Trigger Warning: small mention of rape and murder... (nothing that has to do with our main characters)
Growing Up - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Ed Sheeran)
The doorbell chimed as I walk through the door of the bakery with Asher in my arms. Wrenley, or Wren for short, the sixteen year old girl that worked the front desk looked up from whatever she was doing, instantly smiling when she saw Asher. I walk behind the counter as she greets me and reaches her arms out for Asher, who happily complies. "You got him for a sec?" I ask as she nods.
"Of course."
I walk through the back door into the kitchen to see Evelyn kneading some type of dough. She looks up, smiling at me when her eyes meet mine. Her brown curly hair was in a messy bun with flyaways all over the place, her sleeves were rolled up, and she had some type of powder on her cheek. Her apron had, what I'm guessing was flour on it and she had slipped her shoes off. "Hi!" She says as I walk around the large counter top, wrapping my arms around her waist from behind, kissing her cheek.
"Hey baby."
"How was practice?" She asks, starting to roll out the dough.
"Rough." I say, resting my chin on her shoulder even though it was moving with her arm.
She chuckles. "Did you get those cupcakes done?" I ask as she nods.
"There's some extra over there if you want one." She says nodding her head towards the counter along the wall. "Where's Asher?"
"Wren's got him."
"Ah. He loves her." She says, stopping what she was doing to pop her knuckles.
"I know, it's cute. And, I think she loves him just as much."
"It'll be a sad day when she leaves." She says, slightly frowning.
The door swings open and Wren peaks her head through the door with Asher on her hip, "He can sit up by himself now, right?" She asks as we both nod.
"Yeah, just keep an eye on him." I say before she nods and walks away, the swinging door swings back and forth a couple of times before it stops in its place.
"What do you want for dinner?" I ask, returning my chin back to her shoulder.
"I don't care, what sounds good?"
I think for a minute before responding, "Burgers?"
"That's fine. Are you gonna make them or go to King's?" She asks referring to the literal best burgers in town.
"The fact that you still have to ask." I say, softly chuckling before placing a kiss on her shoulder. "Now, what's on your cheek?"
She shrugs her shoulders, "Probably flour." I decide to just taste test it myself, licking it all off her cheek earning a gasp from her.
"Greyson!" She swats my chest.
I shrug my shoulder, tilting my head to the side. "Powdered sugar." I grin down at her as she looks like she's gonna kill me. I boop her nose with my finger before she scrunches her nose up. "I love you." I say leaning down to kiss her, her soft lips meeting mine for only a second.
"I love you too but, you're distracting me."
"Sorry." I say, stepping back so she can do her thing.
She chuckles, "You're fine, go get Asher for a second." She says as I nod before walking out of the kitchen. Wren is sitting on the stool behind the checkout with Asher on her lap as she checks a customer out.
She sees me coming as I reach for him, scooping him up in my arms, "I'll bring him back in a minute."
She chuckles, "He's your baby."
I walk back into the kitchen and Evelyn looks up, a smile covering her face when she sees Asher. "Hi Bubby!" She says in full baby voice mode. She wipes her hands on her apron before taking him from me and kissing his cheek.
He lets out a whole slur of baby babble, "Are you talking?" She says, resting him on her hip with one arm around his back, while she continues whatever she was doing with the her free hand. "He's getting so big." She pouts.
"I know." I say, leaning against the counter along the wall, across from the large table in the center of the room where Evelyn is working.
"How are you so big already?" She says, poking his cheek and he giggles.
"Do you want me to take him home or leave him here with you?" I ask as she looks over at me.
"He can stay here, I don't care." She says, putting flour on the table. "Are you gonna stay for a bit or are you going home?"
"I can stay for a bit."
"Great, grab one of the bags of flour from the top shelf more me, will ya?" She asks, grinning cheekily at me.
✳︎
I walk into Asher's room to see Evelyn laying on her side, him sitting up next to her, shoving a rattle toy in his mouth. I lean against the doorframe, "Bubby, look who's here!" She says, squishing his thighs before she stands up, scooping him up in her arms in the process.
