The Baker, Part 2: Sous Chef

Chapter 30

4 Months Later

"I swear, if he doesn't show up, I am divorcing him." Cassie was fuming. Not only was Ben not here for their anniversary celebration, but their son's first birthday. She closed down the restaurant early just for the occasions and spent all day making appetizers, dinner, dessert, and Liam's cake. 

"He'll be here," Julie assured. "It's not his fault filming took longer than intended. Cassie huffed, "No, but it is his fault for missing his flight yesterday. Sometimes I can't believe I married that asshole." She angrily decorated Liam's cake, thinking about how she'd rather cut Ben's balls than this cake.

Kelly walked into the kitchen with her uniform and apron on. "The last customer just left," she said as she took off the apron. "He was kind of mad that I rushed him out, even though I told him we were closing at five." Cassie shook her head and muttered, "Whatever."

Julie handed Kelly her change of clothes, then waited until she left to say, "Just call him. Please?" Sighing, Cassie said, "Fine. If he doesn't pick up again, I'm throwing his clothes out of the window." She walked out into the restaurant and dialed Ben's number. 

A few rings later, he picked up sounding frantic. "Darling, I am so sorry! I'm on my way, I'll be there soon! I just need to catch a bloody cab, but their all ignoring me. Baby, really, I'm sorry." Cassie sighed and shook her head. "I'm pissed, Ben," she told him. "You should have been here last night. I've been doing everything by myself all damn day! This is not how I wanted to spend my anniversary, or our son's birthday!"

"I know, I know and I will make it up to you, I swear it. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it." She scoffed, then said, "Just get here. Quick." She hung up, then went over to the table Wanda and Tim were sitting at with Liam. "Is he on his way?" Wanda asked. 

Cassie told her, "Yeah, finally. He chose one hell of a day to oversleep." Tim nodded and told her, "I agree. I understand work and sleep is important, but this should have been his top priority. You have every right to be upset." Wanda agreed. 

To make herself feel better, Cassie took Liam and asked, "Do you want to help me finish decorating your cake?" He gurgled a laugh and nodded. "Okay, let's practice walking there, yeah?" She set him down and grabbed a hold of both his hands. Very slowly, she helped him walk towards the kitchen. 

"You're doing so good, baby!" Cassie cooed. "Just wait till daddy sees you." She pushed open the doors to the kitchen and continued to help him. Once they got to the counter, she picked him up and set him on it. "Mamma," he said. 

Cassie looked up at him from decorating the cake and he said, "Dadda." She smirked at him and said, "He'll be here soon, sweetie. You miss him, don't you?" He nodded, then tried to get some frosting off of his cake. Cassie laughed as she told him, "No, not yet. You have to eat dinner first, okay?" He pouted, but then found something on the counter to distract him. 

Once Cassie was done decorating the cake, she put it in the fridge, then helped Liam walk back into the restaurant. Everyone was there by now; Martin, Amanda, Tom, Andrew, Mark, Steven, even Colin Firth, Judi Dench, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, and anyone else Benedict has ties with. Kate and Adam showed up with their now four month old daughter. 

"So, where is Cumberbum?" Adam asked as he picked at some appetizers. Cassie rolled her eyes at the thought of her husband and said, "He better be here soon. He overslept yesterday and missed his flight and couldn't get another one until late today."

Adam shook his head and said, "If I did that, Kate would murder me. No, scratch that, she would disembowel me." Cassie laughed, then heard the door to the restaurant open. She looked over and saw Ben trying to look over the crowd of people. Once he spotted her, he practically ran over. 

"Baby, I'm so sorry," he said, kissing her on the cheek. He gave her a dozen roses, then asked, "Can we talk in private?" He led him to her office, where they passed Liam and Ben took him from Julie. "Sorry, I meant actual privacy, but I missed my birthday boy so much."

He kissed Liam on the cheek several times, making his son giggle. "Dadda!" He said while putting his arms in the air. "Dadda! Dadda!" Ben laughed and said, "I know, I missed you, too! Are you happy it's your birthday?" He nodded, then grabbed Ben's nose and said, "Dadda."

Ben kissed his hand, then looked to Cassie. "Happy Anniversary, love." She only glared at him. "Honey, I know I messed up," he said, while setting Liam down on the office couch. "Nothing in this world could justify my actions. I had plans this morning for us before we got on celebrating Liam's birthday. Everything was paid for and set up and I went and fucked everything over."

He took her hands and gave them a small squeeze. "I don't expect you to forgive me so easily, but is there anything I can do right now, in this very bleeding moment, that I can do to make it up to you?" Cassie took a glance behind him and said, "You can turn around and look at your son."

Ben furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but turned around and saw Liam getting himself off of the couch and balancing himself to stand. "He can walk?" Ben asked in awe. Cassie said, "Not by himself...at least I don't think he can."

With that, Liam pushed himself from the couch and started walking towards his parents. "Oh, look at you!" Ben laughed and knelt down to the floor. "Come on, Liam, come to daddy," he gently urged. Liam wobbled his way over to Ben's open arms. 

Just as he got to him, he fell, but Ben caught him. "Wow, buddy, look at you," he chuckled. "You're growing up too fast for me, pal." Cassie knelt down next to her boys, then said, "I guess he was just waiting for you to come home to do that."

Chuckling, Ben kissed his head, then turned to his wife. "May I give you an anniversary kiss?" He asked. Her answer was leaning into him and giving him a kiss. When they pulled away, he told her, "I missed you. Only seeing you for the weekend you came out was not nearly enough."

She nodded and said, "Yeah. At least I got to meet Johnny Depp, though." He laughed and told her, "Yes, thank God or I'm afraid you would have divorced me. I love you, sweetheart, and I promise, I am going to make all of this up to you. How about I start with taking you out tomorrow night? We'll go somewhere fancy, stop at a pub afterwards, take a walk in Hyde Park. Hell, I'll get us a hotel room where we can have crazy loud sex."

She definitely wouldn't mind that part because ever since Kelly moved in, they've had to be careful when it comes to vocalizing their pleasure. Liam would often sleep right through the noise, but now that Kelly is moved in and completely aware of what they would be doing, they've had to muffle it. 

Not to mention, Julie was staying with them for the week.

"I like the crazy loud sex part," she told him. "The rest will do, as well." He chuckled, then brought her in for a kiss. "Get ready," he growled against her lips, "because I am going to go down on you until you pull my bloody hair out and all you'll be saying is my name over and over and over again."