Mr. Blackbourne's Mistake

Chapter 18 - Helping

Sang

"Are you sure you don't mind, Baby?" North asked, eyeing her like he'd read her mind if he didn't feel she answered honestly. He'd just been given a tough restoration order on an old bug and had asked Sang's permission for him to ask Silas and Nathan to help him out. Which she appreciated him asking her first and she'd of course said it was fine. Fine was maybe an exaggeration, but she was grateful he had someone he trusted to ask for help. Truly. She just wished that the help came in the form of people not from their former family. Well, her former family. She was still certain North wanted to reconnect with them and she didn't want to stand in way of that, so this would be a good way for him to spend time with some of them.

"Yes, North, I'm sure. I happen to like seeing you every night, so any help you get that stops you from spending all evening in the garage is great with me. I just . . . let me know when they're at the garage with you, okay? So I know when not to come visit." Just because they would be hanging around North didn't mean she wanted to be around them.

He frowned. "That makes it sound like you don't want them at the garage. I need to know if you're really okay with this, Sang."

As much as she appreciated his support of her feelings, if he made her say she was okay with him hanging out with the guys one more time, she might be tempted to smack him. Or flip him over her shoulder. But the more supportive he was of how she felt, the more respectful she wanted to be of his feelings. She'd already felt like she was the reason North lost his family, no matter how many times he said things weren't like that. She was partly responsible, but she wouldn't be responsible for him losing them a second time.

Leaning her hands against his chest, she rose up on her toes to kiss him before mock seriously saying, "I trust you, North. I believe you won't cheat on me with them."

He gave her a deadpan stare before poking her in the side, hitting her in a ticklish spot. She laughed and dodged away from him. Thankfully, he finally dropped the conversation after that. And she really was fine with North spending time with them. Just so long as she didn't have to see them.

~.~

Sang

"Naomi, I need a cream cheese danish this morning," Sang said as she walked into her friend's bakery. It was the first morning Nathan and Silas were helping out North, and despite Sang's claims to herself that she was totally fine with it, part of her mind kept playing stupid scenarios of both Silas and Nathan trying to convince North that Sang wasn't worth leaving them for and he should leave her instead. She knew that if they did anything like that, North would immediately kick them out, but she couldn't make her mind be silent. So she'd decided maybe something sweet and fatty would help.

"Ah, yeah, just give me a minute here. Or maybe five or ten."

Naomi's distracted tone sounded off, so Sang glanced away from the displays to see her friend standing behind the counter, one hand gripping the other—and both covered in blood.

"Naomi!" Sang cried, rushing to the counter. "What happened?"

Naomi winced as she put more pressure on her hand. Sang then realized that Naomi had wrapped a paper towel or two around it, but she was covered in enough blood that Sang was pretty sure her friend needed stitches. "I promise I'm great with a knife. And careful. But I had a container too close to the edge of one of my counters and when it fell, I looked away from my cutting and . . . that turned out to be a poor life choice."

"What do you need?" Sang asked, forcing calm on herself. "How can I help? Do you have a medical kit here?"

Naomi shook her head. "No, but I will after today."