Her nod was more of a tremor.
“I’ll leave the stuff I printed,” he said, standing. He kept his distance from her, literally backing up to avoid brushing his arm against hers. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
No. I’m not okay. I’m reeling from the punch of a thousand different fists. “Yeah. Fine.”
He raised a single eyebrow.
“Well, maybe not fine but . . .” She sucked in a breath and let it out with a shrug. “I don’t know what I am.”
His face sobered. “Come here.”
With a single step forward, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a warm embrace. His heart pounded beneath her cheek. Strong. Solid. Reassuring. He held her and let her catch her breath, pressing his lips to the top of her head, just like he’d done when she rested her head on his shoulder last night. His hands rubbed gentle circles in the center of her back.
“We’ll figure it out,” he murmured against her hair. “You don’t have to make any decisions right now.”
“But I have to make them soon. Candi said he’s running out of time.”
Noah held her a moment longer and then pulled back. “Call me if you need me.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I will.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
He studied her silently for a beat, searching her face. “I’ll pick you up at six.”
They were silent as he gathered his things. She watched, frozen in place, as he slid his laptop into his backpack. As he swiped his car keys from the counter.
He was reaching for the door when she finally found her voice. “Noah.”
He turned.
“I mean it. Thank you.”
His smile was as reassuring as his words. “What’re friends for?”
Alexis waited until she heard his car back out of her driveway before heading upstairs to shower and get ready for work. A half hour later, she lured Beefcake into his cat carrier. It was just after seven when she pulled into the alley behind ToeBeans. This was late for her, even for a day when she didn’t open the shop. But Jessica and Beth had things well in hand when Alexis walked in. A line stretched from the counter to the door. Alexis quickly donned an apron and joined Jessica at the counter while Beth filled a customer’s latte order.
Jessica looked over from the cash register and did a double take. “Whoa. You okay?”
“Fine,” Alexis lied. She turned to the woman who’d just moved to the front of the line. “Good morning, Mrs. Bashar. How’s little Max doing?”
Max was a calico kitten that Mrs. Bashar had adopted just a couple of weeks ago during one of ToeBeans’ adoption events. The woman grinned and dug out her phone. “Oh, he is just the sweetest little thing.”
She turned around her phone to show off a photo of the kitten sleeping on her husband’s chest.
Alexis laughed. “And to think your husband didn’t want another cat.”
“The tough guys always have the softest hearts,” Mrs. Bashar said, returning the phone to her purse.
Alexis quickly filled the woman’s normal order, promised to stop by her yarn shop up the street soon, and then fell into the wonderful routine of the morning rush hour. It would last until at least eight o’clock, when it would finally slow down just long enough to restock the pastry display before the next wave hit.
At precisely eight fifteen, Alexis served the last customer in line and then went into the kitchen to load up on more muffins, scones, and apple turnovers.
The swinging door flip-flapped behind her, and before she had time to turn around, Jessica’s voice echoed against the stainless-steel appliances. “What’s going on?”
Alexis pulled a tray of muffins from the tiered cart against the wall. “Nothing. Why?”
“First you ran out of here last night like you’d just seen a ghost. Now you come back in looking like, well . . . like shit.”
Alexis set the tray on the counter. “Gee, thanks.”
“What’s going on? And don’t even think about pretending you’re fine. I know you better than that.”
Alexis paused, her hands hovering over the muffins. Jessica did know her. They’d been through hell and back together. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Try the beginning.”
Alexis planted her hands on the edge of the counter and let out a long breath. Words tumbled out with it. “Noah spent the night at my house last night, and I think I found my father.”
Alexis might’ve laughed at Jessica’s openmouthed expression if the entire situation weren’t causing actual heart palpitations. Jessica closed her mouth, swallowed, and blinked several times.
“So, okay,” she said. “We’re going to get back to the Noah thing, but first things first. What do you mean about your father?”
Alexis returned to the task of transferring muffins from the tray to a bakery display platter. “That girl last night. She says she’s my sister and that my long-lost father is apparently dying and needs a kidney transplant.”
“And you believe her, this girl?”
“I don’t have any reason not to, at this point. We have the same eyes, and someone named Elliott sent flowers to my mom’s funeral. It all adds up so far.”
The pinch of Jessica’s eyes forecasted an incoming storm. “Where the hell has he been all your life?”
“I don’t know.” Alexis tasted the sour tang of betrayal at the back of her throat. “I don’t know if he knew about me.”
The words stung. Was it possible her mom hadn’t even told Elliott that she was pregnant back then? Would her mother have done something like that? Would she have purposely denied Alexis her own father?
Alexis shook her head to clear away the thought. No. Her mother would never have done that. The only thing that made sense was that Elliott had simply told her that he wanted no part in Alexis’s life because he was about to marry someone else.
Jessica moved closer and softened her voice. “This all feels a little too coincidental, though. This girl just happens to find you through some ancestry DNA test when he needs a kidney?”
Alexis’s stomach fired a warning
