"Peter, do you have any friends?"
"Friends?"
"Yeah, guy friends. Preferably ones that are as attractive as you."
Peter frowned and looked over at Susan, recognizing the subtle desperation in her eyes.
"Yeah, I have some guy friends," he said slowly. "Why?"
Susan blew her hair out of her face and began slicing a loaf of bread. "I need to get married. With my dad about to go to prison I need someone to take care of me. My first choice, of course, would be you, but you don't seem to be willing."
"That would be correct," Peter replied. He'd realized lately that it was best to be explicit with Susan. She pouted, but didn't say anything. Peter thought of the male friends he had. They were all in Neverland. The twins were too young, Nibs was too serious, but Slightly might be interested if he ever came back. He wondered if she would settle for one of the pirates. Cecco seemed like he might be kind of young. Although Susan probably wouldn't want to settle down with a criminal.
His musings were interrupted by a familiar face approaching the counter.
"Mrs. Darling? Ah... what can I get for you?"
She didn't answer immediately. She gazed around at the displays and smiled approvingly. "This is a nice little bakery," she commented. "Usually I pass right by, but Wendy had mentioned you work here, so I thought I'd come in."
"Oh, Wendy." Peter's throat tightened as he said her name. "How is she?"
Mrs. Darling's eyes sparkled. "She's doing alright. Although I think she might be a bit lonely."
"Is that so?" Peter was beginning to wonder why she was telling him this.
"Well, she's just had a lot of time to herself ever since she stopped dating Ethan."
Peter's heart leapt, but he quickly forced himself to gain control of his emotions. So what if she'd stopped dating that guy? She'd made it clear she didn't want him in her world. Still, a spark of hope glimmered inside him that he couldn't quite rationalize away. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said evenly.
Mrs. Darling looked put out. "Well, I thought that maybe..."
"Hey lady," Susan cut in, "we're about to get real busy. "Are you going to order something or not?"
Mrs. Darling looked as if she might scold Susan, but then she shrugged and turned back to Peter. "I'll have a blueberry bagel."
Peter bagged her bagel and gave her change. "Is there anything else I can get you?"
"Yes, a job."
Peter nearly choked. "A what?"
"Your associate just said you were going to be busy soon. That must mean you need help."
Peter didn't know what to say. They had been busy, and they were doing well enough that they could afford to bring on more help, but he wasn't really sure he wanted a constant reminder of Wendy right there in the bakery.
"Look," Mrs. Darling said, leaning closer, "it would just be for a little while. They let me go at the hospital because I had been away for a week in..." she glanced over at Susan, "Well, you know where I was. The hiring process for nurse jobs can take a while, and I just need a little something to help out with the bills in the meantime."
Peter gulped. There wasn't an easy way out of this.
"Come on, it'll be fun," she urged.
Fun was definitely not the word he would use to describe it, but it might be nice to have someone there to dispel the awkwardness between him and Susan. On the other hand, it could make things a whole lot more awkward.
"Okay, sure," Peter said finally, amazed that the words were coming out of his mouth.
"Great!" Mrs. Darling exclaimed. "I'll start tomorrow!"
Before Peter could say anything, she had grabbed her bagel and rushed out of the bakery.
"Tomorrow. Yeah, great," Peter murmured, wondering what he had gotten himself into.