Baker's Gonna Bake

Chapter 16

Alfie had reluctantly phoned Bennet before he got into bed that same night. It was very late but Bennet was always available as expected, always at Alfie's beck and call like the position required.

He had been worried when Alfie told him of the scuffle with the Peaky Blinders and scolded him like an older brother for daring to go there alone. He was also shocked when Alfie had insisted on him coming to get the Bakery keys in the morning and that his boss would be working his accounts from home whilst Bennet kept order at the site.

That had never happened before. Unheard of.

"Are you in a bad way Alfie. Do you need a doctor?" Bennet had asked.

"Fuck off! Dont be daft as a brush Benny Boy. Do you think I'd let a few cocky gypsies get one over on me? I could of ended the lot of em with only my bare hands and I bounced Tommy's head off the bar, I did! Believe me! Pretty little cunt no more" Alfie mocked.

"Aye, well I know your legs not what it used to be. With respect, your not fighting fit and 22 anymore Alfie. We've all got to slow down at some point".

Alfie smirked but heeded the advice he knew to be true already. And the truth was he did feel like he had been hit by a bastard train and he needed a day at home to recover. Plus he couldn't face that office and that empty second desk in the corner, devoid of all things beautiful. The very thought made him suicidal. It would remind him of his failure.

"I'll be in the day after next." He had grumbled before he hung up.

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Cora stood obediently at the back of the queue with some of the men. She had started to get to the Bakery later so she was at the back, because Alfie was rarely on time and it was freezing on an early morning before the sun reared its head on the streets of London. She liked to be the last one in too so she could walk with him to the office and be on the receiving end of his coy morning glances and questions for her welfare. It always took Alfie an hour or two to warm up and be relaxed around her. It was like he was shy but she knew better. Usually it was around the second cup of coffee, the caffeine likely making him braver, she smiled. She wasn't mad at him anymore, after thinking about him the whole night through. She wanted to apologise for the slap she gave him, for leaving the Cove so abruptly and she wanted to tell him she knew why he had said what he had.
Alfie had never disrespected her, he hadn't meant to play with her emotions, she knew that deep down. He was the most caring, loveable, selfless rogue she had ever met and she wanted him madly in every way. As a boss, as a partner, as a lover, as a husband . She was and always had been a free spirit and she was going to go after what she wanted despite the restrictions from her place in society.
Alfie could take care of her in every way, she knew it. She just had to make him see it too. He had his own house, his own motor, his own businesses both legitimate and not, his own security, his own fortune she was sure, and she had the nest egg of her own if not. She could take care of him, like he needed. She could give him pancakes for breakfast, and mend and press his clothes ready for work. She could keep his accounts, and feed him the cake he loved on his break, and go home with him at shift end. There she could keep house, and make him kosher meals to his contentment before bathing him and laying with him every single night forever. That was the dream, that was the one she had envisioned all night long.

As she was thinking of dreaming a voice brought her out of another one... "MISSSS! Are yee coming in or not?" the voice shouted, snapping her back to reality. She had been that engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Bennet arriving and opening up, or the line of bakery workers streaming into the building leaving her dawdling outside looking like she had some sort of mental handicap. She chuckled as she walked through. Love was a handicap, it made her weak at the knees.