The Flynn Effect

47 | missing piece

Jo

MUM'S SOON-TO-BE Bakery is definitely not bad looking for a building that's been used for a couple of years. The walls are painted a light cream with a few white streaks in between. It's bare apart from the counter in front. The space is wide enough for a range of customers to sit and apart from the few cracks on the tiled floor and the old window panes, it's in perfect condition.

Mum said the Dundees made use of it as a small family bar but their youngest child had traveled abroad for his studies and they were too old to run it anyway so they decided to shut it down and rent it out.

"A glass shelf will stay here," Mum says, pointing at a portion of the counter. She gestures to the table by the wall at the back of it. "There as well. Bread, cookies, doughnuts, pies e.t.c stay in these shelves. And then there'll be a huge one there for the cakes." She points at the far end of the counter. "A cake stand should be somewhere around here as well."

Drew points at the wall behind the counter. "A menu will fit nicely there. You see it right when you walk in."

"There could be another one outside as well," I shrug. "Just like the one in front of the bookstore I work at."

Mum starts to say something again but her phone rings and she looks at us and tells us it's important before swiping a finger across the screen.

"We'll be in the kitchen." Drew says and pulls me along with him.

Technically, it's still very much an empty storage room and not a kitchen yet but I don't argue as I follow closely behind him. He struggles to pull the window blinds open and when he succeeds, a rush of dust diffuses in causing him to cough.

"You okay? You could have just let me do it."

"I'm fine," he says, subtly rolling his eyes. Ever since he got alcohol poisoning, I've been by his side as much as possible which I'm sure to an extent he finds annoying. "I'm not going to drop dead anytime soon."

"Drew," I frown. "That's not funny."

Apparently he finds humor in my misery so he laughs when he sees the look on my face and I sigh before placing my hands on my waist.

"While you're at it, you wanna explain why you snuck into my room at 4 a.m?"

His laughter slows to a pause and then he clears his throat and rolls his shoulders back. "I was sure you were asleep."

"At first I though it was a dream but now, I can smell you."

He sniffs his armpits and then he proceeds to sniff the collar of his shirt. "I don't know what you're talking about. I smell great."

I roll my eyes to the back of my head. "I know. You're wearing my perfume."

He doesn't look ashamed at all. He leans against the wall and folds his arms. He'd lost a bit of weight immediately after the poisoning but he's getting better. Just very slowly. "Right. I ran out."

"And that's why you snuck into my room at 4 a.m to pour half of my bottle into yours. Very slick by the way."

He throws an unamused look my way. "You're being sarcastic."