Promises Forgotten
Chapter 42

I fell asleep around 12:00 a.m. after finishing cleaning up from the night’s festivities. Today was the Friday meet-up, so I got up before 3 a.m. in the morning to make extra bread and baked goods. Since coming back from New York, I was sleeping a max of 4 hours a night anyways, so it didn’t matter. By the time David showed up, I had three batches of four different baked goods already cooling. Not including tripling my bread batches.

“Holy cow.” David placed a bag of flour on the shelf. “How long have you been up?”

“Hours?” I laughed, brushing my hair out of my face. “Do you want a muffin to go with your coffee?”

“You know I could never say no.”

“Let me grab your coffee. Hold on a second.”

I headed to the front and made his coffee. I already had warmed up the machines at around three-thirty, so it was immediately ready. Pouring the cup, I put the lid on it and placed a fresh muffin in a to-go container. Heading back, I saw David was placing two large bags on my counter.

“What are those?”

A goofy grin covered his face. I handed him his goodies and he took a sip, moaning. Looking over the bags, my fingers traced over the French words.

“La boulangerie française?” My eyes widened. “Farine des dieux?” My voice rose an octave. Turning, I looked at David. “How the f**k did you get this?”

“I pulled some strings, maybe got on my knees for a few people. It came in this morning and I had to hide it from three different bakers.”

Shaking my head, I brushed over the French words. “David. This is farine des dieux.”

“Yup.”

“The French flour of the gods.”

“Yup.”

“The f*****g flour of the f*****g gods, David.”

“I know. How much do you love me?”

I threw my hands around him and kissed him on the cheek. “I f*****g love your face.”

David laughed. “My wife…”

“Shhh. Don’t mention your wife when you brought me the flour of the gods. There is no wife. There is you, me, and the flour.” I kissed his other cheek.

He laughed harder and spun me around before setting me down. “Alright, bitch, I’ve got other deliveries.”

“You coming tonight?”

“Yeah. Bringing the wife, too.”

I smiled. “I’ll see you there then. I’m making the bread for the rolls and then as much baked goods as I can for everyone.”

“Sounds good! I’ll see you later!”

I waved and brushed my fingers over the bag. It was nearly impossible to get this bag imported from France. One, no one in France wanted to send it to America. But two, the specifics of the flour made it almost impossible to get through imports intact. There was a knock on the door, and I went to let Mike in. I opened the door, but stopped him from walking in.

“You look like hell, Ev.”

I rolled my eyes. “David brought us a gift. I paid for it. But it’s still a gift.”

“A gift?”

“A gift. On the table. I warn you, though. Elliot is still sleeping.”

Mike’s eyes narrowed at me. I moved out of the way and he walked past me. Going behind the counter, I made Mike a coffee.

“Holy hell, Ev. Did you even sleep last night? How many f*****g batches have you done this morning?”

“It’s our Friday meet-up. You know that. I’m making rolls and bakery items.” I called back.

Mike shuffled things around in back. “Wait…what are these bags doing on the counter? Ev, do you want me to move…wait…”

I smirked, waiting for it.

“WHAT THE F*****G SHIT? HOLY F*****G HELL. EV. EV! Eeeevvvvvv!” Mike slid to where I was holding out his coffee cup for him.

“Ev. Ev, it’s farine des dieux.”

I nodded.

“THE farine des dieux.”

I nodded again.

“Two f*****g bags!”

I nodded again, smirking.

“Good god, Ev. What do we do with it?”

“Nothing today. We don’t have time. Not with the gathering tonight. I was thinking about closing on Sunday, though. We could have a family night for just us. It’s been a while.”

Mike smiled. “I’ll print up the signs.”

The door opened and our usual 5:00 a.m.-ers came in and we started the busy day. Mike and I were steady all day. Elliot came down early though, excited about the gathering tonight. All the businesses in the area closed early and we headed to the beach. A giant potluck, bonfire, and all-around party of the local businesses and their families. After I took Elliot to school, I worked on making more rolls and baked goods while Mike manned the front. I helped when he needed it, but my main focus was covering the back. My alarm went off and I took off my apron to go pick up Elliot.

Mike came over to me. “The asshat is here.”

My eyes widened and I looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, Zach was sitting in the cafe, drinking coffee.

“How long has he been here?”

Mike shrugged. “It’s been busy. I think he snuck in at some time. I didn’t even notice him order, but he’s been sitting there for a bit.”

Nodding, I took a deep breath. Walking over to him, I looked down. Slowly, his head tilted up to look at me.

“Come with me.”

He raised his eyebrow, but nodded. Getting up, I realized he was in a regular shirt and jeans instead of his usual suit. Honest to god, it should be illegal for this man to just wear jeans and a t-shirt. Following me out the door, he jogged for a moment to walk next to me.

