops at the store.”

“You do have a key…”

“Is that the reason you gave it to me?”

He shrugged. “It may be one of the reasons.”

I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Baby, you know I’m kidding.” He pulled me against him and kissed my neck. “You know, we can just eat you instead.”

“I doubt that’s very nutritious.”

“I disagree.” He kept kissing me.

Someone knocked on the front door and shattered the heat between us.

“Do you think that’s Francesca?”

“No. It’s probably Hawke.” He sighed before he lifted me and returned me to the couch.

“Why is he here?”

“I asked for his help.”

His help with what
?

“What’s up, man?” Axel fist-bumped him before he let him inside. “Thanks for stopping by.”

“No problem.” Hawke walked into the living room with his hands in his pockets. “Hey, Marie.”

“Hey.” Despite the sweet things he did I would never truly look at him the same way. He hurt Francesca a lot when he dropped her like a hat. As her best friend it was impossible for me to forget the destruction he left behind.

“Glad you two are back together.” He sat on the other couch and unbuttoned the front of his jacket.

“Thanks. Me too.”

Axel jumped over the couch and landed on the cushion beside me.

“What’s going on with the business?” Hawke asked.

What business?

“We found a supplier, employees, the name, and almost everything else,” Axel explained. “But we’re missing one crucial point.”

Why was Axel telling Hawke about Francesca’s bakery? Like he was a part of it?

“What is it?” Hawke asked.

“Marketing,” Axel said. “None of us have any idea what to do. If this were a small town just being open would be enough. But in a big city like this we need to do something. I was hoping you had some insight or connection that could help us.”

“Hold on,” I said. “I’m confused here. Why is Hawke participating in this? Last time I checked this was Francesca’s business and she doesn’t need his help to get the place off the ground.” She was doing just fine without him and didn’t need him to intervene now.

Hawke remained collected. “Marie, I just want to help.”

“She doesn’t need your help. She’s got us.” Hawke hadn’t done anything to me personally, and he did attempt to put Axel and I back together—twice. But I was still loyal to my friend.

“Baby.” Axel moved his hand to my thigh. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay,” I snapped. “Francesca can handle her own. She doesn’t need anyone to do anything for her. So take your connections somewhere else. She doesn’t need your pity.”

Hawke shook his head slightly. “I definitely don’t pity her.”

“Baby, just let it go.” Axel lowered his voice even though Hawke could still hear everything. “Trust me on this.”

“Trust you on what?” I countered. “Hawke has no business being a part of this. I’m her best friend and you’re her brother, who got the loan for her. What has Hawke done? Not a damn thing. So why is he here?”

Axel sighed before he turned to Hawke, silently communicating with him.

All Hawke did was shake his head.

What was I missing here?

“What does it matter?” Axel asked. “If there’s anything else we can do to help Francesca we should do it.”

“I can assure you she wouldn’t want Hawke’s help.” She was over him, at least for the most part, and I knew she wouldn’t want him to be involved in this.

“He didn’t ask me,” Hawke said. “I volunteered.”

“It’s one thing to check on her and make sure she’s okay, but this is different,” I argued. “It’s just like what I said before. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t not be with her but still be involved in her life, especially without her knowledge.”

“Would it be better if I made my presence known?” Hawke didn’t say it coldly, but his underlying irritation was bubbling. “That I was constantly there, inhibiting her from moving on with her life? Or is it better that I lurk in the shadows so she never thinks about me?”

When he put it like that I didn’t have an argument.

“All I want is for Francesca to succeed,” Hawke said. “I have no other motive. She doesn’t need to know I was involved. No one gets hurt.”