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“Hey, can I ask you something?”
Dean looked up after a moment’s silence, feeling a little silly when he realized that he and Layla were the only people in the bakery. Of course she was talking to him, not someone else. “Yeah, sure. What’s on your mind?”
“Why are you here? Isn’t today your birthday?” She immediately reddened and looked down at the dough she was scooping into the muffin tin. “I mean… you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but you don’t normally work on Mondays and yet here you are. Most people would never trade shifts to where they were working on their birthdays. It’s just the opposite. They want their birthdays off. So I was curious.”
Dean felt a little bad about not cutting her off earlier, but he loved listening to Layla talk. “I work when I can get hours. Normally, I don’t work Monday morning because I like to be there for my brother to see him off to school at the start of the week, but he’s not going this morning. He was at that basketball tournament, and didn’t get home until a couple hours ago, thanks to the storm. I told him to get his ass to bed and sleep in, that I’d call him in when the office opens at six. Guy who usually works this shift was at that same tournament, so I called the boss soon as I realized what was happening and told him I wanted the hours and he said yes. Nothing else to it.”
“Fair enough.” Layla smiled at him. “You’re responsible for your brother? That’s sweet.”
Dean focused hard on the display case he was cleaning to hide his embarrassment. “Dunno about that, but thanks. Someone’s gotta look after the kid, because he won’t do it himself and there’s just not anyone else, but I do the best I can.”
“I know that’s how it’s supposed to work, but I’ve known guys your age who would say it’s not their problem. There are a lot of people in this world who don’t think twice about abandoning people, you know?” Layla put the muffin pans in the oven and took the bowl to the sink to join the pile of things for Dean to wash. “The guy who worked this job before you, he didn’t think twice.”
“He abandoned his brother?!” Dean had heard some of the other crew talking about Scott, and from what he’d been able to gather, the guy was no prize and the bakery was much better off without him. He’d also overheard some speculation about Dean replacing him in more ways than one, and the owner’s wife, Sue Ellen, had come to him after he finished his first shift to tell him that if things progressed a certain way, she would personally make him suffer if he wasn’t superior to Scott. Annoyingly, she hadn’t been willing to say what that certain way was, so Dean just kept his head down and did his job. If Scott had abandoned a little brother… although that didn’t make much sense, what would Sue Ellen or the bakery have to do with that?
“Not his brother,” Layla corrected. Dean relaxed a little. “His fiancée. Me.”
“So he wasn’t just a jackass, he was a stupid jackass.” Dean could not imagine being stupid enough to ditch a girl like Layla. She was gorgeous, she was a hard worker, she was sweet and cheerful and kind even to the worst of the customers that started throwing tantrums when the oatmeal raisin cookies had fewer raisins than they thought they should, and there wasn’t a person in the store who hadn’t been on the receiving end of Layla’s generosity with her time and her goodwill. She was religious, and that was the closest Dean could find to a bad thing to say about her, but even then she was the kind of religious that was all about living to serve others and not trying to tell others what a good Christian she was. As religious chicks went, Layla was easily the best one he’d ever known. Even after he’d told her he was an atheist, the only thing she’d changed about how she treated him was mentioning God and prayer and church less. “What the hell could be so awful that he’d abandon you? Cold feet? Fear of commitment?”
“Inoperable brain tumor.” Layla gave a soft laugh at the look on Dean’s face after that. “He didn’t even wait the two weeks for the second opinion, which said that with treatment it was possible that the tumor could be reduced enough to become operable. Those two months last spring I was gone, that’s where I was, having and recovering from brain surgery. They said it might come back, and I have to get scans every month for the rest of my life, but thanks to them I have a rest of my life to worry about.”
“And he abandoned you for that?” Dean shook his head. “You needed someone to be there for you and he just… bailed? Stupid jackass piece of shit.”
“He did have good sides, or I would never have been his fiancée,” Layla said gently as she checked some bread dough she had rising. “I’m not saying I’m sorry he’s gone, or that what he did wasn’t selfish and cruel, but it’s important to me to remember that on the whole, things were more good than bad.”
Dean bit his tongue. No sense saying what he wanted to say, because Layla was just this kind of person. “Your memories, your choice. Still, he lost something amazing.”
“And he’s never getting it back,” Layla agreed, and Dean relaxed a little. Layla pulled some cupcakes out of the oven, setting them to cool except for one she pulled out of the tray and frosted immediately. She pulled a candle out of her pocket and put it on top. “Happy birthday, Dean.”
“…For me?”
“Yes. I know you prefer pie, but I was hoping that fresh from the oven might make up the difference since I’m not supposed to cut the pies until I have to. Sue Ellen and Roy said to send pie home with you when you leave, but this is just from me.”
“Oh, man…” Dean peeled the paper off the cupcake and bit into it. Amazing, just like everything Layla made. The moan he let out was not at all decent, and he felt a little bad about that since it was Layla, but too late to do anything about it. “Thish ish amzin. Fanksh.”
“I know you work a lot, and not just here, but a second job as well… but do you think you might be able to find time for me to take you out to lunch? Or dinner, or whatever works with your schedule?”
Dean swallowed the bite of cupcake before he could choke on it. “Are you asking me on a date?”
“Yes?” Layla winked at him. “Please don’t tell me you’re one of those guys who’s going to be upset about me doing it instead of you.”
“Are you kidding? I have no problem at all with women taking charge and going after something they want,” Dean said, and Layla’s smile grew wider. “I’m just surprised you’d want me. I’m a high school dropout with nothing to my name but a little brother who’s gonna be so much better than me and a need to work my ass off.”
“You’re loyal, you’re stubborn, you’re protective, you’re a good man. I find you attractive and Roy and Sue Ellen agree with my assessment of your character. They’ve been encouraging me to go for it since I asked them for their opinion of you.”
“Huh.” Dean would think it over, but really, what was there to think about? “If Sammy’s up by lunchtime, I’m gonna be doing stuff with him today, but I know we’re both off at noon tomorrow. We could go get lunch then?”