3. Wildflower

3

Wildflower

Stress Baking

I stress bake.

This isn't news to me. I've always known I bake when I'm overthinking, but as I stare down at the massive mixing bowl full of brownie batter and the clock on the microwave that reads one-thirty-four am, I realize it may be an issue.

The recipe I'm working off is supposed to make a dozen, but I quadrupled the measurements, and now, I'm wondering what the fuck I'm supposed to do with forty-eight brownies. I don't even have enough pans to bake that many.

My eyes dart around the kitchen, taking in the mess of flour, sugar, and chocolate-covered utensils that accent my sister's counters. I'm suddenly feeling very tired, and I don't know what to do with all this batter, nor do I have the energy to clean up right now. I know, eventually, Monica is going to wake up, and I don't need her seeing what a mess I am. She'll start asking questions about my date, and I don't have the energy to go there right now.

I don't know how to tell her that I ditched the guy she set me up with and fucked some random man in the office behind the bar before running away.

Sighing, I wrap the bowl of batter and throw it in the fridge before I begin loading the sink with dishes. At the very least, Darby and Leo are out of the country, so they won't know if I leave their dishes sitting in the sink overnight.

I pull out my phone, wondering if now would be a good time to call my sister. I think it's got to be mid-morning in Portugal, so she's probably awake, though I'm not sure if I want her to start asking why I'm up this late.

I notice three more missed calls from my dad, plus another text message. He's getting more aggressive, more desperate, demanding Darby and I return his correspondence. I roll my eyes, deleting the text before even reading it. There is a message from my sister sent a few hours ago, likely when she first woke up but assumed I was still asleep.

Dad called me again.

Me too.

You don't think he'd come here, do you?

She replies immediately:

Leo says he doesn't think so. Dad's too intimidated by him.

I chuckle at that, clamping a hand over my mouth as it rings out through the silent house. It's not even because I disagree; Leo's probably right. He's likely the only person who has ever told my father to fuck off straight up and gotten away with it. Everything in my dad's life is categorized by money and status, and Leo has an abundance of both—more than my father could ever dream of achieving. He stole my sister away from her own wedding and humiliated our family, and when my dad demanded Leo bring Darby back, he essentially told my dad to go fuck himself then anonymously bought my grandmother's house out from under him.

My father has never been served like that, and if I were him, I'd stay as far away from Leo as possible. That knowledge gives me an additional kernel of faith that Pacific Shores is the one place on Earth where my sister and I are safe.

My phone buzzes with another message from Darby:

I can't imagine why he'd bother to come after us anyway.

I know exactly why he'd come after me, exactly what he wants from me. But Darby doesn't, so I confirm her claim and tell her I'm going back to sleep before she can ask why I'm awake at this hour in the first place.

My goal was always to get out from under my parents, to leave and start over somewhere new, but my sister's abrupt move to California earlier this summer kind of catapulted that timeline. I couldn't stand remaining in Kansas without her, so the moment I could get Lou and I out, I followed her to Pacific Shores.

Though, due to the messy timeline and lack of planning on my end, Lou and I ended up rolling into Pacific Shores just days after my sister and her fiancé, Leo, left for a surf competition in Portugal, meaning I moved into my grandmother's—well, technically it's Leo's now—house with my daughter, not knowing a single soul in this town.

A few days after settling in with our things, Leo's adoptive mom, Monica, showed up with dinner and introduced herself. Lou immediately became smitten, and I couldn't blame her for it. Monica's cool as hell. Plus, I think she's a little lonely with Leo and Darby gone. Her daughter, Elena, lives in New York and doesn't visit often. Apparently, when Leo told her he'd reconnected with Darby after ten years and they'd be getting married next spring, she was elated. She immediately took Darby in like a daughter—which was great, given that our own mother has never been particularly nurturing—and it now appears that extends to me and my daughter too.

Monica has taken us around town, helped me get Lou registered at the elementary school nearby, and has even started apartment hunting for me. Leo got me set up with a job that I'll be starting once he returns from Europe and I get Lou settled at school. After one particularly late night and a few too many margaritas after Lou went to bed, I explained my dating history to Monica, who then decided I was far too young, hot, and smart to be so accepting of my single status. Now, her goal is to help me find a boyfriend.

I didn't have the heart to explain my deep-seeded trust and daddy issues, so I played along, thinking it was something she'd forget. I wasn't expecting her to inform me that she set me up with the son of a friend of a friend—because apparently, everyone in this town knows everyone—and she would be babysitting.

I was adamant on not going, but when she showed up at the house this evening and demanded I leave, I couldn't say no. At the very least, I looked forward to the opportunity to get out of the house and feel like an adult for a little while.

That date ended up going sideways when I walked away on the arm of a stranger, fucked him in the back office, and scurried out like a sewer rat. I didn't even have a ride home, so I ran around the backside of the building while I called my Uber, afraid that the gorgeous man whose name I never learned would come looking for me.

