Unconditionally

Chapter Twenty-five

"If I could do it all over again. . I would know what it felt like to lose you. If you give me just one more chance I promise, I will do everything in my power to keep you."

Aunt Sill wakes me up wearing her vet attire and her arms crossed over her chest. I lazily yawn and stretch my legs with my arms raised above my head.

"Do you know what time it, Mackenzie?" She scolds.

I internally groan. To satisfy my aunt, I look at my digital look to check the time. My eyes widen when I realize why Sill is waking me up.

Last night I promised her I'd go to work early in the morning. I also promised that I'd wake myself up. The plan didn't really work out so well.

"Sorry, I'll get ready as fast as I can." I tell her while getting out of my bed.

I happen to glance at Sill to see she's giving me a slight smirk.

"What?" I ask.

"Just get ready. I want to stop and get blueberry muffins."

With that being said, Sill walks out of my room and closes the door. I rush to get ready and the thought of eating a big, warm blueberry muffin makes me rush even more. I quickly put on my clothes and brush out my blond curls. I get a small hair clip and clip the pieces of hair that frame my face to the nape of my neck. Once my teeth are brushed and I check my appearance one last time, I run down the stairs and the front porch to my waiting Aunt Sill.

After buckling my seat belt, Sill reverses out of the driveway and heads down the dirt road to the local bakery. Whenever I went to school, I'd always try to stop over at the bakery beside Tom's Night Bar. Even though I had to always watch my surrounds so a drunken man wouldn't get his dirty hands on me, it was worth it when I had a small box of muffins in the passenger seat and an iced mocha in my cup holder. Usually Haze would finish off my drink, and we'd eat the muffins in homeroom before we had to separate for our next class.

I smile faintly at the memories of sharing the blueberry muffins. They were always worth the wait.

Since we don't live that far from the bakery (pretty much two minutes away), Sill pulls into the connected parking lots for Tom's Night Bar and Mia's Sweet Tooth. Crazy names for these companies, but they both get good business. Here's the funny part, Tom and Mia are married at middle age and live on the flat above Mia's bakery. I've never met Tom, but Mia is usually the one behind the cash register ready to take up your order.

As Sill opens the glassed door, the tink tink bell chimes above us as we walk into the bakery. Spices and sugar fills my nose, and my stomach grumbles, wanting to be filled with muffins and an iced mocha. The windows bring in the morning sun, and thankfully the morning rush hasn't come yet, or Mia would be swamped! People are scattered at the wooden tables with coffees and cakes in front of them.

"Well, look who finally decides to visit me after graduating!"

I laugh, shaking my head. Of course I would get a licking since I haven't seen Mia in almost two months.

"Good morning, Mia." I say jokingly.

Mia is a plump middle aged woman with laugh lines and fading brown hair. Though her children are almost close to the age of beginning and finishing college, she's always friendly to us teenagers. Mia laughs and rests her elbows on the wooden counter.

"Miss Mackenzie, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

I smile and look at the samples that are featured in case below. My eyes catch on to the many blueberry muffins, and I quickly lick my lips.