I took my phone out and stepped outside where the team were packing up and clearing Main Street. We truly had transformed it. The roads were fresh, the storefronts of every single shop was glass-fronted and looked absolutely stunning in the mid-morning daylight. The mayor would be pleased, which meant she might hire us for something else, but more than that Frostbites looked fantastic. I turned around to look at it one more time as I waited for Jonica to answer. I hoped this would make Tate happy.
“Hello?” Jonica said. “Who is this?”
“It’s Chasen,” I said.
“Oh,” she said, sounding disappointed. “Wasn’t expecting to hear from you.” She sounded pissed off. I wondered if she would even do what I asked. “Did you want to speak to Tate?”
“No, actually,” I said suddenly. “I actually have a favor to ask.”
“A favor?” she echoed. “Are you sure you should be asking me for a favor right now?”
“Well, Frostbites is ready to be reopened,” I said. “We’ve finished up today and the boys are cleaning up and you could open as soon as tomorrow if you wanted to. Cars will be heading through from then anyhow.”
“Oh,” I could hear her smiling. “That’s really great news, thanks for letting me know Chasen. But wait, why didn’t you call Tate?”
“Ah,” I said. “Well, this is where the favor comes in. I didn’t think he’d answer the phone if I called, or if he’d even come down if I asked him to, but I was wondering if you would mind escorting him to Frostbites. There’s definitely some things here he’s going to want to see before he reopens.”
“Shit, is it bad?”
“No,” I said, looking back at the store front practically glittering. “No, I don’t think so. But, like I said, he’ll have to come down. Can you do that for me?”
“No problem,” she said. “We’ll be down in around ten minutes.”
She hung up the phone and I ran back inside to where Jarrett and Slater were setting up the tables and chairs.
“You nearly done?” I said. I noticed a piece of artwork on the wall. “Where did this come from?” I asked.
“Oh,” Slater said, suddenly looking a little sheepish, his hand immediately going behind his head to scratch nervously at his hair. ”Well, I’d been working on something for Tate for a while, and it fits with the color scheme of the place. Now seems like the perfect time to hang it.”
It was in keeping with Slater’s current love of paint splatters and abstract patterns on a huge white canvas but something about this had a little more care in it. Like the splatters meant something a little more, little pockets of glitter sitting between them and catching the light as I walked back and forth.
“It’s great,” I said. “I think he’ll love it.” I looked around myself again. “We all done with the chairs, he’ll be here soon.”
“There are a few more out the back,” Slater said, leaning on one of the new black tables. “They need a bit of a clean though. Dust.”
“Cool, cool, cool,” I said. “We’ve got ten minutes before Tate gets down here, so keep bringing them in and I’ll get cleaning.” Neither one of them moved. “Come on you two, my love life is on the line here, get moving!”
18
Tate
“Wait, what?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “He called you?”
“Believe me, I’m as surprised as you are,” Jonica said as she hovered at the door to the living room. “I tried to be all frosty with him and stuff but he told me that the bakery is ready to be reopened starting from as soon as tomorrow and to get you down there now.”
“Now?” I groaned. I didn’t want to go down there for many reasons. The first one being that I didn’t think I was ready to see what kind of mess Frostbites will have been left in by the construction work and the second being that I just didn’t feel at all ready to see Chasen. If I was honest with myself, I had no idea when I would feel ready to see Chasen but I didn’t think today was the day.
“Look, I said I’d get you down there in ten minutes,” she said.
“You told him you would?”
“Look, Tate, I don’t know about you, but I’m quite excited to be working again,” she said. “Apart from which, this means your apartment over the bakery will be free again right? So you can move back there. I know you’ve been getting sick of how cramped it is in here, and you’ll have time to nest and get it all nice for when the baby comes.”
She was right, of course. Even if the bakery looked like shit, at least I’d have my apartment back. Then things could go back to normal, with added baby but still, more normal than they felt right now.
I pulled some shoes on and headed out with Jonica. I was nervous, my legs shaking, adrenaline rushing around my whole body. What if the storefront just showed off how shit the inside of it looked? I’d want to do that renovation even more and, with a baby on the way, that was even less possible than it had been before.
“I still don’t understand why he didn’t call me,” I grumbled as we got closer to Main Street.
“Would you have answered the phone?” she said, raising an eyebrow into a perfect arch.
“Probably not.”
“Well, that’s why then,” she chuckled. “Here we go,” Jonica said as she turned the car around the corner and onto Main Street. The street looked practically unrecognizable. Even though I didn’t want to admit it, Chasen had done an incredible job. Where the street had looked a little bit down and dirty before, this looked high end and expensive, which was obviously the direction that the mayor wanted Furbitten Falls to go in. It looked fantastic.
And then I saw Frostbites.
I nearly burst into tears.
The storefront was all glass, the bakery name huge across the top in light up letters. It looked so classy, more classy than I ever thought it could. I didn’t want to go inside now. If I went inside I knew I would just be disappointed in how trashy it looked.
“Wow,” Jonica said. “That looks fantastic, Tate, hasn’t he done a great job.”
