Page 54 of Heartbreak & Cupcakes
ALEX
My feet poundedthe pavement beneath the sky, still dark in the early morning hour, as the bass of ’90s rap pounded through my Bose earbuds. I could not be happier to feel the sidewalk beneath me and Tupac drowning out all the noise in my head.
After the birthday party yesterday, Lexi and Bella spent the night with Hannah so she was at Maddox’s which meant I got to go on my first morning run in a week. I’d missed this. Running on a treadmill just wasn’t the same.
I needed to hire someone full-time. This past week had proven to me that I couldn’t run my company without someone to help with Lexi. Maddox and Nick both used a service that they swore by, and I planned on giving them a call today.
Out of habit, I glanced down at my watch as I passed the deli and saw that it was 4:08. In just two minutes there was a good chance I’d see Sadie rushing down the steps to her bakery.
I’d seen her yesterday at the party, but she’d left before I’d gotten a chance to speak to her. One second she was there, talking to Mia and Lizzy, and the next she was gone. I’d wanted to ask Mia what they were talking about and where she’d gone, but I didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that I’d noticed she’d left. I already had Nick and Maddox giving me shit about her, I didn’t need Mia hopping on the Give Alex Shit bandwagon.
I’ll admit, I’d been disappointed that she’d left without me having a chance to speak to her, but the truth was, it was probably for the best. I needed to get over my infatuation for her and spending more time with her wasn’t going to help me in that seemingly impossible endeavor.
I didn’t have room in my life or my heart for someone else. I’d had true love. And it ended. Mr. Harris maintained that we were the lucky ones. Some, people don’t experience the kind of love we’d had. Yes, it was cut short. But we’d had it.
And I had Lexi. And Nick and Maddox. And Mrs. G. And Mia. I had family, friends, my business. I didn’t need anything else.
Which meant I wasn’t going to turn down the side street that her bakery and home were on. It was time to move on from whatever had been between us, or at least on my side.
My chest felt like there was a ton of bricks sitting on it as I forced my legs to continue down the Embarcadero and not turn. As I ran past the street, looking straight ahead, I saw red and blue lights flashing in the reflection of the windows of the corner building.
In what felt like slow motion, I turned my head and saw emergency vehicles. Two fire trucks, and three ambulances and a police cruiser were parked in front of Sadie’s building which had been reduced to a charred structure of framing.
My heart slammed into my chest and I froze. I stopped running and just stood staring at the flashing lights.
No.This could not be happening.
I felt myself getting lightheaded when I saw a glimpse of sandy blonde hair out of the corner of my eye, I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Sadie was sitting on the sidewalk, huddled with a blanket over her shoulders.
Without thinking, I ran over to her. “Sadie. Are you okay?”
She lifted her head and blinked up at me, clearly dazed and confused. She stared at me for what felt like an eternity before she spoke. “Alex? What are you doing here?”
“I run by here every morning.”
Her eyes widened. “You do?”
“Are you okay?” I asked again, needing an answer.
“Yeah, I’m...” She looked over her shoulder at her bakery. The glass front was covered in ash.
“What happened?”
Tears brimmed in her large amber eyes. “They think it was an electrical fire in the walls. I only woke up because Eeyore was barking.”
She pointed to a bulldog sitting beside a pet carrier with a white and orange cat curled up inside.
“But…you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. But my shop…” Her voice cracked and tears began to form but she quickly sniffed them back and shook her head. “But it’s okay. Everyone is safe and that’s the important thing. Yana hadn’t come in yet and I got Mrs. Flores out before her place went up. Luckily, she’d given me a key when she wanted me to water her plants the weekend she went to Lake Tahoe for her grandson’s wedding. They took her to the hospital.”
I wasn’t sure who Mrs. Flores and Yana were, all I needed to know was that Sadie was okay. “What about you? Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m fine.”
“Are yousure?” I didn’t know that much about fires, but Mrs. G loved the television show This Is Us and I knew that everyone thought Jack was fine after the fire and then, spoiler alert, he wasn’t.
“The paramedics checked me out and gave me some oxygen.”
