Wade

by Jenny Wood

  Both of us sleep for several hours, and we’re both famished when we wake up. I ordered Chinese food, and we spent the entire 45 minutes waiting on it, curled up on our sides, arguing playfully over who was going to pay for it. I won out in the end, and even though he rolled his eyes at me, I was glad he relented. I might not have a lot of money, but I was okay. I couldn’t splurge on a weekend getaway or even a fancy ass restaurant, but I could buy us Chinese.

  The rest of the night is uneventful, and we just lounge together in my tiny, one room apartment together and be. Because I don’t have a TV, we spent the entire night talking and getting to know one another better. I worried that things were happening too fast, but unlike when I was with Jeffery, I didn’t stress about it. I was going to let things happen how they were going to, and I was going to enjoy every second of it.

  Now that Wade had opened up a little bit about his time as a Marine, I opened up a little bit too. I told him about my mother and how I’d never met my father; I told him how I ran away from my childhood home when I was fourteen and kept on the run until I was old enough not to be caught and put in the system.

  “That was stupid but really brave. You could’ve gotten hurt or taken advantage of on the street or sleeping under overpasses. I hate that you had to go through that, especially at such a young age. I wished you had family that could’ve helped you.” He’d said. Then, he kissed me for what seemed like hours. Kissing. It seemed so juvenile to just lay in my bed and make out, not hurrying or letting it go anywhere, but anticipating the moving forward and being anxious and well… If I was honest, horny. The way Wade felt all over, the hardness of his body and the smell of his skin or the taste of his kiss on my tongue was enough to drive me to the edge, so quickly. Fortunately, I didn’t embarrass myself, but I found myself wanting to just lunge at him and see if the rest of him could be just as great.

  I still had reservations about the pain of it all, but I had a feeling that things would be different with Wade. He wouldn’t hurt me on purpose; I knew it 100%

  Finally, after a full day of lounging and napping and kissing and having fun together, Wade needed to get ready for work; he worked the night shift, and I worked at eleven the next day. I didn’t get to go to the market during my one guaranteed day off, so I told myself I’d go in the morning. After kissing me goodbye for a lengthy amount of time, Wade called me around bedtime to complain about being late to work. I could tell he was teasing and because of the town we live in is so small, we talked for a full hour before he needed to run out, and I had to finally call it a night. Things were so happy and dreamy, falling asleep was a breeze.

  “Cereal, cereal, cereal.” I chanted as I backtracked to the cereal aisle. With my list in my hand, there was always something I was forgetting, and cereal was the one thing I hadn’t written down. I’d already gotten my chocolate milk and the rest of the crap on my list for the next week, but I didn’t want to forget the cereal. It was quick and easy, and I had a slight obsession with the tiny cinnamon bread cereal. Yum. My phone ringing in my pocket didn’t delay me, but I answered as I scoured the shelves for my favorite kind.

  “Hello?” I answered distractedly. My screen was still shattered, so I didn’t see the name but was pleasantly surprised to hear it was Morgan.

  “Hey! It’s Morgan.” He says in greeting.

  “Hey, Morgan. How are you?” I ask him. I’d gotten a message through Wade first thing this morning when Wade had called to tell me good morning and to tell me that we were requested next weekend for a barbeque at Kayson and Conner’s. I agreed, readily and Wade also informed me that Cam would call me tonight. He’d seen them that morning when they all got coffee together at a deli across from their tattoo shop that was conveniently a block away from the sheriff’s station. I didn’t mind the message train, it seemed…normal and I liked it.

  “So, I’m actually calling to see if you could meet up this evening. I’ve got something to give you.” Morgan says, cryptically.

  “It’s not a phone, is it? I told Cam I didn’t feel comfortable taking something so expensive from him. I’m going to replace my screen when I get another day off.” I tell him. My phone was a giant pain in the ass, but I didn’t want to take one from someone else.

