Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Charlie: Everyone is fine.
I drop my phone on the counter and put my cup down, and I brace on my elbows, my head hanging. Letting out a sigh of relief.
“Are you okay, Daddy?” Saige asks, and I look over at her. Her image is blurry through the tears I fight away.
“Yeah.” I nod. “I’m good, baby.” I turn around, breathe in through my nose, then exhale through my mouth. “Did you want a breakfast sandwich to go with your cupcake?”
“No, I’m going to do my homework, and then can we go to the park?”
“Yeah,” I agree softly, standing back up and looking out the window, forcing my mind blank but failing when I see Everleigh smiling at Saige and ignoring me.
She comes over and washes her hands before drying them and going to her bedroom. I pick the phone back up and continue the message.
Charlie: We should talk when you have a chance. Time is precious, man.
I shake my head and put the phone down, not wanting to read the rest. I don’t need him to tell me that time is precious. I don’t need him to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do.
Instead, I walk over to the back door and slide it open before stepping out and sitting in the chair and just looking out into the distance. The swing set I set up for Saige when she turned four. She was so small it took all of her energy to climb up the ladder on the side. Even on the swing, she could barely touch the ground with her feet, and now she hardly ever looks at it. Eventually, I should just take it down, but something always tells me not to.
I sit outside, my head a mess, as I try to push away all thoughts of the bakery and the way Everleigh must be feeling. I don’t care, I remind myself when I hear Saige at the door. “I’m done.”
“Okay, I’ll go shower quickly,” I state, getting up and bending to kiss her head, “and then we can go.”
“Okay,” she replies, following me inside and going to sit on the couch while I go to my bedroom. I make my bed before taking a shower and getting dressed.
We’re walking out of the house when my phone rings, and I look down to see Winston is calling me. I ignore the call and put it into my back pocket, making sure Saige is in her seat before I take off. My phone rings again, showing me Tony is calling. “Hey,” I say, answering on the Bluetooth.
“Hey, I’m about to head out.”
“Sounds good,” I say. “We’re on our way to the park.”
“Have fun.” He disconnects the phone as my truck makes its way over to the shop instead of to the park.
“We’re going to walk from here,” I say. She jumps down, and I look over at the bakery and so does Saige, who gasps.
“Daddy, look.” She points at the bakery, and I see the construction truck in the parking lot, along with a container in the front as workers walk in and out of the door, carrying stuff. “It’s all messed up.”
“Yeah,” I reply, walking down the street and seeing the front windows boarded up. Black soot is around where the windows were and also where the door is. The roof from the front doesn’t look like there is much damage, but when you walk to the side, you see half of it is off.
“Daddy, look, it’s Everleigh,” she declares when we stop by the side window, the only window that looks like nothing happened to it. I can see the front counter looks like it’s still intact, but the glass cases are smashed on the floor. Everleigh has a broom in her hand as men around her are also cleaning up. I don’t even notice Saige has left my hand until I see her hold up her hand and she’s knocking on the window.
Everleigh looks over, and I see her eyes go soft as Saige waves at her. Eyes that used to go soft like that when I walked into the room and told her I loved her. Eyes I haven’t seen for a long time. Eyes I’ve missed, and sometimes when I dream of her, they look at me like that. Exactly like she is doing right now. She looks like she hasn’t slept a wink, and she has black soot on her face. But she smiles at Saige, ignoring that I’m standing right here as she waves at her. “Does this mean that there are no more cupcakes?”
“It looks that way.” I reach out for her hand and pull her away from the window. “We’ll find another place.”
We walk down the street, Saige looking over her shoulder every now and again. I’m forcing myself not to look back over my shoulder.