Chapter 10 Nine

Anne gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She'd thought they were safe when she'd pulled Asher into the store room with her, but the clear picture of both of them in the article which looked like they were making out, meant that those slimy reporters had gotten what they wanted.

She couldn't let Trevor see this. He wouldn't understand. He already thought she was cheating, but with this article, it would be all the evidence he needed. Her heart pounded in her chest.

It was from Times Arizona, the biggest news corporation in the city. Definitely, anyone who read that article would think she was just some clear shot golddigger who had managed to worm her way up to the richest billionaire in the state.

She dialed the number Asher had used to make orders but the automated voice kept announcing he was unreachable.

She was a mom for god's sake. Children in school were mean. Her kids had already been taunted in the past for not having a dad. She knew it would be worse if they believed she was a golddigger. This was bad.

She dialed Gabby's number. If there was anyone who always had a clear head and could help her out, it was Gabby.

"I don't know what to do Gabby. Those reporters again..."

"I know Annie. Lola just sent it to me. Don't think too much about it."

"But..."

"It's not as bad as you think. At least now people would believe you're both in a relationship, and not just a fling."

Anne sighed deeply. Gabby was kinda right...

"You know what, let's talk about it tomorrow morning, ok?" Gabby said, yawning on the other end of the line. " I'll come over to the bakery ok?"

"Ok. Gabs. You're the best."

She flipped through her phone, looking for the most incriminating piece of news about herself. Could she even open the bakery the next day? Surely, some people who saw the article would come over to ask ridiculous questions. Asher, as she'd come to realize was not someone who was often seen in public, and that made him all the more mysterious and wanted by the public he tried to avoid.

Her phone vibrated in her hand, scaring her awake from the sleep she'd begun to fall back into. The caller ID read Trevor, her boyfriend and her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. She stared at the screen until it went blank, then started all over again. She wouldn't pick his call. Trevor could be irrational, and she was not in the right frame of mind to explain everything.

She switched off her phone and called it a night.

***

Anne took the trouble of taking her kids to school for the first time in a long time. At least that meant her grandma could sleep in for as long as she wanted.

After a few hours of procrastinating, she finally switched her phone on and immediately, a call from Jake came in.

"Where on earth have you been?" He sounded frantic on the other end of the line. "I've been calling since seven!"

"I've been...what's going on? Why do you sound like that?" She asked, fearing the worst. The last time Jake had called her like this was when the bakery was about to be impounded.

"We've had millions of orders this morning and so many new customers trooping in. I can't handle this all on my own. Come and do something if you don't want this to be your sixty seconds of fame."

"I'm on my way." She said, dropping the phone and gathering up her things.

In the cab, despite her growing nervousness, Anne couldn't help but smile. "Millions of orders", "so many new customers", were phrases she never thought she'd get to hear ever again. Maybe the news article wasn't so bad after all.

When she got to the bakery, Anne realized Jake hadn't been exaggerating. There were hundreds of people waiting outside to be served and she had to force her way in and avoid the people who recognized her from the news to get in.

"Oh my God, Jake." She said out of breath.

"Sorry for scaring you, but it had to be done." Jake said, grinning and holding a new batch of badly shaped muffins that looked like a child had made them.

"You don't plan to serve those, do you?" She asked, fearing the answer. Just because she had this new success did not mean she could afford to lose the customers she'd just managed to get.

"I'll handle those from now. Thanks for all you've done so far." She said, putting on her apron and getting into work mode. "Tell the people to exercise patience as we're understaffed and put up a notice that we're hiring. I'll do what I can do here with these orders."

Jake did as he was asked and within hours, they still had more mouths left to feed, but those mouths were not angry anymore.

Anne and Jake flopped down to the floor after the last customer left and she turned the closed sign.

"This is the best but most stressful day of my life." Anne said, breathing heavily. "If this keeps up, you're so getting a huge raise."

Jake smiled and held her hand, moving closer.

"I haven't seen you this happy in almost a year." He said honestly.

"Everything has a beginning..."

"You bastards! You both know I'm jobless, yet I wasn't the first person you called for the job opening. Some friends you are."

Anne and Jake turned to see Lola at the door, looking at them like she would kill them if the door wasn't there.

"Welcome, rookie." Anne said, with a weak smile on her face.

***

The next few days were less trying than the first. There were five hands now; Lola and two new hires. There was also Gabby who had a free day from work. Lola was surprisingly good and she attributed her skills to watching Jake all the time.

The customers were not as much as before, as most of them had just wanted to see her the first day. There were still a lot of people, however these people actually were there for the food.

Anne could finally pay delivery fees, so one of the new hires managed the online orders. Sometimes she wondered if Asher had made any orders recently. She had less and less time to think of Asher or even Trevor. Her grandmother was sick and she now had to take her children herself to and from school each day, and having them in the bakery with her was quite distracting. At least, Gabby was there to manage them for the day.

"How has Trevor reacted to news of your success?" Gabby asked Anne. They were both sitting down on one of the empty chairs in the dining area, while the twins fought over the tiny cake she'd given them to share against her better judgement.

"We haven't spoken since that night he called me."

"Don't you think it's high time you introduced him to your kids?"

Anne sighed. "I'm not ready."

"I was afraid you'd say that so I did something you're going to kill me for."

"What did you do!" She feared the worst.

As of on cue, Trevor entered the bakery like it belonged to him, looking around in contempt before coming up to where Anne and Gabby were.

"What is it you wanted to show me?" Trevor asked Gabby, completely ignoring Anne, who was shaking, because the twins were right in front of them.

"I think your girlfriend is in a better position to do that." She turned to the twins. "Damien, Danny, come over. Anne, introduce them, go on."

Anne glared at Gabby, so angry she couldn't speak. But deep down, she knew this was for the best. Now Trevor was already mad at her, it was better he knew the deepest and most important part of her life.

She took a deep breath and looked to her sons who stared back at her with puppy eyes.

"Trevor, these are my sons. They mean the whole world to me."

Trevor looked from her to the boys, the scowl on his face deepening.

"The tabloids were right. You're nothing but a cheap, gold digging whore!"