At his last question, her brows pulled together slightly. "Hey," she said softly, almost immediately. "No. You’re okay. This isn’t a bad time. And for what it’s worth?" she added, voice gentler now, "the fact that you’re this worried about doing right by her probably means you’re already doing better than you think." A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "And I do happen to know a couple of cats around here who are real overachievers in the emotional support department. If you're set on getting another cat, of course."

“Thanks,” Nick let out a nervous chuckle. “I just…yeah, I want to do right by her, she deserves it.” He obviously wasn’t planning on oversharing his history with Maddy to a stranger, but he was trying to do good. Maybe another cat would bring them closer together. “I might get another cat, I’m not really a dog person, and my kids are used to having a cat around. I doubt they’re dog people either.”

With the nicer weather, Ashleigh finally found herself wanting to be out and about a little more, instead of spending her time between her boat, the ranch, and the occasional pop into a restaurant or store to get food. And why not start with a bakery that smelled delicious from the very moment she opened the door? "Actually… samples would be amazing -- if I'm not taking up too much of your time!" she said quickly, not wanting to hold them up from the math homework that they needed to get done. Although… hindsight, handing out samples to baked goods might have been a little more entertaining than that, actually. "But this way I can know what to get, even if absolutely everything sounds delicious, to be honest."

“Oh, no,” Nick smiled and shook his head. “You’re not taking up my time at all. It’s been a slow day, less busy than normal, which I don’t exactly mind.” It gave them time to themself, and they knew their kids were too focused on math to butt into what the adults were doing. He loved the kids dearly, but the pair could be very talkative, especially towards customers. Sure, it would mostly be to sway them into buying a specific thing, but that wasn’t always necessary, even if Nick found it endearing.

They quickly gloved their hands before moving towards where they kept the little sample cups, grabbing two and placing them on the counter, before heading towards the display case. He opened it and grabbed a lemon blueberry croissant and a vanilla glazed scone, carefully cutting a chunk of each into smaller, sample-sized portions before placing them into the cups. “These are from a little bit ago. I assure you that I’m not one of those people who leave things in the display case for days at a time. That’s unhygienic. But anyway, I’ll give you these two to start, and then if you want any more, let me know. I’ve got time.”

She looked at Lily after a moment, who was looking between father and daughter and then the math textbook on the counter. The teen stuck her hands in her pockets. "I could help," she shrugged. "I think my mom wants to buy bread," she looked at Lara, who nodded and pulled up the list on her phone. "The two-pack please," she signed.

Nick nodded and moved towards the area of shelves where he kept the pre-packaged bread. Though it’d been baked the day of, they always knew there’d be customers who would want sealed bread. Obviously, he was one to cater to his customers’ wants. They grabbed the requested two-pack and took a glance over at their children still doing their homework (surprisingly) before heading back towards the front. “Alright, here you are. Is there anything else?”

He looked over at the counter, knowing that the afternoon was maybe not the best time to be picking up new bread and sweets, but when a craving hits, it hits.

“It’s decimal multiplication, actually,” Nick replied with a bit of a laugh. “I don’t understand why they’re getting new material this late in the school year, maybe to keep their brains occupied, but…” he trailed off, shrugging. “They don’t seem to get this, so I’m a little worried for their algebra ability when that time comes. Thankfully they have a few more years, but still.”

Flour Co. it was, decided on by asking a few of her fellow ranchands what the best choice was. Of course, everyone had their differing opinions, and Ashleigh very quickly learned the most valuable lesson: there were no bad choices. Pulling open the door to the bakery, she stepped inside and was pleasantly surprised by the smell, first, and the greeting second, looking up as someone popped behind the counter, seeming a bit frazzled, and leaving her laughing as they talked about math lessons. "Honestly, math is kind of like a foreign language to me, I was one of those straight A students except for math," a pause, "and physics. And… chemistry, maybe we'll say a curvy A student." Close enough!

Stepping closer to the counter, she let out a 'hmm' and shrugged a bit, "this is my first time here, actually, but I was thinking of picking up a box of pastries to take into my volunteers tomorrow morning, so. What do you recommend?"

“I decided to bring my kids here because I knew they wanted pastries after school, and they wanted to get homework done anyway. They, unfortunately, don’t seem to understand the math aspect of it, and as I said, I’m not a math teacher. I wouldn’t hold it against them if they googled it, and frankly, it’s May, so I’m not sure why they’re learning new stuff.” Nick chuckled. “I wasn’t really a math student either, I mean, growing up, I kind of sucked at it. Nowadays I do kind of need it for, well, this, but…” they shrugged. “I’m not a mathematician.”

He raised an eyebrow at the woman’s revelation that it was her first time in the bakery, though he smiled to show he wasn’t actually offended by it. There were plenty of bakeries in town, and while they considered theirs to be the best, they wouldn’t care if people went elsewhere. “Wow. That puts a lot of pressure on me,” he joked. “I’m biased, but you can’t go wrong with most of them. Though if you want specifics, the croissants, scones, muffins, éclairs, and danishes are some of the best-sellers. I will say some things sell out faster than others, like the cookies are practically gone by mid-afternoon. It’s mostly parents who give their kids treats after lunch, which…I can’t say I blame them,” they nodded towards their own preoccupied children before looking back towards the woman. “If you want, I can give you some samples. It might make your decision-making process easier.”

The late afternoon sun painted everything in shades of gold, casting long shadows across the gravel drive that led to the animal sanctuary. It had been one of those days where Katelyn felt like she had lived three separate lifetimes before five o’clock—one bottle-fed fawn, two runaway goats, a Labrador with a talent for escaping every enclosure he was put in, and a phone call from the high school about a student who needed someone to listen.

By the time she finally stepped outside, she smelled faintly of hay, shampoo, and coffee that had long since gone cold. Katie tugged the elastic from her ponytail as she crossed toward her truck. A rescue dog—an aging mutt with one cloudy eye and far too much personality—trotted faithfully at her heels until she crouched to scratch behind his ears.

"Alright, buddy," she murmured, smiling when he leaned into her hand. "You can’t keep following me home. Well... not unless you’re prepared to share the bed with three other animals."

Straightening, she caught sight of someone nearby and offered the kind of smile that came as naturally to her as breathing—warm, easy, and quietly reassuring.

"Sorry," she said with a soft laugh, brushing dog hair from the front of her flannel. "He seems to think he gets a vote in my personal life." She rested one hand on her truck door, hazel eyes bright in the fading sunlight. "How’re you doing?"

Nick smiled, chuckling a little at the woman’s comment about the dog. “I get it. They’re curious things, though they’re very endearing. Anyway, I’ve got a bit of an odd request. I’m in the process of working through a bunch of legal papers to finalize an adoption. For a kid, that is, not an animal,” he clarified with a nervous laugh. “Her and I…well, I won’t get too much into it, but I want to surprise her with a pet as a gift to try and make the process easier, probably for both of us, honestly.” They rubbed the back of their neck nervously. “We already have a cat, but she’s been asking for another one anyway, so…I don’t know, I figured I’d try to do something good for her. It wouldn’t hurt. Unless, I don’t know, is this a bad time? I can come back if it’s inconvenient.”

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