Single Dad Baker: A Second Chance Romance Series (Book 1)

by Wood, Lauren

  “And trust me Bella. It's not what I wanted to say. But it is the truth. There is just something about you that drives a man crazy.”

  “Well, I didn't use to drive anyone crazy. I followed you around like a puppy dog for years and you never gave me the time of day.”

  “I will never quite know why I didn't really see you before. But I see you now.”

  He gave me a kiss and tried to reassure me. His hand touched on my body gently and it was hard for me to deny how good it felt. I wanted to believe his words and to believe that he saw something different in me. I didn't want to believe that the only thing that had changed, was the size of my chest. Although I did know that there was a lot of time and attention paid to that part of me.

  “So, you haven't told me what you want to do. All you've given me, is excuses why he did it.”

  “Don’t mistake it. I am not saying that what he did was right, just that I can understand it. There is no forgetting about you.”

  As much as I knew he was complimenting me, I didn't feel that way. I felt like there was no way to get out of this. How was I supposed to get rid of Billy, if he was never going to get over me? That didn't seem to make any sense to me. What it meant to me, was this easy ending that I wanted, was not going to happen.

  “Well since I’m so wonderful and everything Jack, how do I get him to leave me alone?”

  His face got dark and he told me that it was better if I didn't know about it. I didn't know what to say to that. He had changed right in front of me. I had never seen his expression so dire before and I had never been afraid of him. I wasn't afraid for my own safety, but more afraid of what Jack would do for me.

  “I think you should just let me take care of it, Bella.”

  All I could do was agree. There was certainly no telling him no. Whatever he was going to do, whatever he had planned to do, I doubted that I could get in the middle of it anyways. He was focused on one thing, and whatever it was, it put a look on his face that made me shiver inside.

  25

  Jack

  While I was trying to convey to Bella that everything was going to be fine, I knew that there was a few problems I still had to take care of. As much as I wanted to believe that Billy would go away, I knew that he wouldn't. I also knew that he was going to make it complicated for all of us. He wanted Bella and he was going to do anything in his power to get her. I had to make sure that that didn't happen. The only problem was, that Bella didn't want anything to happen to Billy. She was still good hearted to the very end, no matter what he did to her. While I loved that about her, at the moment, it was a frustrating trait.

  That very thought irked me more than anything. Bella did not deserve anything like this. She was too good of a person to have to deal with people like Billy. I made a promise to myself and to her sleeping form next to me, that she would never have to be with somebody like that again. I would never let it happen.

  When I got the call from John, I knew that bad things were going to happen pretty quickly. The guy found out that Bella was gone, about four hours after she slipped out the door. I could imagine the rage that was running through him when he thought about her taking off. She had drugged him from what she says, and it would have been funny, if it wasn't so sad at the same time. How scared did she have to be, to do something like that?

  I started to think about what I was going to have to do, when Billy got here. If he was driving, he would be here sometime in the morning. I could see him now, driven by a pure rage that would keep him going all through the night. It looked like the bakery was going to open tomorrow, but I was going to be the only one in it. I knew that Billy was the type of person that would want to get the jump on me. I just had to make sure that I was ready for him and that nobody else was around to get hurt.

  John was following Billy back and he was going to let me know when he hit the town. I figured I had a pretty ETA, but he could shorten his trip by an hour or take an hour longer, depending on how he drove. If I knew any better, he would be back in Coloma bright and early in the morning. As much rage as he had running through him, I didn't think that he would be stopping for much of anything.

  It was all such a mass and as much as I wanted to lay next to Bella all night, I knew that I had things to do. I had to meet with a person from my past to get a weapon. What I had on me, was not going to work. I needed something that wouldn’t be traced back to me if I had to use it. If this all went sideways, I was going to have to go back to the old ways that we're not quite so legal.

  One way or another though, I knew that I was going to get rid of Billy once and for all. When I told Bella that she was never going to have to worry about him again, I meant it. I meant it with every fiber of my being.

  I slipped out not too long after John text me that Billy was almost in town. It was actually a little early for me to go to the bakery, but once I turned the alarm off and left the room, Bella didn't know any better. She certainly didn't have the internal clock that I did, waking her up at the crack of dawn every single day. It was something that I couldn't stop, no matter how much I wanted to. It was bothersome most times, especially when I wanted to sleep in. This morning, it was helpful because I didn't have to wait for the alarm to go off to get up.

  I got a cup of coffee and sat at the table for a moment. I tried to replay every single scenario that I could imagine in my head and hoped that I was right about it. I hope that I was making the right decision. There was still time to call the police. Maybe that's what I should do.

  Instead of calling anybody, I took the truck to work, just like I would any other day. I was trying to keep the same schedule that I always kept. I didn't want anything to seem out of place or to seem different. I was trying my best to make everything just so. But when I got into the bakery, I didn't start making dough. That's what I would have done any other day, but instead, I was waiting for another man to try to ambush me and kill me.