I smiled. “He has, yeah. Gosh, I can’t wait to open, can you? Finally get back to work!”
I got out of the car and saw that there were people inside. Oh gosh, was there something wrong? Had something gotten ruined while they were building? Even though I was looking up at the beautiful storefront, I could feel my heart already dropping.
Chasen stepped out of the doors. “What do you think?” he asked.
“It’s stunning,” I said. Fuck I’d forgotten how handsome he was. He was dressed in a nice shirt and pants, a sheen of sweat over his forehead, probably from putting the last finishing touches on the street. He still looked fantastic. “You did a great job, Chasen. Thank you.”
He shook his head. “You haven’t seen anything yet.” He stepped towards me and reached out a hand, instinctively I took it, my heart skipping at the contact. I needed to calm myself down. We were over, we were through, I needed to not get my hopes up. “Close your eyes,” he said softly.
“What?”
“Just do it, okay?” he said. “Trust me. Just one more time, trust me, okay?”
I sighed and shut my eyes, letting him guide me in the direction of Frostbites. I had no reason to trust him, did I? And yet, here I was doing it, letting him lead me towards the shop. He seemed so happy, so outrageously joyful, there couldn’t be anything seriously wrong could there, otherwise he wouldn’t be smiling. And why would he take me to show me if it was so awful.
“I’m going to pick you up now,” he said.
“You’re bloody what?”
“What did I say about trusting me?”
“You asked me to do it but last time I did that, I ended up getting my heart broken.” The world seemed to stop around me as I said it and I realized I was ruining whatever moment he was trying to create here. “Okay, I’m sorry, free pass, pick me up.”
He chuckled and picked me up, carrying me over the threshold like we’d just gotten married or something. I felt the doo
rs open in front of us and could hear the hustle and bustle of people, each of them watching this happen. I hated that they were watching this happen; I must have looked so weird.
“Open your eyes, baby,” he said.
I did as I was told, not expecting very much of anything at all. And what met my eyes had me crying before I could even say a word.
It was beautiful.
“Oh my god,” I breathed. “Put me down, Chasen, please.” I whispered. He did as I asked and let me go.
The walls had been tiled with the white, diamond tiles that I had always wanted mixed with some in baby blue, the grouting that sparkly silver that I’d seen in my dreams. Behind the counter, the walls had been painted in baby blue, with little silver snowflakes that caught the light as you walked around. All the tables had been replaced with brand new, lacquered white ones that looked so classy, and there was so much space for cakes and bakes and treats in the display cases. It was perfect. It was everything I could have possibly wanted.
Jarrett watched me walk around, a big smile on his face and so was Slater, who looked a little tired, if I was honest. I hoped Chasen hadn’t kept them up all night doing this for me. I’d feel so fucking guilty if he had.
It was incredible in there. The way I’d wanted to do the renovations back when I first got it. Better in fact. I never could have executed it like this. This was perfection.
My eyes immediately filled with tears as I took in my surroundings, seeing a space that I had seen a thousand times in my head. How could he have gotten it so right? My heart pounded at a million beats a minute just looking at it, just trying to understand the magnitude of what he had done for me.
I looked at Chasen who was smiling over at me. He’d done all of this for me. I never thought anyone could treat me this way, could do something so selfless, so kind. My heart swelled. He truly was everything I could have possibly wanted. He cared about me, more than I ever thought possible and it took every little bit of me to not rush over to him and wrap myself up in his arms once again, apologize, make everything right. Tears poured down my face, something I could blame on the hormones if I wanted to, but this moment was so damn perfect that seemed redundant.
“You did all of this?” I asked. It was a stupid question, of course he had, but I still felt like I needed to ask. “You did all of this for me?”
“Of course I did,” he sighed.
“Why?”
“I just wanted to see you happy, Tate.”
I hurried over to him and wrapped my arms so tightly around him so he knew that I didn’t have any intention of ever letting him go again. The fact that I even let him go in the first place was completely fucking ridiculous.
“I can’t believe you would do this all for me,” I mumbled into his neck, the tears pouring down my face and soaking his shirt. “And look at me, I’m ruining your fancy shirt with my tears. I’m sorry, Chasen, I’m so sorry.”
“Shut up, Tate,” he said. “I’m the one that needs to be sorry. I never should have kept it from you. Please know that it wasn’t my intention and consider this some kind of repayment. The bakery of your dreams.”
“I’ve missed you so much,” I said, pulling out of the hug so I can look him right in the eyes. “I don’t want to be without you ever again, Chasen, you know that?”
“You don’t have to be,” he said. “The apartment upstairs is ready if you want to stay here instead of at Jonica’s,” he took a moment, composing himself for this moment. “Or you could come back home with me. The house is too quiet without you, Tate. It doesn’t feel like a home without you there.”
“Oh Chasen, I-“
The baby interrupted me with a hard kick that his Chasen in the stomach. He winced a little and looked down at my bump.
“I’d love to move back in with you,” I said. “And I think the baby would too. Though I think that kick was the baby wanting to kick your butt for leaving me in the dark about all of this.”
