But We Were so Perfect

"Oh my gosh! You are getting so big!" I said as I lifted a regular customer's toddler up to rest on my hip. Emily, the woman that was my first ever customer, has become a good friend of mine. About a year after I met her, she had a baby girl named summer. Maggie, her first little girl, was so big now. I think she's just starting middle school.

Emily smiled at me as did Maggie. "Almost 4 years old." She said. Summer played with the collar of my shirt and smiled at me. "Soon Im going to throw my back out when I pick you up" I said "What do you want today?". She looked at Emily for a second before turning back to me with a shy smile.

"Choca-chip." She said.

"Okay, I have some warm ones with gooey choca-chips about to come out of the oven, want to wait and then you can have one?" She nodded happily.

"Nix, you don't have to do that." Emily smiled. "We can deal with a regular cookie."

"No, no it's fine!" I insisted and leaned closer "special customer perks." I whispered. She and Maggie chuckled. All of the treats are made fresh in the morning and then whatever is not eaten is given away, the nearly baked treats that are still warm and super soft are always the best though.

Noah came out just then with the tray of fresh chocolate chip cookies. I set summer down and Emily took her hand. I bagged two chocolate chip cookies and then took the money Emily handed to me and gave her the change.

I grabbed her shoulder lightly over the counter and we leaned in and kissed each others cheeks. "Thanks, nix" she said as she gathered her kids "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah. Bye guys!" I said as they walked away. I chuckled to myself and wiped some crumbs off the counter.

"You seem to have cheered up." A voice came from the counter. I looked up to see Jaime smiling at me. "Jaime, hi." I smiled. "Yeah we fixed if and talked through it." The valentines day incident happened about two weeks ago. Danny and I were a tiny bit choppy still, but he's been staying true to his word.

"Well, that's good" he said "I was walking past and took a glance inside the bakery and saw you and thought I'd stop by and say hi."

"Oh cool." I said "it's nice to see you again, I can't thank you enough for helping me out."

"It was no problem." He said "so you work here?"

"I'm the owner actually." His eyes widened.

"Really? That's great, I've heard that its a good place to eat."

"Well, I'll give you a treat, all in me." I said.

"You don't have to do that, Nixon." He said.

"It'll be a payment for letting a bum like me crash at your place." He chuckled and asked for a red velvet cup cake. Since no one new was coming into the shop and everyone that was in the shop was sitting down, he stayed at the counter.

"Oh my god." He mumbled, a mouth full of a bite of the cupcake. He had an icing mustache which made me laugh. "This is so good." He swallowed and wiped his mustache off.

"I'm glad you like it." I chuckled. He looked at his watch and his eyes widened.

"I have to get going, my shift starts soon." He said "I'll definitely come here more often though." I smiled and nodded.

"Bye." I said.

"Thank you, bye." He ran out if the bakery and down the street.
-
"Goodnight, Nixon!" Noah and Matthew said as they leave.

"Bye guys!" I called as I slipped on my jacket. I bagged all of the left over treats and turned off the lights in the bakery and locked the doors before going to my car and driving to the local soup kitchen. I've been bringing food here since I first started the bakery so they know I would never do anything to the treats.

When I walked in and too the back of the kitchen, I met with Gloria. She thanked me and took the bag. As I was walking out a man grabbed a hold of my arm and stopped me. I looked at him in surprise and was ready to run when I saw the face. I turned around and faced the man. I almost started crying.

"Nixon?" The gruff voice came "oh my god." I threw my arms around the man and he did the same. I laughed loudly as I squeezed him and patted his rag covered back. We pulled away and I smiled at him. The man was my street mate, if you what to call it that. We met when I first started living on the streets and we traveled together and shared food and talked. It made life more bearable.

"Mikey! Oh my god!" I laughed, bringing him into another hug.

"What the hell happened to you?!" He smiled, looking me up and down. "I disappear for two days and I come back to our spot and you aren't there. I haven't seen you in five fucking years!!"

"I woke up and you weren't there! I was so sad and thought you just left and so I left!" I said "I went looking for a better place to stay and I found an abandoned house and stayed there over night before it had to be demolished."

"Why are you looking like this?!" He asked. I lead him to a table and we sat down.

"The man that was in charge of the demolition took me in and it started off as I being his in home chef, but then we started dating and and now we're engaged."

"That's crazy!" He said "oh my god there great!"

"And guess what." He gave me a look that said "go on."

"I own a bakery again!" I said "two actually! They are going so well, I can't even begin to tell you what has happened."

"Nixon! I'm so proud of you." He smiled. We talked for another hour before my phone vibrated.

"Hey, where are you? Is everything okay?" It was Danny. Damn it, I forgot to text him to say that I would be late.

"Who is it?" Mikey asked.

"Danny, he's asking where I was and if everything was okay." I said "I should probably get home before he decides to make dinner and destroys something." I chuckled. He smiled and nodded. I got an idea and quickly called Danny.

"Hey, everything okay?" He instantly asked.

"Yeah, I was just dropping off treats to the soup kitchen when I ran into an old friend of mine, sorry I forgot to text you."

"It's fine, when do you think you'll be home? I would make dinner, but I don't think you want me even in the kitchen." He chuckled.

"I'll leave now, but do you mind if I bring my friend?" Mikey looked up at me with wide eyes.

"No baby." He said "bring him on over." I thanked him and hung up.

"Nixon-"

"Lets go." I smiled. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the car. The ride home was silent and a little smelly.
-
"We're home!" I called. Danny soon appeared from the hallway and smiled.

"Hi." He kissed me quickly and shook hands with Mikey. "Hi, I'm Danny."

"Mikey."

"Mikey, why don't you go and a shower, we'll have dinner ready by the time you get out." I said. He thanked me and then left to the bathroom.

A pair of arms wrapped around my torso and I leaned into Danny's chest. "I love you." He said. I turned my head and kissed him. "I love you." I whispered back.

"So that was your friend?" Danny asked when we got to the kitchen. I nodded.

"An old friend from the streets, he left one day and then I left and we hasn't seen each other since." I said "I was walking out of the kitchen and then he grabbed my arm and stopped me and I instantly knew that it was him when I saw his face." I turned around and faced Danny, he was leaning against the island counter.

"Danny..."

"Yes." He interrupted.

"What?"

"Yes, he can stay here." He can help you around the bakeries and we're it using the extra bedroom anyways so-"

"Thank you!" I jumped on him and wrapped my arms and legs around him. He chuckled and held onto me.

"It's not a problem, baby." He said.

When Mikey came out, I gave him a pair of my clothes and he ate with us. "Mikey, how would you feel about staying with us?" I asked at the end if dinner. He stared at both me and Danny with wide eyes.

"Are you serious?" He asked. I nodded and he smiled wide and nodded frantically. "Oh my god, than you!" He got up and hugged me.
"I can also employ you at the bakery and help you get back on your feet." I said.

"Thank you so much Nixon!" He said "this means so much to me." He hugged me again and then sat back down.

"You'll take the guest bed." I said and he nodded.
-

Later that night, Danny and I were about to go to bed. I looked into Mikey's room and he was sound asleep. I can't believe we found each other again.