  The warnings that Bella had told me were echoing in my mind. After almost thirty minutes, I started to get anxious. Maybe I was wrong about everything and he wasn't going to come to the bakery. Maybe he had found out my true address and he was actually going to get Bella. That was the worst thing that I could think of.

  But my brain wasn't finished yet. There was new scenarios that ran through my mind, where Billy had gone and found Bella's parents and then called her. He could use her parents as leverage. Bella was going to get hurt, that's what came out of every single new scenario that I could come up with it. I don't know if it was my mind playing tricks on me or what was going on, but it made it impossible to stand still.

  I was about to get out of my hiding place when I heard the front door jiggle. I had left it locked for a reason. It was a time for the bakery to be opened, it was still a little too early and I wanted some warning when Billy came in. Not to mention if things did go south, it would look better if he broke into the bakery, instead of just walking in before he started his damage. Of all the reasons, there really wasn't one in particular that I had.

  Everything that I told myself, the doubt that I had been wrong was now gone. Billy was on the other side of the door and most likely had a gun with him. He meant to do me harm to keep me out of Bella's life. That was really all that I had to know.

  I waited for the door to come completely open and for Billy to walk in. He was walking with complete confidence, definitely not expecting me to be there. I pulled out the gun that I had close to me and held it out in front of me. It had been a long time since I had shot a weapon, but I certainly remember how to do so. I know that the muscle memory would come back to me when I pull the trigger. There was no question in my mind that I would hit him. It was an inevitability that I could not change.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Billy turned around slowly and I could see that he had a weapon in his hand too.

  “I see that you were waiting for me.”

  “And you were stupid enough to come back here. I made it very clear
what was going to happen to you if you did.”

  The gun was in his hand and he had automatically put it up towards the sky. I was waiting for him to try and shoot me. All he had to do was flinch a little bit like he was going to and that would be all the reason that I needed. But Billy didn't try to do anything. I couldn't quite understand what was going through his head. But I could see the pain of loss and for the life of me. I don't know why, but I felt bad for him.

  “Just leave Billy. Leave and never come back and I won't have to shoot you. I really don't want to shoot you.”

  At first, I thought that it would be true, but the truth was that I really did not want to shoot the poor schmuck. He had lost something that was not going to be I found ever again. I could only imagine that loss, but my empathy only went so far. He had hurt Bella and if he didn't agree to walk away now, I was going to have to hurt him. It didn’t matter if I wanted to or not. It was something that had to be done.

  “I can't.”

  Before I knew what was happening, the flicker that I had been looking for was there and he was moving the gun toward me. It all happened so fast, but in my mind, it was happening in slow motion. It gave me the opportunity to fully appreciate the moment.

  And then a gunshot rang out. And then another.

  26

  Bella

  I woke up with a sickening feeling in my stomach and I knew something was wrong. It was not even six o'clock in the morning and my heart was racing. I felt like I had been running and when I looked over, of course I was alone. I knew almost instantly that the feeling was somehow connected to Jack. Something had happened to Jack.

  Before I could really think about it or check the rest of the house, I was getting dressed and calling a cab. I knew where I was going to find Jack and I was afraid of why I was going to find him there. He was at the bakery, but he wasn't there to open up the business. He was there to take care of Billy.

  I had been so against talking about it, because I had always been somewhat of a soft heart. I had heard it all of my life and even after everything that happened between me and Billy, I didn't want anything bad happened to him. I knew that Billy was going to instantly go to using a weapon against Jack. It only made sense that Jack would do the same thing. I didn’t fault him for it, but I still didn’t want it to happen.

  By the time the cab got there, I was anxious and ready to get to the bakery. I told him that I give him an extra ten dollars if he got me there quicker. That seemed to work and before long, I was standing in the road, in front of the bakery.

  The biggest problem, was that the whole place was covered with cop cars. I think that every single cop that resided in Coloma, was now at the bakery. As much as I wanted to believe that the stereo type of cops and doughnuts was actually a thing, I knew in this instant that it wasn't. In this instance, something was seriously wrong. And then while I was standing there, gawking at everything that was in front of me, an ambulance pulled up.

  People started to move quickly, and I was still in the street, just watching it all unfold in front of me. Someone was getting into the ambulance, because they were hurt badly. Maybe two people. I had to wait and see, because my feet were frozen in place and they refused to move forward. I knew I had to, but it was just impossible.

  The moments that it took the paramedics to get the first person into the vehicle, was one of the longest spans of time that I could remember. It was really just moments, maybe a minute kind of moment, but it felt like a lifetime. I breathed out a huge sigh of relief when I saw that it was Billy. Not only wasn’t it Jack, but it meant that he had not killed Billy. I could see the man thrashing on the board. He did not look happy, but he shouldn't.

  Then another scene that I had not been expecting unfolded in front of me. The cops one on each side, had Jack between them in handcuffs. He was going to jail and now I could finally move. I started rushing towards him, asking the police officers what was going on.

