Love At Last

LILY

“Umm…,” Cayden cleared his throat. “So granny, I had something important to…” wait a minute, was this guy planning on spilling the beans? Telling nana everything? In the space of an instant, I knew I had to come to ‘my’ rescue.

“He was just asking of Jacek, nana,” I cut in, trying real hard to maintain a straight face so nana wouldn’t get suspicious.

“Jacek?”

“Yes, nana.” “Right?” I turned to Cayden who just nodded repeatedly.

“Right,” although surprised and also confused, Cayden decided to play along.

“And he was also telling me about the competition I enrolled for,” I added as Cayden turned swiftly to stare at me in disbelief. He could not believe how well the lies escaped my lips. “Right?” I tapped him on his shoulder and signaled him to act the part properly – concur with my lie.

“Ah… y…yes. Yes ma,” he stuttered a bit. He was not really used to seeing this aspect of ‘Lily Greyson’. He did not know exactly how to react and so, he just decided to go with the flow for the time being.

I well understood nana’s facial expression at the time. She did not completely buy our story. There was no way Nana would have completely bought the story when Cayden would not stop stuttering unnecessarily and blowing our cover. Nana just stood there and stared at us for a while before smiling broadly, “thank you so much for your care and concern,” nana said cheerfully.

“No problems, ma,” Cayden bowed slightly as a sign of respect for my granny.

“You see, my granddaughter here,” she gestured towards me “shoulders the responsibility of this household. She’s a strong lady but still, the care and concern the likes of you show will go a long way to keep her going.”

“Yes ma,” Cayden said nothing but that.

“More grease to your elbow, Lily,” nana gestured with both arms held out, perpendicularly.

“I’ll be inside, okay?” nana turns around and leaves.

I heaved a deep sigh of relief as I had said silent prayers for nana not to ask further questions, and just buy the story we gave. Although nana did not completely buy the story, that fact I was well aware of, I still hoped she pretended to believe whatever we said. I turned to Cayden and noticed the ‘stare’ he gave me.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” I asked.

“Why did you lie to your ‘nana’?” he asked.

“What would you have had me say? ‘I am hooking you up with girls for a special event I don’t even know of’? C’mon Cayden, you’ve got brains so use them.” Cayden didn’t quite understand my point but didn’t ask questions either.

“I can’t tell nana that. It would break her heart,” I explained.

“It’s okay. I understand now,” Cayden yielded.

“On no account should nana learn the truth, okay?” I had to make sure my point was driven home properly.

“Yes ma’am.” Cayden cleared his throat in a sarcastic manner. I knew for sure he was going to say something either annoying or cheesy. “So… you’re back to work?” he said with every bit of sarcasm in his tone. I knew he was going to say something that would annoy me. I turned around to leave when he stood in my way.

“Not so fast, Miss. I’m your boss again, remember?” he teased jovially but I was in no mood to smirk, let alone, smile.

“I need to get back to work.”

“When am I expecting you?”

“Whenever you see me.” I tried to leave but he stopped me yet again.

“Relax. You have staffs swarming this building. Why are you in such a hurry?”

“I need to get in there, okay? What kind of boss leaves all the work to the staffs?” I tried getting past him but he wouldn’t budge.

“I want to have breakfast.”

“Not today. You have to leave for now, please,” I spoke mildly. “I will come over when I have a new date for you,” I tried to persuade my client otherwise.

“Promise?” he gestured is index finger toward me.

I nodded, “I give you my word,” I promised and he finally left.

While I watched him leave, for a second, thoughts of when and how we first met flashed through my mind and that felt a bit weird. Why would I be having those memories at this point? I shrugged and reminded myself of the ‘strictly-business’ relationship I had to maintain. I didn’t want to leave room for ‘extra’ thoughts. While I tried hard to brush off that thought, his shirtless body flashed in my head. ‘Oh my goodness, what’s happening to me?’ I thought. Absorbed in my own thoughts, I didn’t notice when Cayden drove out of eye-shot.

I shrugged off the silly thoughts and decided to live the day and the moment. I turned around to walk back into my bakery, when I saw a manly figure who glared at me in disbelief – Jarod. He was standing very close to the entrance, close enough to have eavesdropped on my conversation with Cayden.

“Jarod?” I called out softly. “For how long have you been standing there?” I asked meekly.

“Long enough,” he replied, sounding disappointed.

Jarod had been my only and closest male companion for years. I understood why he must have felt the way he did. Even if I was going to do something like that, just letting him know beforehand would have made all the difference.

We stood at our respective positions, and just stared at each other. I waited for him to say something to me while he on the other hand, was waiting for an explanation of some sort, which at the time, wasn’t forthcoming. I let out sighs after sighs, deep breaths, racking my brain on what exactly I would say to the disappointed fellow who stood a few inches from me.

“I can explain, okay?” I finally said as I took two steps forward.