Thanks for your response to the first chapter! I'm on Twitter too, for anyone wanting behind the scenes of this and my other stories :) ( RhyleighGrace) :)
"What a day", Caroline sighed, as she flopped down into the booth opposite Max. "How much did we get tonight?"
Max slid a little stack of bills towards her friend, yawning. "Not nearly enough. I've still got all those cupcakes at home to frost".
"I don't know why we didn't just do them at the shop".
"I told you, we've got to deliver them in the morning". Max yawned slightly. "Let's go".
"Good night ladies! Two am is Earl time".
"Good night Earl". Max grinned at him, poking her tips into her bra and shrugging on her coat. "Come on Caroline, let's go".
The two walked home in almost silence, Caroline breaking that to tell Max how beautiful the moon looked that night.
"Nothing good ever happens on a full moon", Max said, and Caroline sighed.
"Max you're so superstitious!"
"Yes". Max nodded.
(She blamed her mother.)
"I told you; just go to sleep in my bed!" Max said for what felt like the thousandth time, as Caroline groaned dramatically. "That's what happen when you live four feet from the oven!"
"It's fine!" Caroline said, stretching out. "I still don't understand why we couldn't do this at the shop in the morn-"
It didn't matter how long she had lived in Williamsburg, a knock at the door late at night would always scare Caroline Channing. Every night when Sophie came to get her nightcap cupcake she'd jump, but that night was worse.
They were the knocks of the authorities.
"It's a raid!" Caroline screamed dramatically from her vagina bed, and Max rolled her eyes heavenward. "I told you not to do drugs, Max, I told you!"
"Shut it Caroline, shut it! We are not doing this again!" Max pointed her wooden spoon at Caroline before advancing towards the door.
"What about your bedroom stash?"
"It's probably just Sophie coming for her nightcap cupcakes!" Max protested, unlocking the door and swinging it open. But instead of seeing the busty Polish woman, she was faced by three police offers.
"Oh my God!" Caroline screamed, and Max looked at them curiously.
"Hello officers, what can I do for you at three thirty in the morning?"
"Are you Max Black?"
(Caroline thought she was going to faint. Her best friend was being arrested. How many times did she have to tell her not to do pot? She knew she was going to get caught, she just knew it.)
"Yes", Max said suspiciously. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it".
"Ms Black, Louise and Michael Plumber were in a car accident last night", the officer told the brunette, and Caroline actually saw the colour drain from Max's face.
(Who the hell were Louise and Michael Plumber, and why hadn't Max mentioned them? they were obviously highly important in her life.)
"Oh", Max said quietly.
"Their daughter, Bethany, is in emergency foster care, but according to their will, they have requested that, in the event of their passing, she go to her biological mother".
"Oh". Max looked down, feeling Caroline's stare in the back of her head.
"What?" Caroline interrupted, standing up and moving over to the door. "Max, what are they talking about?"
"Oh", Max said, her voice even quieter than the first time. "Um… what about other family?"
"Your name is on their will, Ms Black. As her biological mother, the Plumbers nominated you as her guardian".
"Mother?" Caroline's eyes nearly fell out her head and she smacked Max's arm. "What?"
"If you would be able to come to the station at lunchtime tomorrow- lunchtime today- so we can discuss arrangements", one said to her, and Max nodded.
"You can run the shop for a bit on your own, right Caroline?"
Caroline was apparently unable to move on. "You have a kid?"
"Thank you, Ms Black. Apologies for interrupting your night".
"You have a child?" Caroline turned to Max the moment the door had closed. "Oh my God! Why didn't you tell me? I can't believe you didn't tell me!"
"How am I supposed to keep a kid alive?" Max questioned Caroline. "I can barely keep you alive!"
Caroline ignored her, choosing to plough on.
"I can't believe you never told me you had a kid!" Caroline accused. "I told you all about my life!"
"I told you, 2008 was a kind of blackout year!" Max defended, holding her hands up in defence.
"You have a child, Max".
"It never came up!"
"That is something you mention! Hey, I'm Max, I'm broke and I had a child!"
"Who says that?" Max threw her hands in the air. "We are not discussing this now". Abandoning the cupcakes she needed frosted for the next morning, she stalked towards her bedroom.
"Oh, we are so discussing this!" Caroline followed Max towards her bedroom, frowning at the way that Max climbed into bed like nothing was wrong. Climbing in beside her, she continued. "I can't believe you would keep this from me!"
"Go and pull down your vagina and go to sleep", Max said, her voice muffled by her pillow.
"Fine! But we are continuing this conversation tomorrow! You are not getting out of this".
"It was a long time ago Caroline! Go and pull your vagina down and go to sleep".
"We are talking about this in the morning", Caroline repeated, crawling off Max's bed. "I feel like you want a hug".
"Out". Max pointed towards the door, frowning deeply into her pillow.
Caroline was reluctant to leave, but she knew Max wouldn't say anything even if she did stay.
("You're so clingy!")
Despite what Max said, she wasn't as tough as she was. Max was tough on the outside, but not in the inside. Caroline heard her crying as she pulled down her bed (despite what Max said about selling her tear ducts, Caroline knew that she wasn't masturbating), the blonde crawling under the blankets with a heavy sigh.
How had Max given up a child?
