27. Decorate

"You feeling better?" Nick asked as he walked out of his bedroom, looking over at Logan who sat on the couch, sketchbook in hand.

"A bit," Logan said, eyes not leaving the page.

"At least you're drawing again," Nick commented, making coffee. "Haven't see you draw in ages."

"I draw when I'm depressed."

Nick sighed. "You know it would take five seconds to make everything better."

"Maisie's stubborn," Logan said.

"And so are you," Nick pointed out.

"It's been five days, she's not gonna come round anytime soon."

The door to their apartment opened and Keith came in, his nose wrinkling immediately. His eyes zeroed in on Logan and he rolled his eyes.

"Damn, you're a mood killer," Keith said and Logan gave him the finger.

"You're supposed to be supportive. I'm going through a break up."

"You're going through a hiatus because your dumb ass ended up passing out in front of your girlfriend, nearly dying and then going to hospital," Keith said. "You're lucky we're still around."

Logan dropped his sketchbook down on the coffee table and stood up, stealing Nick's coffee from his hands and knocking the mug back.

"Excuse me!" Nick helped.

"What am I supposed to do?" Logan asked Keith. "I get it, I fucked up. But she's hardly going to listen to me if I show up at her door."

"Don't worry," Keith smiled mischievously. "I've already got a plan."

"Great," Nick deadpanned.

"All you have to do is get through to her. Love something that she loves. And what does Maisie love above everything else?" Keith asked.

Logan sighed. "The fucking bakery."

***

Maisie and Ocean walked down the street towards the grocery store, content with the silence between them. Ocean glanced over Maisie and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You've been quiet lately," Ocean said.

Maisie smiled softly. "Sorry. I'm not being the happiest person to be around, am I?"

"I mean not really," Ocean laughed. "But it's understandable. I haven't been in the highest moods lately either."

Maisie knocked her arm against Ocean and he smiled.

"We'll both be depressing together," Maisie promised as they walked into the store, immediately heading to the candy aisle.

"So what are you going to do about the bakery?" Ocean asked as he picked up a bag of caramel chocolates.

Maisie sighed. "Bud offered to buy it off me."

Ocean frowned. "Bud Bud?"

Maisie nodded. "He's offering a lot. It's a good deal."

"Maisie, come on. You can't be seriously considering his offer. Why would he even want your bakery? It's just a giant fuck you in the face."

"It doesn't feel like it," Maisie rubbed her temple. "I don't know. I don't know, Ocean. Maybe he is just doing it for some kind of pay back or way to show he's the best, I don't know! But it's one hell of a good offer."

"Are you going to take it?" Ocean asked.

Maisie shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. I see little point in even keeping the bakery at this point. The boys don't work there. I don't even pay Charity anymore. Ben no longer needs to watch over the boys so he doesn't buy anything. And you live on the other side of town."

Ocean rubbed his friend's shoulder. "Maisie-"

"I'm honestly struggling to remember why I even loved that bakery in the first place," Maisie said.

Ocean turned her gently to face him. "You loved that bakery because the only grandma you ever knew loved it. But you stayed with that bakery because it was yours. Because it was the only thing there for you when no one else was. But now you're not alone, Maisie. You don't have to run an entire bakery like it's a burden. Remember why you loved to bake. Remember why everyone you grew up with loved your grandma's bakery. You might not be your grandma, Maisie, but no ones asking you to be. This is your bakery."

Maisie put her hand on top of Ocean's and lent forward, falling into his side for a hug.

"This is harder than I thought it would be," Maisie admitted.

"I know," Ocean said. "But don't give up the bakery now. It's not ready to go yet and neither are you."

Maisie nodded, wiping her cheeks quickly and patting Ocean on the arm.

"Alright, come on," she said. "Let's go buy a ton of over-expensive candy and watch movies all day."

***

"What in the living fuck do you mean you don't have five dollars?" Nick sassed and the woman stood in her entryway stepped back in surprise.

The woman pursed her lips and tried to shut the door. "Sorry, kid, but I don't have any spare change to give to a charity."

"Bitch, Charity's not the one that needs the money!" Nick said. "I saw that BMW parked outside and I see those earrings, honey. I know you got a nasty five dollar bill hidden away back there."

"If you would please move your foot from my goddamn door so I could close it, that would be appreciated," the woman ground out.

Logan stepped forward and put a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Okay, boy-wonder, that's enough."

The front door slammed shut and Nick sighed, turning around to face everyone.

"I nearly had her, man," he said. "Just a few more minutes..."

"I'm sure you would have got that five dollars," Logan nodded. "As well as a restraining order."

Charity groaned, the heat making her sweat which really wasn't good seeing as she was wearing a grey shirt and standing between four men.

"Logan, maybe this isn't a good idea," Andy said. "I mean, if these people really cared about Maisie then they would have been buying her stuff in the first place."

Logan rubbed the back of his neck as they walked down the steps from the woman's house.

"I don't know guys," Logan said. "I thought this would work. If we raised enough money then Maisie could re-decorate and fix the bakery."

Nick looked down at his baseball cap that had a one dollar note in it which he had placed there earlier on.

"That's going great so far," Nick grumbled.

Charity looked down at the dollar note in the hat as the boys began to walk away and frowned. She looked back up at the house where they had just left used the hair tie on her wrist to pull her hair back.

