My first thought was that it had to be a wrong number, a mistake meant for someone else. But as I stood there staring at the message, a small flutter of excitement began to bloom in my chest.
Something deep inside me already knew who it was.
Hawk.
With a mix of anticipation and nervous energy, I walked toward the front door. Each step heightened the tension in the air around me.
I glanced through the small window beside the door and that’s when I saw it: a massive box sitting squarely in the middle of my welcome mat.
My eyebrows shot up.
“What the hell…” I whispered.
I opened the door and stepped outside, the cool afternoon air brushing across my skin. The box was huge. Ridiculously huge. It clearly required effort to get there.
Thick brown tape stretched across the top. No shipping label, no company logo, no name. Nothing.
But I already knew.
My phone buzzed again in my hand.
Open it.
I snorted quietly, a smile creeping onto my lips.
“Bossy,” I muttered.
Still, my heart started beating a little faster as I dragged the box inside, kicking the door shut behind me. It was heavy enough that lifting it with one hand wasn’t an option, so I slid it across the floor toward the kitchen instead.
Once it was in the middle of the room, I grabbed a pair of scissors from the drawer and sliced through the tape.
The cardboard flaps popped open.
For a moment, I just stared.
Inside the box was the entire baking basket from the cancer benefit. Every single thing.
The cute measuring cups, the silicone spatulas, the metal mixing bowls—everything.
All the things I had silently wished for while clutching my raffle tickets that night.
My stomach dropped slightly at the memory. I had bought way too many tickets for that basket, hoping my number would get called.
And then it hadn’t.
Now the whole thing was sitting in my kitchen.
I lifted the little apron with embroidered flowers and gasped softly.
“Oh my god.”
I hadn’t realized how much I wanted it until this moment.
I kept digging through the box, uncovering a flour sifter, decorating tips, parchment paper—everything wrapped up in that basket.
Then I froze.
At the bottom were two more boxes. Bigger. Heavier.
