I glared into the oven. The lumps of dough refused to flatten and crisp like the prebaked ones I always bought. But the oatmeal raisin was completely sold out, and I had to have this cookie today. If only the recipe I’d Googled had more instruction than “until golden” for the baking process. What even was golden for a cookie?
“Just a little patience, Ms. Cursor.” Gracie shuddered like a mouse discovered by a cat.
Three months as my assistant, and she still looked terrified of me. Didn’t have a clue why, but I certainly couldn’t ask.
Rising to my feet, I brushed oatmeal dust off my pants and headed for the blue marble counter. “When is Reginald returning?”
Gracie fumbled for her phone and scrolled through my calendar. “Fifteen minutes, ma’am.”
I clenched my fingers, heart rate rising. Fifteen? Was that enough for these stupid cookies? I should’ve made bread. I’m good at bread. Bread is consistent, loyal, and smells delicious. He loves my bread, even though–
A whimper drew me out of my thoughts. Gracie’s face flushed as she hid behind the binder she carried. Catching my gaze, she lowered the book and fiddled with a thin braid.
Leaning on the counter, I sighed. “I’m sorry, Gracie. Today is a difficult day.”
“I think he’ll do well in the spelling bee.”
“No, not that. It’s a… personal matter. Something I can’t keep putting off.” My mind trailed to the folder I’d been hiding. A background check that made me queasy every time I read it. Would I show it to him?
The whir of the elevator tensed my shoulders.
Gracie blanched. “He’s never early.”
“Guard the cookies,” I said and ran past the white couches and abstract artwork to the elevator door.
The numbers ticked as it drew near the penthouse. I wiped sweaty palms across my blouse, brought back to my first day when I took over my father’s company. The room waited for me to fail, and thankfully I didn’t. But I had to hold my arms at my sides and hope my deodorant would hold.
A delightful bing and the silver door slid open. Kalek beamed, gripping a gold trophy with a bumblebee on top.
I plastered a smile on my face. “Yay, sweetie. You wo–” My heart skipped at the sight of camo. Lifting my eyes from my ten-year-old son, I met Jake’s warm smile.
Dimples pricked his cheeks when he chuckled. “Haven’t been gone that long, M.”
My head swam. Covering my mouth, I stepped away. My heart pounded in my ears, threatening to come up my throat.
“Momma?”
Jake wrapped me in his toned arms. “I’m sorry, I should’ve called. I wanted to surprise you.”
Gripping his thick jacket, I breathed deeply while whimpering, “You smell terrible.”
Whether he heard me or not, he held me. Knowing my sudden reaction was pure joy. Even as he let go, I kvelled in his presence.
“They’re done!” Gracie grew small in the kitchen, realizing she’d shouted. “I mean, um…”
“What’s done?” Kalek ran to the kitchen, his loose tie falling to the floor. He peered in the oven and gasped. “Momma made cookies.”
Jake shouldered me with a mischievous grin. “I didn’t know you baked.”
Before I could respond, Kalek shouted, “Only when she’s upset.” Running to me, he hugged my middle with a big grin. “I won the spelling bee. I almost forgot how to spell pterodactyl, but I remembered Jake’s trick.”
I nodded, semi-reeling from the revelation of my bad habit. How did Kalek know? I should bake more often.
Jake put a hand on the small of my back. Concern weathered his unshaven face.
I touched his arm gently and mouthed “Later.” Aloud, I said to Kalek, “Great job, sweetheart. I knew you’d win, so I baked your favorite.”
He yipped and ran to climb on a barstool while Gracie piled the cookies on a plate.
Reginald appeared with Jake’s gear and took him to the guest room to clean up. When the butler returned, he explained everything.
Apparently Jake had come home early from his deployment and decided to book it to Kalek’s school for the spelling bee. He arrived for the last couple words and gave Reginald a quicker route to the apartment.
“I don’t believe the reporters caught sight of him with Kalek,” Reginald said in his even tone.
I sat against the sink as I watched Kalek scarf down cookie after cookie. I’d dismissed Gracie with instructions to cancel the rest of my meetings this week. She seemed happy when I gave her the afternoon off.
Massaging my neck, I muttered, “What a stupid thing to worry about.”
“I think it’s admirable you don’t want Jake appearing in gossip magazines and blogs.”
As if on cue, Jake walked in. Kalek insisted he eat some cookies, and so he obliged.
If things had been different. Jake and I were good friends in high school, but lost touch after Father pulled me out. Jake became an army chaplain, and I went through my unplanned pregnancy, on top of college and apprenticing with my father. If not for an impromptu high school reunion, we wouldn’t have crossed paths again.
