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She was flustered, I could see that plainly, so I stepped forward and grabbed the mop.

“If you could grab us a couple of sausage rolls and…” I turned to see Jamie standing there. “A butter chicken pie?” She nodded. “I’ll get the floor cleaned up. Maybe some coffees for that lady.”

“On the house,” the mother said in a definite tone. “Get them a whole box of both the pies and the sausage rolls.”

“On it,” Bailey said with a nod, rushing back to the counter.

“I can’t thank you enough for this,” the mother said, doing her best to soothe the now wailing child. “Like free pies for life.”

“Hear that, Jamie?” I asked as I looked up from mopping. “You’re sorted.”

“This is your man?” the mother asked her, sidling closer to Jamie, even as she jostled and rubbed the child’s back. She glanced down at my girl’s fingers. “You need to lock that one down. Cleaning up other people’s messes and saving small children? He’d make a good daddy.”

“Um… about my coffees?” the woman who’d lost her order said.

“I’m so sorry. We’ll replace them on the house and will throw in a box of doughnuts as well…”

I’m not sure how I expected Jamie to react as I went to work, mopping up the coffee until the floor was cleaned, but it wasn’t this. She was all pale and wide eyed again, standing there, just staring before Bailey rushed over with a couple of boxes.

“That’s enough to feed an army, but thanks,” I said to the girl, before turning to Jamie. “My good deed for the day is done. Should we get out of here?”

“Yeah.”

She turned on her heel and left so fast I was surprised she wasn’t leaving skid marks on the polished wooden floors. I sighed and then hoisted the boxes up, following her outside to find out why.

Chapter 12

Jamie

“Everything OK?” Hayden asked, looking me over.

I just snorted and then grinned.

“Oh, I just wanted to get the hell out of the way.”

“Of the little girl…?”

“No.” Did he not know? There’s no way he could’ve gone through life looking like he did and not be aware of it. “Hot male model saves child and then mops floor afterwards!” I spread my hands out as if this was a newspaper headline. “I just didn’t want to get caught in the rush.” He shook his head in confusion. “Of women throwing their numbers at you?” Still, he looked puzzled. “In case you’re unaware, that shit is catnip for women. I saw a gleam in multiple women’s eyes in the bakery. At least some of them were planning a wedding inside their heads with you as the groom. I figured I’d remove myself in case one of your future baby mamas was standing there.”

“Baby mamas…” He blinked. “I don’t plan on having kids.”

“OK,” I replied with a shrug. “But men say that all the time and…”

Then change their mind.

The one serious relationship I’d had was with Rohan. We’d met in trade school, and while I’d checked him out, I’d turned him down each time he asked me out on a date. I couldn’t deal with the gossip of all the other apprentices, but when he asked me out on the last day of our final trade block, I’d said yes. One date led to another and another, and a connection was formed beyond having someone to bitch about being a mechanic with. He loved old muscle cars like I did, liked long, lazy Sunday mornings in bed. His enthusiasm for bacon matched my own and we never fought. Being with him was like spending time with a male version of myself, and I thought we were completely on the same page until one day, when we were around at his parent’s place, one of his relatives asked when we were going to get married and have kids.

It was like floodgates had opened. His family members analysed our place, identifying all the things that would need to change to accommodate the babies I’d be popping out. Others discussed how I’d have to quit my job and stay home, catering to my children and Rohan’s every need. Each muscle in my body grew tighter in sync with their increasing enthusiasm. It wasn’t as if Rohan didn’t notice, his own grip on my hand clamping down, holding me in this spot, his fingers biting into mine when I tried to pull free. I stared into his eyes, willing him to tell them, to set them straight. We’d talked about this, agreed that we never wanted to get married or have kids.

Then he turned around and changed his mind.

“Jamie will make a great mum and wife,” he said, much to his family’s satisfaction. “Won’t you, love?”

I would be if that’s what I wanted. I knew my way around a mop and a fry pan, Mum having put me through my first apprenticeship, but the idea of doing that all the time and only that? No, worse, with a small human in tow. Or multiple, because no one wanted to have just one child. I’d been filled with a strange kind of hysteria, my chest getting ever tighter because it felt like a trap. One everyone around me had been herding me towards, simply because of my gender.

We’d had a roaring fight when we got home and then it all came out. He’d changed his mind. That was fine, I wished him well, I told him through the tears, but I hadn’t. I was never going to become the mother of his child and he needed to find someone who wanted to if that’s what he wanted.

He did.