  “No.” He chuckled, and I didn’t know if I believed him. He didn’t sound so convincing. “But, he already gave it to Wade to give it to you, so…you can argue with Cam about that later.” He laughed harder. I rolled my eyes and finally found my cereal.

  “You guys are impossible,” I tell him honestly, Wade was right when they adopted you, they didn’t let you go and so far, Cam, Morgan and Jase, all seemed to adopt me. They called frequently and invited me out, every time they went out. I liked them all so much.

  “Yeah, we’re kind of hard to resist, eh?” Morgan giggled. Wade had told me about his fight with cancer when we were talking the other night, and I had a greater appreciation for his happiness than I did when I was just ecstatic for them to be growing their family. They both truly deserved it so much, and their story was truly a fairytale with a complicated plot line.

  “That you are. Thankfully though, I appreciate you guys including me lately. I think everyone’s so great and I really like spending time with Wade.” I reply, lamely. I was getting deep in a cereal aisle.

  “We like you too. Which is why I have a surprise for you, so can you meet me for dinner or even when you get off tonight?” He asks, and I give in, curious now that he’s so insistent.

  “Yeah, I get off at eight, maybe earlier if I get everything done sooner. I’m still not back on the floor yet until I can carry a tray without dropping it and my wrist isn’t up to it yet.” I explain. It sucks because prep doesn’t guarantee all the hours that I usually get, but there’s no way I can carry a tray yet. My wrist is still mildly sprained; I just have to wear an ace bandage, so it has minimal bending. It’s more annoying than anything else. My leg and hip is just big and scabby but doesn’t hurt much at all anymore. Ibuprofen is all I need when it gets achy. I’m still easy with it in the shower, but it’s looking so much better already.

  “Alright, I can be at your place at eight thirty if that’s cool?” He asks, and I agree. We spend a little time catching up. He gushes about his upcoming meeting with the birth mother of the twins, and he’s very excited about it. We say our goodbye’s and I feel my smile, the entire walk home.

  Anderson is in a mood when I get to work today, so I try to stay out of his way the best I can. He’s got four cakes baking at the moment for a wedding tier cake that I’ll need to decorate when they get finished and cool. He goes over the detail and specifics that the couple requested and it all seems simple enough. Okay, not simple, it’s actually going to be very time consuming, but it’s going to be stunning when it’s finished.

  “Do you think you can handle that for me, please?” Anderson pleads.

  “I can. It’s going to be beautiful, I promise.” I assure him.

  “I know it will, you do amazing work, Foster.” He pats my shoulder as he walks away to start his own cooking. He needs more hands. He does everything himself, except the serving, which he mostly gets temps with serving experience, if we have something bigger than the staff we have on hand.

  I set up my work station where I’m going to be icing and molding, and just as I have the bottom tier cake, which is the biggest one, all iced in white cream, I grab my icing bags and my phone rings. I remove my glove and answer it.

  “Hello?” I say in greeting, hating that I can’t see clearly who’s calling.

  “Hey,” Wade says with a smile, and I can’t stop mine from stretching across my face.

  “Everything okay?” I ask, hoping we don’t have any more shit fall on us, just yet.

  “Yep, seeing what you’re doing tonight?” He asks.

  “Meeting Morgan after work, he has something for me, apparently,” I tell him, wondering if he knows what it is.

  “Oh, good. I can call him if you want, but I was going
to see if you wanted to come have dinner with me tonight?” He asks.

  “Can it be after I meet Morgan? He seemed pretty insistent.” I suggest.

  “How bout I have him meet him at my place, and I’ll cook something. Kingsley can come too; I’ll invite them both.” He suggests, and I agree. That might be fun.

  “Yeah, okay; as long as Morgan can work with that. I hate to cancel on him if he was looking forward to doing something a certain way. I’m not sure what his surprise is, and I don’t want to ruin it for him if it’s something he’s looking forward to. Is that weird?” I ask, thinking it seems silly.