  “He's innocent. He's innocent.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far miss. Who are you?”

  “I'm Bella. I am dating the baker and it looks like you just took my ex-boyfriend out in the ambulance. He kidnapped me yesterday.”

  I was babbling, saying anything that I thought would help the fact that they had Jack in handcuffs. I wanted him free. He did not deserve whatever was coming down at him. It wasn't his fault. It was my fault. This was all my fault, but the cops just waved me off.

  “You can come down to the station and give us your statement about yesterday. But Jack is going to go to jail tonight. He almost killed somebody.”

  “I'm sure it was in self-defense.”

  I wasn't going to let it go. The last thing I wanted to see, was Jack going to jail. Not because of Billy. Not because of me.

  Jack then told me to stop.

  “Trust me Bella, it's all going to be fine. Just let this play out. I will be out in the morning.”

  He seemed so cool, calm and confident, but I wasn't. I was so damn worried that something bad was going to happen.

  “I don't want to spend the night without you.”

  “Just one more.”

  I frowned at him. I know that I was making this harder, but he was acting like it played out how it was supposed to.

  “Just one more night Bella and then we will never have to part again.”

  “I am going to hold you to that.”

  Epilogue

  Three Months Later

  Bella

  I was standing outside of the Coloma City Hall, waiting for Jack to come out. What we thought was going to be one day apart, had ended up being almost three months. He was charged not with trying to kill Billy, but with using a firearm that wasn’t registered to do it.

  If Jack would have been anyone else, he would have went away for a long time. His actions suggested premeditation strongly, but his lawyer and the small fortune paid, got him out sooner.

  Today.

  It felt like this day was never going to come and all I could do now, was wait impatiently with his sister Dina. I had gotten to know her well while Jack had been incarcerated. I don’t what I would have done without her. Dana had been staying with her and would be with us soon. It was all just coming down to this moment.

  The gates made a loud clanking sound when the lock disengaged, and we looked at each other. I didn’t have to ask her what she was feeling, because I was pretty sure that I was feeling it myself. Butterflies were fluttering around, threatening to come out of me, if I didn’t come down.

  I’d seen Jack a few times, but it was never enough. All I wanted to do, was hug him. I could never do that, only talking to him through plexi-glass and a phone. It certainly left something to be desired.

  A few men came out, all wearing the same outfit and I was saddened that it wasn’t Jack. I knew that the day was right, and the time, I had checked, rechecked and triple-checked to make sure. There was a house full of people waiting for him.

  I heard another sound coming from the gate and my heart fell. I was sure that something had gone wrong and Jack wasn’t coming. I didn’t know if I could spend another night without him. I really didn’t.

  I was about to go up to the guard tower to ask what was going on, when I finally saw Jack. He was a sight for sore eyes and it was like everything around me fell away. Even the sound of the world stopped for a few moments. Nothing was reaching my ears and it was a strange feeling indeed.

  The distance between us was gone in a flash. I didn’t even notice that I was running, until I had catapulted myself into his arms. When we pulled back, he kissed me and I knew then, that I was finally complete. I had forgotten about everything, including his sister, that was very eager to see him.

  Dina was a little less exuberant to see him, but she had a tear in her eye, that I know touched me to my core. She had missed him, just as much as I had. Everyone was eager to see him and I knew that there were all those people waiting for him.

  It was my job to bring him there, to see
everyone, but after Dina walked off to answer a phone call from her job, we were left together. I didn’t want to do my job anymore. Now, all I wanted to do, was be selfish and keep him all to myself.

  “What are you doing?”

  He was nuzzling up to my neck and he asked me if me and Dina had came together.

  “Of course we came together.”

  “So, same car?”

  I smiled for a minute, because I had no idea what he was blathering on about. Maybe the time behind bars, had addled his mind a bit.

  “No, not same cars, but we came in together.”

  “Well, I am going to tell my sister that we’re leaving and we will see her later. I figure I have a party to get to, yeah?”

  I was shocked. “How did you know?”

  “My family loves a party. I am sure it was Dina’s idea. I will be right back.”

  I smiled at him and kissed him for a moment before he walked away. I don’t know how long I was going to feel this way, but every opportunity, I wanted to touch him and convince myself that he was actually here.

  I went to my car and waited for him to get back from talking to Dina. I felt sort of bad, but I still wanted some time alone. I was going to be able to be selfish, and not feel bad about it.

  When he got in, he set the car in drive and I asked him where we were going.

  “I just want to drive for a bit. You’re next to me, that’s all that matters.”

  “Your daughter wants to see you too.”

  I felt like I should add that in, like he could somehow forget.

  “I know. I am going to go to that little shindig that you set up with my sister soon enough, but we need to take care of some things first.”

  “What things?”

  “I have been locked up for almost ninety days Bella. What do you think I want to do?”