NovelBarChapter 55
A week Later.
“And that would be our favorite mailman,” Lexa chimes, making me look up. Micheal, the local mailman, steps into the bakery, a
letter clutched under his arm as the bell above the door rings. I can’t help the smile that splits onto my face. I loved the locals
here and knew most by name now.
It was also obvious they knew exactly what I was but never said anything, which just proved everything Jake was telling the
women was a lie. They didn’t care as long as we weren’t causing trouble.
“Hey, Elena,” he smiles softly. Micheal was around my mother’s age. Every day I was working at the bakery, he stopped in to buy
some of Sondra’s mini cheesecakes. Smil ing, I get up from my stool behind the counter. The boys were asleep in their rockers
by my feet, and Micheal peers over the edge of the counter. “There they are,” he coos, and I smile, getting his usual order ready.
“Sondra not in today?” he asks.
“No, she said she was feeling tired today,” I tell him, pass ing him the paper bag with the two lemon cheesecakes that he usually
gets. He takes the bag, passing me over the A4 en
1 184 Vouchers velope. Yet, as I went to set it down, I noticed it had my name on it and not hers.
“Well, tell Sondra I hope she feels better, and I’ll see you tomorrow, maybe. I’ll let you close up,” he tells me, glancing at his
watch. I glance at the clock, noticing it is nearly time to close. Thank god because the boys had slept most of the af ternoon, and
my breast was killing me. I still needed to pick up another tin of formula on the way home too. Yet I knew I had plenty of milk with
resorted to mix feeding.
“Do you think mom is alright?” Lexa asks me as I turn the sign to closed on the door. We had hoped she would call, we hadn’t
spoken to her for a week, and each day I was becoming increasingly worried.
“I don’t know, but I am starting to worry,” I admit.
“She said not to call her, Axton is watching the phones,” Lexa worries. She had been reminding me every time I picked up the
phone that mom said she would call us and not to call her. Yet, I had this sickening feeling that something was se verely wrong.
“Maybe?”
“No, Elena, if Axton is watching the phones,” I sigh, know ing she is right, instead opening the glass cabinet where the leftover
cakes were.
Everything here was baked fresh daily, so I started pack ing up what was left, which wasn’t much. Sondra sold out pretty quickly,
but whatever was left over we always took home for deserts or for the children that lived on the ranch. Once I had boxed
everything and cleaned up, I placed the boys in the stroller and walked down to the local grocer. How ever, upon entering, Taylor,
the woman that owned it, looked flustered, and I noticed most of the shelves were bare.
“Hey, Taylor?” | give her a brief wave, and she looks up from the box she was unpacking. Her curly hair gets caught in her
glasses as she blows out a breath. “Hey, Elena,” she calls as | make my way down the aisle where the formula is usually kept.
However, once I reach it, I find the shelves empty.
“Have you got any formula out back?” | sing out to her. She looks around the mountain load of boxes she was trying to unpack
and put on the shelves. “Let me check, I just got an order in, it was six days late,” she tells me. “And Patricia is off sick, so I’m left
with all this,” she groans. I push the stroller to ward the front and put the brakes on before moving toward her.
“The boys are still asleep, I need formula, and you need help, so why not,” I tell her, grabbing the first box. However, as Taylor
starts marking stuff off. We find half her order is miss ing and despite unpacking what felt like a million boxes, half her store was
still bare.
1 288 Vouchero “I am worried you just wasted your time,” Taylor curses, looking at the baby section which still is empty, not even
dia pers came in. Luckily, I had plenty of those, plus cloth ones.
“How much formula have you got left, I can call around and see if I can get enough to tide you over while we wait for the next
delivery?”
“I have enough expressed milk to last a couple of days or So,” I tell her. She curses, shaking her head. “Give me a second, I will
call my supplier,” she says, wandering off out back. I un pack the next box onto the shelf while I wait. When she re turned, she
looked angry.
“Apparently, the city has halted all deliveries lately. Some thing is going on with my supplier not being allowed to deliver again
this week.” she curses under her breath, running her fin gers through her hair.
“The city?”
“Yes, the manufacturer in the werewolf city, damn bloody strikes, are fucking everything up,”
“Your supplier is from Nightfall City?” | ask her, a little shocked she used a werewolf-owned supplier. Taylor shrugs. “Yeah,
cheaper and better quality products, also faster than ordering from one of the human cities. A lot of the human owned companies
charge an arm and a leg for delivery so far out.” she scratches the back of her head.
“Bloody werewolves and their politics,” she curses before flinching. “Shit, I didn’t mean that in a bad way, Elena,” | chuckle,
waving her off. “Yeah, stupid werewolves,” Lexa agrees with her, making me chuckle.
“It’s fine, but do you know what the strikes are over?”
“Land disputes with the council here. Alpha Axton wants to purchase half the town, but the human council refuses. He knows he
supplies most of this town’s produce. Therefore, am being punished because I am getting half supplies,” she huffs. She looks
over at me, chewing her lip. “Of course, it is Axton. Who else has the power to halt deliveries?” Lexa growls in my head. .
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