But he’d been there, my nerdy friend now a soldier. And after confiding in him about Kalek and the stress of handling a toddler and a company, he kept showing up. Whenever he wasn’t on deployment or visiting his parents, he was there.
Jake caught my eye and flashed a smile.
The perfect man sat in front of me, yet I always turned to the popular picks of society. Men that didn’t want to go deeper than dinner dates and small talk. Because if they left me, it wouldn’t hurt.
Reginald forced Kalek to put the cookies down and get changed for dinner at Monnet’s Debut.
When they left, Jake folded his hands on the counter. “So, you bake when you’re upset.”
Pushing off the sink, I leaned toward him. “I thought if it was something other than bread, he wouldn’t notice. Thankfully he doesn’t ask anymore.”
“I’m allowed to though, right?”
Pursing my lips, I opened a drawer and removed the manilla folder. I slid it to him. “I found Kalek’s father.”
A frown marred Jake’s face. He flipped it open, analyzing the report and photo. “Gosh, he looks a lot like him.”
Bile burned in my stomach. “He’s married.”
Jake burrowed his fingers in his thick brown hair as he read.
I rose and circled the island to sit beside him, keeping my voice low. “He slept with every girl on campus that would give him five bucks, and now he’s married. I doubt his wife knows.”
“Are you saying you wanted him to marry you?”
“I wanted to know what was so exciting about sex. Looking back, it was stupid. Though maybe if he knew he got me pregnant, he would’ve done the right thing.”
Jake set the folder down and turned to me.
I scrunched my nose. “But I knew he wouldn’t, which is why I never told him.”
“Missy, why are you digging this up?”
Covering my face, I mumbled into my hands. When his warm touch caressed my shoulder, I dropped my arms. “I thought Kalek should know.”
“Has he asked?”
I massaged the bridge of my nose. “He had an assignment involving a family tree and he asked me about your family. Apparently in his mind you’re his dad, even though I told him the exact opposite.”
His stuttering snicker aggravated my fragile emotions. Jake’s body shuddered as he clenched his reddening face. I smacked him, and he let the hearty chortle out.
“It’s not funny.”
“No,” he replied as he wiped his eyes, “it’s adorable. I’m quite honored.”
“So you want to be the headline of a ‘is he the father’ or ‘will they, won’t they’ blog?”
Jake patted my arm as he shook his head. “I don’t care if a camera follows me for the rest of my life as long as I get to spend my time with you and Kalek.”
I turned from him and grumbled, “Well I care.”
The folder slapped closed, and he adjusted in his seat to face me. “What does telling Kalek about his father change?”
Facing him, I planted my feet on the bar of Jake’s stool. “The guy that went to prison for murdering three women a few weeks. Fatherless household. I had Gracie pull statistics, and it’s terrible. My baby boy could grow up to be a furry or a serial killer.”
Jake’s brow furrowed, lips pressed in that cute “you’re overthinking again” look.
“Kalek needs a dad. Reginald is great, but it’s not the same.”
“And what does Dennis have that I don’t?”
I straightened, looking at Jake as if for the first time.
The sincerity in his eyes morphed to hurt. “M, I’ve been here for you all these years. I thought that was why you let me into Kalek’s life.”
There were a million things I wanted to say. How I dreamt of walking down an aisle with Jake on the other side. How some days I thought of leaving everything to be with him and Kalek. He was my escape plan, the one thing I didn’t want the world to ruin.
The one thing I didn’t want to ruin.
He stroked my cheek. “M?”
I plunged. The thought of kissing him would’ve grossed me out in high school, but I’d been wrong about many things then. And in this moment, I realized just how wrong I was for thinking he wasn’t worth my time.
Jake drew me close. I gripped his shirt collar, not wanting it to end. Of all the men I’d won, he was the one I wanted.
“Momma!”
I pulled away and hid the folder under my arm. Jake wiped lipstick off his face, face beet red.
Kalek stood between us wearing a purple vest and slacks. “Can we take Jake to the restaurant this time? I can’t eat the lobster by myself.”
Silence ensued.
Jake gave a sad smile, knowing the drill. Reporters crawled across all the popular restaurants, and while a pharmaceutical CEO wasn’t headline news, they’d take the opportunity to snap photos of me with a new man. Rumors would rule the internet, and my private crush would be scrutinized.
Jake ruffled Kalek’s red hair. “Sorry, bud. I’m tired from–”
“Yes.” The word carried more weight than I intended. Kalek didn’t notice, happy his request had been approved.
But Jake saw. He read between the lines as he always did, deciphering my thoughts within a breath.
Kalek ran to the elevator, grabbing Reginald’s hand.
Jake helped me to my feet and leaned into my ear. “Guess I am better than Dennis.”
I gripped his hand and set my head on his chest. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Who said you needed to?”