“Where are we going?”

“To pick up Elliot.”

He stopped and I walked a couple steps before turning around. Zach was staring at me, for the first time in a while I saw fear reflecting in the depths of his eyes.

“I don’t…”

“You don’t. But he does.”

His brows furrowed and he slowly walked up to me. “What do you mean?”

I smiled. “You’ll see. It’s the reason why I’m so harsh on my friends and Ron. Especially around El.”

He walked with me, but shoved his hands in his pockets. We stepped together for a few blocks until he slowed down, watching the kids running out of the front of the school. I walked forward to the lower part of the fence.

Elliot was sitting with Jan, Hailey, Jessica, and Krista. He took after his father in more ways than one. He looked my way and I waved. Making sure to k**s each girl’s hand, he raced over to me and I bent down, pulling him into a hug.

“Hey kiddo. How was school?”

“Good! Hailey and Chris got in a fight.”

“Did you make sure to be the knight?”

“Yeah, Mom. I was. I did good.”

Smiling, I ruffled his hair. “Good job. I have a surprise for you.”

Elliot’s face lit up. “What?”

I moved a little to allow him to look past me. Elliot looked and his eyes found Zach. His little eyes grew wide and a smile burst forth.

“Dad!” He yelled and ran around, jumping into Zach’s arms.

Zach was shocked. Barely catching him in time and holding Elliot in his arms. His face was a little pale, but he had a grin on his face as he adjusted to hold Elliot on his side.

“Dad! Are you here for beach day? Mom makes the best dessert.”

He looked at me confused and I motioned him to talk.

“I thought I would join your mom and you.”

“Perfect! I run super fast on the sand. I can beat Abuelo. He’s really slow.”

“El! That’s your grandpa you’re talking about! Be nice!” I walked up to Zach and smiled.

He was trying to hold it together, but there was a shake in his hands and his eyes were glassy. I stroked his arm, trying to tell him to relax. We started heading in the direction of the cafe.

“Dad! You should see my books! Mom says that I will have as many as you!”

“You’re getting started earlier than I did. I wouldn’t be surprised if you surpass my collection.”

Elliot narrowed his eyes. “Have you read all the books in your office?”

Zach laughed. “At least twice.”

“I’ll get there. Fitz and I have some reading to do.”

I grumbled. “Just stop stealing my cookbooks to read. Those stay in the kitchen.”

“Yes, Mom.” Elliot sounded dejected.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “You are welcome to read them…in the kitchen. Especially while I’m in there baking, but just don’t lug them upstairs.”

“Okay!” He sounded more chipper. “Dad. Dad. Are you here for business? You don’t usually come out here.”

I smiled, but turned from them and stepped a little quicker, allowing Zach and Elliot to just be together. I needed to get back anyway to finish off the final preparations for the beach.

“I am. I have a couple meetings over the next couple of days.”

“Why? A.A.W. isn’t here.”

Zach cleared is throat. “How do you know?”

“‘Cause I’m smart. Mom reads me stuff and I remember it all.”

There was a chortle. “I have no doubt. You’re the product of two very smart people.”

I heard a hum out of Elliot and I turned to glare at him. He laughed at me and I couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m here for my other company I own.”

“DV?”

“Yes. There are some shifts in the company going on. So I’m handling them.”

This time I raised my eyebrow and looked at Zach. He looked at me and smiled. There wasn’t anything on the internet in regards to any shifts. Which meant this was something recent and not being advertised. I stopped short, thinking about what he said all those years ago.

“Z, you didn’t.”

He turned to look at me, Elliot looking confused in his arms. “I did.”

“But…”

“Evie, I did it for me as well. How could I not, after what my father did? Yes, it’s going to rock the business world. Yes, it’s going to change my whole life. But I need to do this.”

Biting my bottom l*p, I tried to stop myself from crying. Zach came up to me, placing a hand on my cheek.

“I told you. Pasaré mi vida mostrándote que estoy aquí.” [I will spend my life showing you that I am here.]

“Pero, todo tu trabajo…” [But all your work…]

He brushed my cheek with his thumb. “Nada de esto significa nada sin ti y mi hijo a mi lado.” [None of it means anything without you and my son by my side.]

“Mom! Dad! Stop talking in Spanish!”

I laughed and so did Zach. We turned, but I walked a little behind them. Letting the tears fall down, out of sight of Elliot and Zach. I felt so happy and so scared. Scared that I wouldn’t survive if something happened again. Seeing them together was all I’d ever wanted, but never dared to dream. Ron was right. This was and is still my dream. I thought I had lost it, but maybe it was still salvageable.