Trust? Did I trust him? I barely trusted myself. I met him a week ago. Yet for some reason I found myself whispering, “Yes.”
He held out his hand. “Give me your keys. I’ll check everything out and put a sign on the door so your customers know you’ll be back open tomorrow.”
“Kendall.”
His eyebrows raised in a question. “Who?”
“Kendall. She’s a high school student, a senior, who works for me in the afternoons. She doesn’t have keys though because I’m always there.”
Max paused and rubbed his chin. The sound of his fingers brushing over the whiskers brought my body to attention in a strange way. Heat swelled through me and my nipples stood on end like they expected the same treatment, the same brush of his fingers.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to focus on anything other than the assault and was happy when I heard him stop. Until I opened my eyes.
“Charlotte? Are you alright?” His hand hovered over me, less than an inch away from my arm. We’d left so fast I never grabbed a jacket and could feel the heat radiating from his palm. When I didn’t answer him right away, his hand came down on my arm. Electricity shot through my arm and travelled through my entire body.
I jumped at the contact and Max pulled back with a hurt look in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I- You just startled me. I’m fine. I’m just trying to figure out what to do with Kendall.”
“Why don’t you call her and tell her what happened? Leave her a message. I’m sure she’ll understand and most likely be happy to have an afternoon to spend with her friends.”
I grinned because I knew he was right. Kendall’s friends usually stopped by the bakery in the afternoons to chat with her, but Kendall’s parents made her work. She was saving up for college so I hated to cut her a shift, but I also knew she could use an afternoon off.
“You’re right. I’ll call her. But I can come with you back to Bite Me! and take care of everything and get my car. Then you can finish up whatever you had going on today.”
Max shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t have anything I have to do. The roads are good so I’m free for the day. I don’t mind. Plus, you can stay here and coordinate with your friends.”
“Are you sure about this?” I didn’t really want him to leave. It was nice to have him to lean on for a few minutes. But I couldn’t go anywhere, and he was willing.
“Absolutely. I just need your keys.”
I dug the keys out of my pocket and handed them over. I’d never given anyone keys to my place before, even a close friend. No one ever went into my home without me there and I just gave Max my keys without much hesitation.
How did I trust him already?
I didn’t have time to think about that. After a quick text to all our friends, I headed up to the fourth floor to check in with Xander. I sent him a text, letting him know I was in the waiting area and to let me know if they needed anything.
‘Mandy could use a friend right now. Could you come to room 437?’ Xander texted back.
Surprised she would want anyone else there, I stood and followed the signs to Mandy’s room. I knocked and waited to Xander to answer before I pushed inside. A curtain hung between the door and the room so I called out to them before stepping around it.
Mandy was on her back in an elevated hospital bed. She looked worn out in just the few minutes since I’d last seen her. She was wearing a hospital gown and had machines beeping all around her. Xander was holding her hand and talking to her and I could tell by the scrunched up look on her face she was going through another contraction.
When the pain subsided Mandy offered me a dopey smile. “Thank you for getting me here. And Max. The doctor said it’ll be a little while, but they’re glad I’m here.”
“You know I’d do anything for you. I’ve already called everyone and most of them are on the way. Is there anything else you need?”
“No, I-“ Mandy broke off with a moan as she grabbed Xander’s hand and hung on tight. Pain wrinkled her face and tore at my heart. I wanted to take her pain away but knew there wasn’t anything I could do. Mandy was strong. She’d be okay.
“Sorry. They’re sending the anesthesiologist up to give me an epidural. I thought I could do this without it but I’m too worn out to concentrate on anything except the pain. After that, the doctor said it’ll be a few hours until I can push since I’m only about eight centimeters dilated.”
“I guess Mrs. O’Neill was a little off then, huh?”
Mandy smiled weakly at me. “She was right though. I didn’t even know I was in labor until she told me I was. I would have been sitting there until my water broke.”
“I’m just glad we’re here.” A knock on the door had us all looking. A man in a white lab coat stepped around the curtain and introduced himself as Dr. Carter, the anesthesiologist. “I’ll go so you can get that and maybe rest a little. I’ll let everyone know what’s going on. Xander, let me know if I can do anything for you.”
Xander squeezed my hand before I walked back out the door and returned to the waiting area. I heard a familiar frantic voice and hurried toward the desk.
“Claire! Mandy’s fine.”
“Oh, Charlie, thank God,” she said as she turned from the nurse’s station. She collapsed against Aidan and he wrapped his arm tight around her. “Where is she?”
Claire and Mandy had known each other forever so I understood her concern. If any of us would lose it, it would definitely be Claire.