God, he was gorgeous, though.

Thick arms, corded muscles, and all those tattoos . He's exactly my type, and fuck, if I didn't cling to his body like a bear on a tree branch.

"You could've woken me up, you know?" A voice pulls me from my daydreams, startling me in the darkness.

"Fuck, Monica." My hands fly to my chest. "You scared me."

Leo's mother stands in the doorway leading from the living room, smiling sleepily. When I got home from my date, Lou was already in bed and Monica had fallen asleep on the couch. I didn't want to disturb her, so I began stress-baking brownies instead.

"I didn't want to bother you. I figured you'd get up at some point."

She smiles at me. "How'd the date go?"

I wince. "I'm not sure there will be a second."

Monica frowns before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, Colin's a bit of a dud. I'll admit I knew that going in, but I thought it was a good way for you to at least dip your toes into the Pacific Shores dating pool."

"Well," I draw, "I think I definitely got what I needed out of it."

She flicks a manicured, dark eyebrow at me but thankfully doesn't push for further explanation. Yawning, she putters into the kitchen and begins putting dishes in the sink. "Lucy went to bed around nine-thirty."

Lucy. Child of many nicknames, my daughter is. With a birth name like Lucille, it's bound to happen. My parents have always called her by her full name. I began calling her Lou when she was a baby because I thought she kind of looked like an old man. Plus, my mom hated the nickname. Darby will sometimes call her Lulu, which Leo has picked up too. Monica, however, has taken a liking to Lucy.

"Are you throwing a party I wasn't aware of?" she asks, cataloging the disaster of a kitchen.

"No. I just bake when I can't sleep, I guess." I shrug.

Monica chuffs. "I told Lou you were meeting a new friend, by the way. So expect her to ask about it tomorrow. She was very interested to know who you're becoming friends with since, according to her, you don't have any."

I snort. "She's nothing if not honest."

I don't tell her I'm dating because I don't want her getting her hopes up that I'm going to introduce a new person into her life to fill the void her dad left, only for it not to work out and have her be abandoned again.

And if there is anything I'm certain of, it's that my flings never work out.

So, they never meet my daughter.

"You don't need to help clean up," I say. "It's late."

"Don't worry about it." Monica waves her hand at me as she flutters around the kitchen. "I'm a night owl, and I've been meaning to reorganize here anyway. I mean, who puts Tupperware in the cabinets? It needs to go in a drawer. It's all a mess."

I smile. Darby's going to hate coming home to find her kitchen completely restructured. But it's her mother-in-law, not mine.

"I don't want you to clean up my messes, Monica."

"Cleaning up for my kids is my favorite thing. Reminds me that I'm a mother." She doesn't look at me as she says it, as if the words flow from her mouth so naturally, she doesn't think twice about them. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by it, knowing the way she'd taken Leo in when he was twelve after his mother died and his father left.

It's in her D.N.A. She doesn't need to have known me for years to care about me.

But it's something so foreign to me, I can't help but take a step back as it processes.

"Thank you."

She looks up and smiles at me, knowing the words go far beyond her offer to clean the kitchen. "Once you actually bake these brownies, you can repay me with a fair share of them."

"Obviously," I chuckle.

"Maybe you could take them down to the offices on Monday and introduce yourself to the staff there. I know you've got a few weeks before you start, but it might be nice to familiarize yourself with the space and get to know everyone.You can meet Everett too."

I haven't met Leo's brother, Everett, yet. He's the co-owner of Heathen's Surf Co. I guess he recently took over their family business from his dad too. Between running them both, he's busy. Another reason Monica is a bit lonely, I'm sure.

"Do you know why Leo moved the offices from town hall over to Heathen's?"

The Pacific Shores Small Business Initiative is a partnership with the city funded by Leo to bring awareness and support to small business owners in the community. When Leo found out I had a degree in marketing and graphic design, he immediately offered me a job as their Marketing Director. I'm not sure if they actually need the help, or if it's something he made up for me so I'd have a place to work. Either way, I'll be partnering with small businesses inside the initiative to help promote them online.

The initiative was originally based out of town hall, but Leo recently moved it to the loft above Heathen's when he converted it from his studio apartment into a workspace.

"I think he wanted it to feel more homey and comfortable. Plus, it cuts down on commute time for Everett and himself when they have meetings." Monica shrugs. "It's coming along nicely, though. So is Honeysuckle." The flower shop Leo bought my sister. He's currently got the empty space next to his surf store being gutted and refurbished with her vision in mind. She plans on opening early next year. "You should go check it out this week. Bring some brownies and say hello. Just ask for Everett when you arrive; he'll show you around."

She's smiling mischievously to herself, but I'm far too tired to question it.