"Hey Bub." I say, taking him from her arms, kissing him on the cheek before resting him on my forearm. "Food is downstairs." I nod my head towards the stairs and Evelyn nods, walking past me, her hands in her sweatpants pockets.
Asher coos and babbles the whole way to the kitchen, like he usually does. We reach the wooden landing and he drops the rattle from earlier before he starts crying. I bend down picking it up, "Look, you got it again. It's okay Bub." I say, placing my hand on the back of his head soothingly as he calms down.
"Say, it's about bedtime, isn't it?" Evelyn says turning to look over her shoulder, in front of me. I look at the clock on the microwave to see it was almost seven, which meant he was right on time to start fussing extra. We make our way to the table as I place Asher in the high chair.
We both dig in, I didn't realize how starving I was until I took a bite of a French fry and I basically inhaled my food. Evelyn ate a bit slower, consider she was feeding Asher and herself at the same time. "Here, I got it." I say, reaching my hand out the hold the bottom of the bottle. He can hold it by himself now, with support, but we have to help make sure he doesn't get the milk too fast or too slow. Now that Ev has both hands free, it doesn't take her long before she's leaning back in her seat, placing her hand over her stomach and exhaling a deep breath.
"That hit the spot." And just like clockwork, the minute he's done with the bottle he starts crying. Evelyn looks at her phone. "7:03." She says, chuckling before I stand up, lifting him out of the high chair and resting him against my chest with his face on my shoulder as I rub his back. "I'll clean up."
"You sure?" I ask as she nods.
I turn around on my heel, making my way upstairs and towards Asher's room. He settles down as I walk over to the white crib, gently placing him on his back, I grab the pacifier that is already on his mattress and slip it in his mouth. Gently wiping a tear off of his cheek he starts to fall asleep, his breathing evens out and his sucking on the pacifier slows down before it stops and he's out. After looking at him for another minute, I walk out, hitting the light switch on my way.
I walk into Evelyn and I's room to see her already in bed, laughing at something on her phone, Mia curled up at the foot of the bed. I head into the en suite bathroom before brushing my teeth and actually using the bathroom before I open the door, turning the light out only to leave the little nightlight that was in the bathroom on. Evelyn made me put one in there after she stubbed her toe for like a week straight.
I see that the curtains are already closed as I pull off my shirt and sweatpants, throwing them into the hamper before climbing under the white comforter and sheets. Evelyn places her phone on the nightstand and grabs the TV remote before snuggling into me. She turns the TV, hanging on the wall in front of us, on, before opening HBO Max and turning on Friends.
She picks up my left hand, spinning my wedding band around on my finger. Something I've found she likes to do, although, I'm not fully sure if she knows she does it all the time. It's one of those absentminded things you do so much you start to not even realize. Like how I always end up running my fingers along her spine without realizing it until I've been doing it for over an hour... Like right now.
"So did Gavin Wilson ruin your guys' chance at making it to the Cup Finals this year?" She asks, pulling my attention away from the TV.
"They haven't decided yet." I say as she nods.
"Well, it'd be stupid if they won't let you guys even have a chance. Colorado still got one after Andrews got arrested for raping girls, and was proven guilty." She says as I look down at her.
"Yeah but, there isn't anything we can do about it. Plus, I'm not justifying Andrews but, Gavin kinda murdered a 15 year old because he was jealous of him." I say as she shrugs her shoulders.
"Doesn't matter. Both teams should be treated the same way." She says as I nod.
"Agreed."
"How does one player affect the whole team anyways?" She asks.
"Because we're contracted under the team, therefore we are the team."
"Oh." She looks back at the TV, "Makes sense when you put it that way."
"Yeah."
"We'll I hope he didn't fuck it up." She says making me chuckle.
"Me too baby, me too."
And I really hope he didn't. We've won a couple Cup Finals. But it would mean more to me to win one now, with Evelyn and Asher.
Word Count: 1,715