“I was just in there. The doctor is giving her an epidural now. I told Xander to let me know if they needed anything, but I’m sure she’d want to see you.”
Claire cringed and wrinkled her nose. “How long does it take to give an epidural? I don’t want to see that.”
I smiled in understanding and shrugged. “Maybe you could go wait outside the room until the doctor comes out? Or you could text Xander and have him tell you when they’re done.”
Aidan took her hand and led her to the waiting area. “Why don’t we give them a chance to rest and Xander can let us know when they want to see us?”
Claire dutifully followed Aidan to a seat. Sam and Brady came in before I’d made it to a seat and I filled them in. Carrie, Riley, and Connor were next, with assurances that Drew would be there soon, then Lexi and Mike. With everyone seated and anxious I looked around the room. Addi would be there as soon as classes were done for the day and I was sure Joey would be with her. All my friends had their men to lean on, to talk to about how worried they were. I sat amongst them, surrounded but still alone.
I wished Max had stayed.
An hour after we got there I was started to get agitated. My butt hurt from sitting so long and I was getting hungry. The hospital cafeteria didn’t sound that appealing but since I had no other options, I was pretty certain I was going to have to go there.
Until I realized I didn’t have my purse or any money.
Shit.
Within their own pairs I heard the others start to talk about lunch. Sam wanted pizza, Claire wanted a burger, and Lexi wanted soup. They all started making plans about where to go and coordinating so someone would be left behind to keep everyone informed of Mandy’s progress.
“I’ll stay,” I told them. “I don’t have a car or any money to go get lunch. You guys all go and I’ll text everyone if something happens.”
“Did Mandy come in the ambulance?” Claire asked, her face paling with the question.
“No, Max drove us. I sort of lost it and then we realized my car wouldn’t be big enough and we didn’t think we had time to call Xander first, so Max drove us over. One of my customers said Mandy would have the baby within an hour so she and I sort of freaked out, but Max handled everything.”
“Max? The snowplow guy?” I nodded, hating the gleam in Lexi’s eyes. “Where is he?”
“He went back to check on Bite Me! and said he’d be back. I guess he’ll be back in a while, but he might have had something come up.”
I could read the thoughts bouncing around in their heads but chose to ignore the looks they were all giving me. I didn’t want their pity, and it felt dangerously close to what was happening.
“You guys go get lunch. I’ll let you know if Xander comes out or if Mandy has the baby.”
Everyone murmured their thanks and trickled toward the elevators. Lexi approached me. “You ran out without grabbing your purse?” I nodded and rolled my eyes at my stupidity. “Do you want us to pick something up for you?”
“Nah, I could stand to miss a meal or six. I’ll be fine.”
Lexi eyed me, knowing me better than the others, and I knew she could see the truth behind my words. “Charlie, you give me free cupcakes all the time. The least I can do is buy you lunch.”
I finally nodded in agreement even though it was tough. I hated to let people do things for me. I’d been on my own for so long that I’d adjusted to taking care of myself and not thinking about anyone else having a part in it. In just a few days I’d agreed to let Riley and Connor help find a location for Bite Me!, asked Max take care of my bakery, and had Lexi buying me lunch.
I was breaking.
But I was a little relieved to have others there for me. To have someone to lean on. Or a few someones.
Alone in the quiet waiting room I looked around at the others. Most appeared to be parents of a laboring mother or father, waiting for a grandchild to arrive. A few were younger, maybe siblings or friends, but on a weekday the room was quiet.
Thankful I had my phone in my pocket when we ran out the door, I pulled it out and started thumbing through Pinterest for any new recipes I could try out. I pinned a few new things to test if I ever got some free time, then searched for healthy recipe options.
I was definitely losing it.
Grams would chastise me for even considering healthy recipes. I could almost hear her voice telling me, “Charlotte, a cupcake isn’t worth having if you can’t enjoy it. And you can’t enjoy it if it’s loaded with a bunch of stuff that isn’t real food.”
Before I went further down the path of healthy I close my app and shoved my phone in my pocket. I couldn’t help but wonder if Max had emptied my cash register and ran off with all my stuff. He’d been gone long enough that if he was only going back to check on the bakery and lock up he should have been back.
No, I shook my head. Max wouldn’t do that. I didn’t understand it, but I trusted him. He wouldn’t do that to me. He’d gotten Mandy to the hospital and stayed calm when I was flipping out. Max wouldn’t rip me off. Maybe he got a phone call.
Oh, god, I hoped he didn’t get into an accident.
Still worrying about Max’s disappearance, I didn’t recognize the symphony of voices approaching until they were almost to me. I glanced up and saw Connor with his arms full of pizza boxes and another stack behind him.
Carried by Max.