"Fuck this," she whispered and stormed back up the stairs to the door where she pounded her fist against the wood until it opened up.

"I told you, I don't have any money!" the woman glared at Charity as she opened her door.

"How long have you lived here?" Charity asked.

"Excuse me?"

"How long have you lived in this house?"

"About sixteen years," the woman said.

"Sixteen years. So that would mean that during the time you've lived here, Maisie's bakery has always been there with her grandma running it, right?" the woman nodded. "And so it would be right of me to assume that you were living here when Maisie moved into Sheriff Small's house. And that you were here when the Sheriff's mother died and Maisie a few years later singlehandedly tried to rectify her grandma's bakery. And the second Maisie took over the bakery, you stopped going."

"I didn't-"

"Maple Pecan Danish right?" Charity asked. "Every Tuesday and Thursday at nine in the morning, slightly warmed with a black coffee."

"How did you remember that?" the woman asked.

"I didn't," Charity said. "Maisie did. When her grandma was getting too old to remember orders, Maisie was the one that remembered the regulars orders. Regulars like you. Regulars Maisie thought she would count on but they all left her because she was just a kid. And where were you living? Right around the corner. Don't worry, I saw you walking to Bud's Bakers every Tuesday and Thursday. You have to walk past our bakery to get there."

The woman looked away, eyes lowering to the ground as she leant against her front door.

"Keep your five dollars. There's obviously something more important you need to use it for," Charity said and turned away, walking down the steps and slamming the little gate shut behind her.

***

Andy poked at the vandalized wall of the bakery and cringed. "This place is a shit mess."

Tom steered his boyfriend away from the wall when Maisie glared at them. "Not helping, babe."

"Why are you guys even here?" Maisie asked. "Not to be rude but you know you don't work here anymore right?"

Nick walked over to where Maisie was sat with Charity and Keith and slumped down on top of the table.

"That's not sanitary," Maisie said.

"I'm sure it's not," Nick smiled. "And we know we don't work here but we still like you."

Maisie rolled her eyes and gave Nick a shove, making him almost fall off the table with a laugh. Logan stood beside the door, leaning back against the door, head tilted back and just resting. Maisie ended up looking over him nearly once every minute but she didn't know what to do. They had pretty much broken up the last time they had seen each other and she couldn't tell if Logan was angry at her.

Maisie clenched her hands together, eyes burning. She really didn't want Logan to be mad at her.

"Well what's so fun in hanging around a destroyed bakery?" Maisie asked.

"It's not completely destroyed," Ocean pointed out. "The walls are all still up. Do you see walls, Nick?"

"I sure as hell see walls," Nick grinned.

"Walls don't attract customers," Maisie said.

"But roofs do on a rainy day," Ocean said.

The door to the bakery opened and everyone looked over to see the woman they tried to get money out of the other day. Charity bit her lip, curling into herself while cringing. Maisie frowned, standing up and walking over to the woman.

"Mrs. Walters?" Maisie asked. "What are you doing here?"

Mrs. Walters adjusted the hem of her shirt before looking over at Charity and the rest of the boys until her eyes landed on Maisie. She smiled softly - sadly.

"You two might now have been related but you really are a lot like your grandma," she said.

Maisie blinked in confusion as Mrs. Walters took her wallet out.

"I don't understand," Maisie said slowly.

"Your friends here went round to everyone's houses asking for money for the bakery," Mrs. Walters said.

Maisie's heart dropped. "Oh God, I'm sorry! I didn't know they were doing that!"

"Everyone said no," Mrs. Walters continued and Maisie's face fell a little. "But then they somehow managed to convince me that even though your grandma isn't running the bakery, it doesn't mean that it's not still as good. I've been here the whole time you've lived in Tucson and if anyone should help you, it should be the community that watched you grow up."

Maisie watched as the woman took a few bills out of her wallet and held them out, looking around the room. "Where's the loud boy with the God-awful hat?"

Nick rushed forward, holding his hat out upside down for the woman to drop her money into. Mrs. Walters turned back to a flustered Maisie.

"You don't have to..." Maisie tried to say.

"But I want to," Mrs. Walters said. "And I've spoken to quite a few neighbours and I think you'll be getting a lot more visitors with money later on."

Maisie couldn't help herself when she rushed forward and hugged the woman she had seen every Tuesday and Thursday morning with that strong black coffee and sweet, slightly warmed danish. The smell of the coffee brewing had always comforted her.

"Thank you," Maisie whispered, pulling back.

Mrs. Walters patted her back, nodding her head. "She'd be proud of you, Maisie."

Maisie felt light-headed as the woman walked away, the door ringing behind her. She gripped Charity's hand tightly, knowing she had something to do with it and hugged her best friend to her side fiercely. Maisie's head bobbed up and she looked around the bakery, her eyes trying to find Logan. When she realized he wasn't there, she headed towards the back door where she found him leaning against the back door, breathing in the fresh air.

Maisie shut the door behind her and leaned against the wall beside him.

"I know you had something to do with that," Maisie said.

Logan didn't say anything.

"Thank you," Maisie said, her hand slipping down to gently hold his. "Thank you."

Logan's hand tightened around hers.

Thank you to B00k_Nerd_1 for the gorgeous banner!

- Ellie x