  “Not at all, it’s nice of you to think of him like that.” He says softly.

  “Well, ya know, I’m a nice guy.” I tease, shrugging off his praise, making him laugh.

  “I can practically see your shoulders scrunchin’ up in that shrug, you know,” Wade says fondly. I love when he talks to me in that voice.

  “Whatever,” I say back just as softly. “I’ve got a cake to bake, so, you’ll let me know about tonight?” I ask, brushing him off if he’s going to say sweet things while I’m at work.

  “I’ll just pick you up at eight, how about?” He suggests instead, and I agree.

  “Okay, I’ll see you then.”

  “K, bye baby.” He says before ending the call. He’d called me that yesterday too, in front of Jeffery, even. Before, if I’d have heard him say it, I would’ve hated it because I hated when Jeffery called me anything but my name, even when he continued to do it. I loved it coming from Wade. It sounded… Just sexy. I couldn’t explain it, but I wasn’t complaining.

  Finishing the bottom tier of the cake took almost three hours after putting every flower and pearl bead and ribbon in the perfect place. When I straightened my back and stretched, Anderson came to inspect my work.

  “Fuck, Foster. You’re an artist with that icing.” He said in awe. I had to admit, that it looked amazing. Flowers, ribbons and pearls, it was a beautiful wedding cake. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about later, but now’s as good as any I guess. Can you come back to the office for a moment?” He asked. I followed him to his office, kind of freaking out a little bit. Your boss wanting to talk to you about something in his office was usually not a good something.

  “Take a seat.” He offers, and I do, nervously. “So, here’s the deal. Business is growing. Ever since the wedding planner in Destiny started giving our information to boutiques and her clients, I’m having to turn people away. I hate that. Things have been going so well, and we have enough servers that I don’t need you there anymore.” He explains, shuffling papers on his desk looking for something. My stomach dropped because I could not be fired from this job. I couldn’t. Why the fuck did shit fuck with me this way? I didn’t deserve it. I’m a good person; I try to be at least. Why do I keep getting shit on, just when something good happens? I don’t need to keep getting knocked down to remind me that life sucks sometimes. I already knew it.

  “Oh, here we are,” He says, pulling out a slip of paper. “I want you to go into business with me.” He says by way of explanation.

  “What?”

  “When you first started here, you said you wanted to open your own bakery. I admire that, I really do. Making my business what it is now, I started cooking out of my mom’s kitchen and had to for sometimes twelve to fifteen hours before an event because I only had one oven and minimal counter space. We all start somewhere. But, I love what you do, you make magic, Foster. You make dreams come true with your talent, I have no doubt the cake I just saw is going to be flawless and something no one else could dream of making. I don’t want you to be a server, I want you as a partner in Skye’s the Limit, and I want you to bake for me. Or, for us, I guess.” He waved his hand around. “You don’t have to give me an answer right now; you can think about it all you want. If your own bakery is something you still want to strive for, then go for it, but I’d love it if you’d work for me. Here I have a contract written up. It entails a pretty hefty pay raise and commission on certain jobs and things like that. I’ll leave it with you to go over at a later time if you want, but….for now, I just want you to think about it, okay?” He asks, looking so hopeful. It was crazy to think that this man was handing me something so important; something that would change my fucking life and he was the one looking hopeful. I didn’t know whether to cry or hug him. I nodded.

  “Awesome.” He sighed, relieved. “Okay, well, let’s get back to work on that cake. I’ve got finger foods and two hundred and forty-three guests to cook for.” He rolled his eyes good-naturedly, I knew he loved his work.

  “Skye,” I called as I stood by my cake, looking down at the finished tier. “Thank you.” I thanked him, so sincerely. “For everything. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for you giving me a chance.” He winked, and we both got back to work. Could this day possibly get any better?”

  Wade

  “Hey, handsome.” It almost looked like Foster skipped to the truck when he exited the building where he worked. He smelled like cake frosting and vanilla; I wanted to lick him. His smile was infectious, and I was glad to see that he had an obvious good day.