“Lesson learned,” Chasen said.
Jonica stood in the door frame, her mouth wide, her eyes even wider. “I can’t believe this,” she gasped. “It’s really beautiful, isn’t it?” She looked directly at me, seeing that I was crying. “Happy, Tate?”
“The happiest,” I replied. “How would you feel about reopening the day after tomorrow?” I asked.
“I’ll call Brent now,” she said. “Tell him I can’t babysit tomorrow.”
“Tell him to bring the kids down,” I said. “And anyone else he knows, we need to make this big. Huge!”
A hand fell on my shoulder and I turned to see Jarrett still smiling. I threw myself at him and hugged him tight.
“You knew about this?” I asked.
“Only about an hour before you did,” he replied. “It’s not bad.”
“Not bad?” Chasen exclaimed. “It’s beautiful.”
“It is, Jarrett, it’s really beautiful,” I said, unable to keep the grin off my face. “Thank you, Chasen,” I continued. “Thank you for all of this.”
“Are you kidding?” he said with a smile. “I’d do absolutely anything for you, Tate.”
I grabbed hold of his face and kissed him hard on the mouth, relishing the taste of him, the feel of his lips on mine. I’d wanted to do that for the longest time. I’d missed him so very much. And now everything was falling into place. Maybe now was the time that our forever was supposed to begin. I could certainly live with that.
19
Chasen
Tate took a good long look around the bakery after everyone had gone, inspecting every nook and cranny, marveling at the brand new, state of the art kitchen, at the ovens big enough to make twice the amount of items he could make before. He was like a kid in a candy shop, and it made my heart soar to see him this happy.
“I’m going to have to get up so early to start baking tomorrow,” he said. “I’m going to need ingredients. I need to go shopping I-“
“There’s a full fridge in that kitchen, Tate,” I said, leaning back at one of the new tables. “Did you actually manage to miss something in your inspection?”
“Aha, I did see the full fridge, yes, but I need to make something special if we’re reopening!” he called. He poked his head out of the kitchen, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. “You know that knowing my luck I’m going to go into premature labor tonight and miss my own fucking opening.”
“Keep your legs crossed, Tate.”
“If I could keep my legs crossed, we wouldn’t even be having this baby,” he said with a smirk, rushing back into the kitchen. “Oh my god, how big is this sink?!”
“Okay,” I said, standing up. “I’m getting you out of here otherwise you’ll be here all night!”
“But there’s so much to look at!”
“Which means there will be more surprises for you when you come here to bake in the morning.” I stopped at the door frame and leaned on it, watching him excitedly bounce from wall to wall, cupboard to cupboard, surface to surface, he truly loved it. He was so happy. I’d made him happy. He stopped and looked over at me.
“What are you looking at?” he said.
“Just you,” I replied.
He walked over to me and kissed me softly on the lips, letting his hands work around to the small of my back so he could pull me closer. I wrapped my arms tightly around him, letting my tongue explore his mouth, the two of us getting a little lost in each other, just for a moment.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“Just you,” he replied with a smile.
We went back home and ordered take-out, the two of us curling up on the sofa to watch a trashy film on Netflix while we ate. Afterwards, Tate started updating all of the social media for Frostbites, making sure that everyone knew that they were reopening the day after tomorrow. Some places on Main Street would reopen tomorrow, there were some that hadn’t even closed, but Tate wanted to be ready with cakes and bakes rather than getting stressed and trying to do it all overnight. At least he was taking
care of himself.
Tate spent the whole of the next day baking, and I spent it trying to help him and not get too much in the way. Jonica helped too, making a lot more use of herself than I was, and I ended up doing more making coffee for them or going out to get lunch than I did anything else. I loved watching him create things in the kitchen. It was probably when I got to see him at his absolute happiest, and I wouldn’t have traded it for a single other thing in the world.
We woke up early on opening day. Not quite as early as Tate wanted to, but still a little earlier than I would have liked. Jonica had gone in at five o’clock to put the Danish in the oven so they were fresh, and so that Tate could rest up a little. She didn’t seem to want him giving birth right now any more than he did. I had no idea where he found the energy. He was so pregnant that he looked like he could drop at any moment.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as we got ready to leave the house. Tate hadn’t dressed in anything too special, going for something that looked smart but that he could work in. He looked beautiful, he always did.
“A little nervous,” he said. “What if nobody comes back?”
I felt a stab of guilt at the thought. If no one came back, it would be all my fault. I didn’t want to see him get hurt like that, I was pretty sure it would kill me too.
“You saw the amount of love you got on Twitter and Instagram last night,” I said, trying to sound confident. “People will come back. How could they not? Your Danish are life changing!”
“That’s what I’ve heard,” he said, forcing a smile onto his face. He was nervous. I so wish I hadn’t given him a reason to be nervous.
“You ready?” I asked.
“As ready as I can be.”
We got into the car and started towards Main Street, Tate jittery and excited, me trying not to let it show that I was feeling quite nervous for him, for us. If people didn’t show up, that was on my conscience. I needed people to show up.
Furbitten Falls Alpha's: A Wolf Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle Page 24