"I'm letting myself in."I walk out to the living room and find Winnie standing at the dining room table taking off her shoes."Oh, you haven't left?" Winnie asks. "Huxley left about ten minutes ago."Nate steps behind me and passes off Emma to my waiting arms. She rubs her eyes groggily, not a morning person today. "Shit, I have to go."He pulls on Emma's pigtail and gives us each a kiss on the forehead before almost running out the door as he grabs a set of keys from the kitchen table on his way."Long night?" Winnie asks with one eyebrow a little higher on her face and a smirk written across her lips.I sputter and shake my head no. "We we're just talking.""Uh-huh. Huxley and I did a lot of talking when we first met, too."Emma reaches out for Winnie, and surprisingly she takes her without a second thought."If you will hold her for a second, I will get some breakfast around.""No problem," Winnie says, bouncing Emma on her hip and talking to her in a baby voice
"You know."Winnie shakes her head that she doesn't."The police give certain individuals monikers for use on the radio so they know who they're talking about without using names.""Sure," Katy says. "But why would we have one?"Pearl hesitates, her eyes flitting from one person to the next. "Well...you have a tendency to be talked about on the police radio."I didn't think it possible, but Katy's mouth drops open wider until Winnie steps over and closes it with her hand."What exactly is our name?" Winnie asks, keeping her hand on Katy's chin so her mouth doesn't fall open again.Pearl swallows and shakes her head a tiny amount like she doesn't want to tell us, but she opened this door and now she has to walk through it. "I'm not positive, but I think they've referred to you as The Bakery Bandits.""What? That doesn't even make sense. Who started this?"Pearl shrugs. "I'm not sure. It's been around for a while.""A while?" Katy asks, stepping away from Winnie so sh
"Why not?" I ask.Her eyes widen and she pleads for something with them, but I don't know what. Drugs go to the police. That is the rule. "My reputation can't handle it. We're already known as the Bakery Bandits. What will Pearl say?"I roll my eyes, but when I get a flash of Winnie, she seems concerned too."Huxley will never let me hear the end of this. We need to call somebody and get a handle on this situation.""You guys, there's a storage unit full of drugs. We need the police.""No," Katy says, her eyes now bright. "I have a plan. We'll call Tabitha.""Tabitha?" I ask, confused. What does she have to do with this? Are they smuggling drugs in the bakery? It would make more sense with the name, but I can't see Ridge dating a drug smuggler.I'm clueless, but Winnie nods her head like she's following along. "That's a good idea. We'll take the drugs and put them in the back of the car and drive them to Tabitha. She'll know what to do."Okay, now I'm starting to worry.
"Whoops," Winnie says, turning the car with a hard left as we get closer to Pelican Bay. The stack of boxes hits the window and Katy hugs the middle one trying to keep everything lined up."Shit, we've almost made it," Katy says as we drive past a cop car stationed on the side of the road using a radar on cars as they pass. She smiles and waves as we pass the police car and we all breathe a sigh of relief when it doesn't pull out into the road after us."I will need so much church for this," Winnie says, stopping the car in the back parking lot of the bakery...."I just can't believe you did it," Nate sputters in complete disbelief.It's been four hours since we dropped the car load of drugs off at the bakery and left Tabitha with a bunch of similar questions. Anessa, the smart one, refused to let the drugs enter the store. But eventually, without even being called, Tabitha's fiancé and a few guys showed up in the back room, and magically the drugs disappeared. Ridge put the
He did tell me he'd have to run a few "trips" this week. He didn't elaborate on what the trips were, and even though I'm dying to know, I'm doing my best not to ask. We're a hot minute into this relationship. I don't want to become the crazy girlfriend all up in his business.There's a small thread nagging in my brain and warning me that I should worry his trips are to a secret wife or prettier girlfriend, but I work to bash the horrible thoughts down to the far reaches of my brain. Nate doesn't seem like the cheating type. Plus, I'm sure you have to be with someone for more than a week before they're allowed to cheat.I'm perfectly aware I have trust issues after the divorce — I gave a therapist a lot of money to tell me this many times before I believed it — but I didn't expect them to show their ugly heads so soon. There's a small possibility I'm not as grown-up, mature, and rational as I once believed.I watch him bend over to tie his other shoe, the muscles in his back stret
"Yes, I promise." I cross my finger over my heart.Who knows why his actions mean so much to me? But they do. I stare at the green dot labeled Nate, reassuring me he's right next me even though I can see him as he sits on the bed. If I was younger and a little more naïve, I would tell my friends it was absolutely crazy. You don't attract someone with the issues I have, but I'm older and wiser. My heart has been broken. I'm aware that in life you clutch on to the little things that give you some sense of peace. And call me crazy, but knowing I can see Nate's green dot whenever I want is already providing me peace. Tabitha's not so crazy.Just the fact he's willing to do it and thought of the idea himself is enough. I can't imagine Barry ever offering such a concession. Then I would've known when he was out to late night dinners with his girlfriend or visiting the small studio apartment he'd rented for her. I'd have found out about all those times he promised me he was working late a
"Katy isn't coming?""She doesn't come if it's a couple's thing. She's worried about it. I don't know. I keep telling her it's no big deal, but she doesn't listen.""Ridge won't let Tabitha anywhere near the grill, so we've been stuck inside keeping the side dishes warm," Winnie says with a laugh and changing the subject.Tabitha pulls a non-covered casserole dish — what looks to be macaroni and cheese — from the oven and places it on the last bare spot on the counter. "It is for the best," she says, raising one shoulder in a half shrug. I get the impression this is an argument they've before and she's just given up."You promise there wasn't a camera in the bathroom?" Anessa asks, walking out from a small powder room off to one side of the kitchen.A camera?"He promised the bathrooms and bedrooms are clear," Tabitha says not paying attention as Anessa dries off her hands, whipping them on the top of her jeans."Where do you think they are?" Her eyes search the corners o
The noise gets louder and louder until it sounds like the motorcycles stop right on the other side of Ridge's house. I put the casserole down on the wooden picnic table in the middle of the yard, and Nate stands beside me holding Emma to his chest. The fact he's tense doesn't go unnoticed and doesn't make me feel better about the racket happening at the front of the house.The engines cut off in unison and I hear voices.From the right corner of Ridge's house walk a large group of men — oversized and wearing more leather than they should in the heat of Pelican Bay summer. They stop at the edge of the yard.One man in particular with a determined look stands with his arms crossed. His eyes drag through the crowd and stop at Anessa when he nods his head once in her direction. She nods back and then her head tips up, looking at Bennett, who stands by her side with a scowl written across his features."I don't remember inviting you," Ridge says, stepping up to the front of his crow