  “Somebody’s happy,” I commented as he leaned over the center console and kissed me before buckling up.

  “It’s been a crazy day.” He tells me. I’m hoping he means a crazy good day, but judging by the smile on his face, I’m guessing so. “Anderson asked me today to go into business with him. Like, he wants me to be his business partner and do all the deserts.” He beams.

  “Really? That’s amazing!” I exclaim, he’s too great to be just a server. I’ve seen his cupcakes; they’re pieces of art.

  “He gave me a contract to look over and told me to consider it. I told him I absolutely would. I think it’s a great opportunity and a lot more money.” He emphasized the lot. That’d be great for him too, although I knew he was doing okay.

  “I’m happy for you, baby. We should celebrate.” I smile, driving us to his house because I’m hoping he’ll stay at mine tonight.

  “Thank you, we should. Did you talk to Morgan?” He asks, looking over the contract.

  “I did, but I was hoping to convince you to grab a bag and just stay, after dinner,” I asked hopefully. Yes, maybe things were moving at a rapid pace, but I honestly didn’t care. It felt good, he felt good and being with him felt good. I wanted more.

  “Oh.” He was surprised. “Okay.” He shrugged. Him and that shrug. I waited in the truck while he ran up to get what he needed. Back at my place, I told him to make himself at home and told him as much as I loved him smelling like cake and icing, he could take a shower if he wanted to. He took me up on it and I got the baked ziti cooking. Morgan knocked on the door before he’d finished.

  “Come on in, do you need help?” Morgan shuffled through the door, carrying a large wrapped present. I was excited and maybe a little nervous.

  “Nah, I got it. Something smells good; you’re going all out tonight, aren’t ya?” He teased. I’ll admit that I was and that was before I knew we had something to celebrate.

  “Trying to woo.” I scoffed, but I was happy to do it. He was worth the wooing, and I hoped it worked. He deserved everything.

  “I think that'll help. You didn’t see his face when he saw it.” Morgan comments. “Where is he?” He whispers.

  “Shower, I just grabbed him from work,” I tell him, and he sets the package down, propped up against the back of the couch.

  “I won’t stay then. I wanna hear all about it later though.” He winks.

  “I really appreciate you dropping this off for me and rescheduling with Foster. He didn’t want to cancel on you.” I let him know, only because I think Foster won’t want to feel rude.

  “They’re all being delivered; I wanted to do this one personally.” He smiles. “And give him that phone, so he can join our group texts, jeez.” He shook my hand, and I walked him out. I’d actually forgotten about the phone and was glad he
reminded me. I grabbed it from my work bag and plugged it up in the kitchen. I scrolled through all the numbers and made sure all the important ones were in it, mine being the first one. Of course, I added a love heart at the end of my name, so I’d be the first one in his line of contacts. Cheesy, yeah, probably. Did I care? Nah.

  “Wow, something smells amazing. What are you making?” Foster comes in, looking gorgeous in a simple sweater and jeans. He always wears sweaters, and although it’s cold outside for a January in Georgia, I don’t understand how he doesn’t roast when it’s time for bed.

  “Baked ziti. It’s nothing special, but I like it and can do it decently.” I confessed. My grandma was Italian-American and always made these pasta dishes, and this one was my favorite, I learned to make it young.

  “Smells delicious. Do you need any help?” He asks.

  “Nah, just waiting for it to bake. I was just getting ready to put the salad together when Morgan came. He couldn’t stay, but he brought your surprise.” I smiled, a little nervous now that I was going to do what I was going to do.

  “Oh, bummer. I wanted to thank him, or something…Depending what it is, actually. I never figured it’d be a weird surprise, but maybe I should have considering who he’s married to.” He teased. I’d told stories about Kayson and Kingsley and you for sure don’t want to be on the receiving end of something they’ve cooked up.