“Wynter has a dad?”
I nod carefully so as not to bonk Dash on the head while he’s sleeping. “Yeah. She was born on The Street.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, her dad is Ochs. He’s one of the trainers at the gym. He’s been training people since this place started, which means he started training Wynter practically from birth. She’s had access to healthy food and that gym her entire life. Things that you or I didn’t. You can’t compare yourself to her or really anyone else.”
“She’s trained her whole life.”
I mean, I don’t think he trained her when she was a baby. “Basically.”
“Oh, cool. Do you think I could bulk up?”
He isn’t the most malnourished kid I’ve seen, but he is super skinny for his height. “It’ll take effort and time, but I know you can do it if you want. Do you want to be a bodybuilder? I thought you got an internship with Max. His company works with computers.”
“Yeah. Max works with computers, but he’s still big.”
Max’s physique is a work of art. “Some of that came to him naturally. His father is built like a tank, too. People naturally have more bone density and larger frames. He’s also never missed a meal in his life and has probably trained since he was a child as well. You can’t compare yourself to other people. It isn’t fair to you or them.”
“I don’t know who my father is.”
“We can help you find out if you want.”
Everett stands up and walks away.
Poor kid.
Max might be the key to helping Everett. Time to find out those secrets.
***
Today has been nothing but one fire after the next that only I could put out. The only good thing was that they were metaphorical fires and not literal ones. Though I need to keep an eye on Fawn. She seems like the type to accidentally put a rag on the range. That girl forgets her brain sometimes.
Max has been sitting at a table for hours, and I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to him once.
Now could be the time.
Dash wakes up, giving a little cry.
Thwarted again. “Are you hungry, little man?”
“I can feed him.” Hope rushes over, holding out her hands. “He’s such a cutie. Why don’t you go take a break and grab a cup of coffee?”
A cup of coffee sounds divine. An hour of sleep would be better. But I’ll take what I can get. “Thank you.” I unwrap Dash and hand him to her. “If you need me—”
“I won’t, but if I do, I know where to find you. Now go.”
You don’t need to tell me twice. I add a double shot of espresso to my drink and head to the front.
Max’s eyes are glued to the computer screen. I should leave him alone to work. He’s been spending so much time here, missing work to take care of his daughter. But someone needs to take care of Everett, and today that’s me. “We need to talk.”
He lifts up his head to where I’m standing over him.
“We need to talk.” I stalk out of the bakery, not waiting to see if he’s going to follow me. Emilia taught me that trick, and most of the time it works on these big, bad, alpha males.
When I stop at a bench in one of the quiet parks we’ve set up, he’s right next to me. Emilia knows her stuff when it comes to men.
“What’s wrong?”
