Chapter Five: Opening Day

I took a step back and got a good look at my bakery. The art that I had Lilly's classmates do was framed in gold frames with vines all around them. The glass display case will be filled with delicious treats in the next hour. I looked at Lilly, who was sitting on a table eating her bagel with cream cheese. "We did it," I whispered to her.

She happily laughed and ran over to me. "We did it, Mommy!" I picked her up and kissed her cheeks that were coated with cream cheese.

I heard the door open up behind us. "We aren't..." I paused as I turned around. Jax was standing there with Abel. "Hi! Lock the door behind you." Jax quickly locked the door.

I put Lilly down. She ran to Jax while Abel ran to me. "Hello, my boy." I held him close. Over this past week, Lilly and I have gotten close to the Teller boys. I looked over at the other two. Lilly and Jax were hugging. "Are you hungry, Abel?" He smiled and nodded. "Go sit across from where Lilly was sitting, and I will bring you a bagel." Lilly ran to the table behind him.

I looked at Jax. "Can I have one?" He asked with a pout.

I crossed my arms. "Why did you not feed my boy breakfast?" I raised my eyebrow at him because he just laughed. "Tell me."

He held his arms up defensively. "Well, I offered to feed your boy a nice sugary bowl of fruit loops. He insisted that you would have something here to eat. I told him that if you didn't that he would have to wait until lunch."

I lowered my face to him with a pout. "He knows me so well." I pointed to the table. "Sit." I got the rest of us our bagels with cream cheese. "Here is your breakfast."

"Did you make these?" Jax asked as he swallowed his first bite. I nodded. "These are really good, babe." The new nickname made the kids giggle.

My heart fluttered at the nickname.

"Thank you. They are going to be up for grabs when I open." I relaxed against the bench and closed my eyes. "I'm so tired."

Jax patted my knee. "Why?"

I sighed. "I hired another baker to help me, but she bailed on me at midnight." I shook my head. "That was at midnight, and her shift started at 6. So I had to come in here at 1 instead of 4 to make sure that everything was going to be done on time. I wanted to do so much more, but I had to cut down the menu and rethink everything. To top it all off, the one girl that was supposed to open decided that she didn't want to work. The other girl that I hired got in trouble last night with a DUI."

"I helped Mommy!" Lilly piped up from next to me.

I smiled at her. "I know. You are going to help me today too." I looked at Abel. "I have a shirt for you to wear too. You and Lilly are going to help me decorate cupcakes."

Abel smiled. "Yay!" He shoved the rest of his bagel into his mouth.

Jax quickly grabbed the piece of bagel that Abel was shoveling down his throat. "Abel John, slow down."

Abel slowed his chewing. "Yes, Daddy."

The four of us finished breakfast. We cleaned the kids up. I grabbed the Gracie K shirts that I ordered for Abel and Lilly. "Here, kiddos. Please put these on since I have you helping me." Lilly grab her shirt and ran into the bathroom whereas Abel just tossed his shirt off like it was fire and put his on. I led Jax and the kids to the kitchen area where I have a station set up for Lilly because she loves to decorate cupcakes. "What color of icing do you want to use?"

"BLUE!" "PURPLE!"

I quickly added the colors to the two bowls of icing that I made for the kids. "Here, you go." I kissed the tops of their heads. "Get as messy as you want. I have extra shirts for you just in case you get messy." The two of them dove right to icing the vanilla cupcakes. Jax stood in the doorway. "Do you want to sit at the kid's table too?"

Jax jokingly flipped me off when the kids weren't looking. "I'm good. You don't want me to touch them. A, I suck. B, I will eat all of it."

I laughed. "No touchy." I leaned against the wall next to him and looked at our kids. Abel was having fun with the cupcakes not caring where the icing is actually going. Lilly was meticulously icing her cupcakes making sure that her swirls were perfect. "I'm going to go change real quick. I will be right back." I pointed to him as a warning. "Don't touch the product unless you buy it." He laughed and held his arms up in surrender.

I quickly changed into my work clothes for the day. I changed out of my leggings and plain shirt into my jeans, black Gracie K shirt, and white keds. I threw on more deodorant, light makeup, and straightened my bun back to the way it was. When I walked to the kitchen, Jax was sitting next to Lilly, who was teaching him how to ice cupcakes. Abel was still in his own little world. I smiled and started to set out all of the delicious treats.

"Is Pop-Pop coming today?" Abel asked Jax.

Jax shrugged. "I don't know, Bud. If he doesn't come by lunch, we might just have to call him."

"Yay! Pop-Pop!" The kids said at the same time.

Jax and the kids were sitting at the table decorating the cupcakes while I got the store ready to open. Once I was ready, I looked at Lilly. "Lilly Bug, are you ready?" She gasped and put her icing down. "Let's go wash your hands." We all washed our hands. "Jax, can you take a picture of Lilly and me in front of the store?"

"Yeah, babe." The four of us ventured outside. I got a few pictures of Bug and me, Abel and me, Abel and Bug, and I even got one of the four of us. The next hour I spent it making sure that everything was perfect. Abel and Lilly were sitting in a booth coloring. "Everything is going to be okay, Tara."

I looked at Jax. "Is it on my face?" He chuckled and nodded. "I just need to get through today and hire some help."

"Help is coming." I raised my eyebrow at him. He was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. Donna and two other ladies were standing there with smiles on their faces. Jax opened up the door for them. "Tara, meet your helpers for today - Mrs. Donna Winston, Venus Van Dam, and Kerianne Telford."

"We are here to help, T," Donna said with a smile.

"Hi, Ms. Winston," Lilly said shyly from her spot.

"Is that precious beauty your baby?" Venus asked. I nodded with a smile. "She is beautiful."

I smiled. "Thank you." I looked at Lilly. "Come here, Bug." Lilly walked over to us. "These lovely ladies are helping us today. You know Mrs. Winston. This is Ms. Venus and Ms. Kerrianne." She shyly waved at them.

"AUNT DONNA!" Abel yells from the table. Jax gave him a warning look to lower his voice. "Do you see my picture?" He pointed to his picture that I had hung up above the booth that he was sitting at.

"I do, Abel." Donna looked at me. "I think that all of the kids' drawings are really cute." She started to look around. "What is up with the drawing station up by the wall?"

"In case any kids who weren't in your class wanted to draw something for the wall, they could." The ladies nodded. "Come on back and let me explain everything to you ladies." For the final hour before opening, I explained the system and the desserts to the ladies.

"Mommy," Lilly said. "The SONS are here!" I looked out the window to see that the men were standing outside with some women. I couldn't help but stare at Jax who was leaning against the building. He looked good with his white sneakers, leather kutte, and blue plaid button down. "Are we going to open, Mommy?"

I smiled at Lilly. "We are open."

Author's Note:

I am so so sorry that it took me so long to update. My wedding day was magical, but then the holidays came right after the wedding. Then, I got a new job and on top of that I am trying to open up my own business. So everything is kind of crazy. I will try to update as quick as I can.

I kind of want to go over the layout of the bakery. Think of it looking like Scoops and Sweets from the show. Instead of brown walls, there is one brick wall that was painting cream to match the other walls. The kids' art on hung up on the big wall. The counter has the Gracie K logo on it - which has a very minimalistic yet feminine feel to it. If that makes sense. Her logo is a very light pink circle with GRACIE K written in cursive.