Christian set Avery down on a bench that someone generously vacated after seeing she was bleeding and he pulled a pack of tissues out of his briefcase. He handed her one and told her to pinch her nose and lean forward with the hand that wasn’t covered with blood. She was curious why that hand until he grabbed the bloody one and began wiping it off with another tissue.

What was he doing?! Didn’t he know how gross that was? She could do it herself! Eventually. Probably not until she blood dried since she was too preoccupied with stopping the flow. But still!

The tissues weren’t working entirely on their own and a kind passerby with a diaper bag gave them a few baby wipes and a sympathetic smile. She was grateful for that because she felt slightly less gross now. It didn’t change the fact that she had blood on the front of her uniform or smeared under her nose but she couldn’t get to that as long as she was holding a tissue to it.

This was so mortifying. And she had to do it in front of a guy she saw semi-regularly too. She knew he came to the bakery every day even if she didn’t always get to talk to him.

He must work nearby. He wouldn’t be so religious about coming on weekdays around lunchtime if he didn’t. Knowing this did not help with her mortification at all. The last thing she wanted was for her coworkers other than Vanessa to hear about this.

“I’m so sorry,” Avery mumbled miserably.

Christian brushed her off. “Not a big deal. Things happen, Avery. Truthfully, I’m glad I broke your fall. You could have gotten seriously hurt otherwise.”

“But I smashed my nose directly into your head! Didn’t that hurt?”

“A little. I’ve taken much worse hits though; believe me. I have a hard head so don’t worry about me. Are you still bleeding? You should check by changing the tissue. That’s what I do when I get bloody noses.”

He was being ridiculously nice about this. Anyone else in his shoes wouldn’t be nearly so understanding.

Avery checked and sure enough her nose began to drip again. She sighed and replaced the tissue. “Still bleeding. You don’t have to stay here with me; I’m sure you have somewhere more important to be. Now that the blood is off my hand I’m not at risk for fainting anymore.”

Christian shook his head. “I’m not leaving until I’m sure you’re okay.”

A rather generous offer considering how much she inconvenienced him and how stupid she must look. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”

“What, like listen to my brother argue with the people he’s playing video games with into his headset? Trust me, I’m not missing anything important. Do you have someone you can call to come get you? I don’t know if you should be on the subway by yourself after getting dizzy like that.”

This was the first time Avery had someone she didn’t know well worry about her like this discounting Mercury. That was sort of his job though since he was a hero. This guy was…what did he do, anyway? She had never asked.

“Maybe?” she hedged. “I could ask.”

Angelo should be off work by now but she had no idea if he was home or not. He had a car but usually took the subway to work and saved it for emergencies and errands that required trunk space.

She couldn’t exactly text while pinching her nose shut so she called him. “Are you busy now?” she asked without preface.

“Depends on what you want. Why?” Angelo replied suspiciously.

“So I may or may not have fallen down the subway stairs and got a really bad bloody nose. You know how I am with blood so I almost fainted. Is it at all possible for you to come get me?”

He mumbled curses in Spanish about how stupid she was. “How can you jump from building to building with no problems and trip down a perfectly normal set of stairs?!”

“Because I’m tired. I guess I still haven’t recovered from this weekend. So can you come get me or not? I need to know so I can get on the next train if you aren’t coming. If you’re too busy—”

“I’m never too busy for you if it’s important. Hang tight. Are you at the station closest to your work?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Angelo. I appreciate it.”

“Whatever. See you in a bit,” Angelo said before hanging up without saying goodbye.

Avery sighed and put her phone back in her pocket before looking over at Christian. “Someone’s coming for me. You can go now. Thanks for waiting with me this long. I think I’ll be okay.”

“You look really pale though,” he said with a frown. “I don’t think you should be left alone. I can wait until your ride comes.”

She couldn’t help it. Being accused of looking pale was too much when she was already this high strung so she burst out laughing. “Christian, I’m an albino! Of course I look pale!”

“That isn’t what I meant! You look paler than usual. Clammy. The word I should have used is clammy. I didn’t know you were actually an albino though. Sorry. That’s probably rude to say.”

Avery didn’t mind. She had gotten the comments a million times before.

“I have Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome. It’s a type of albinism that can include other problems such as bleeding disorders and vision issues. That’s why my stupid bloody nose won’t stop. My blood doesn’t clot properly.”

Christian’s frown grew deeper. “Do you need to go to the hospital or something?”

His concern was kind of cute. He clearly didn’t know anyone with clotting issues. She managed to stifle her laughter this time. “Not for a bloody nose. I’ll be fine as long as I rest when I get home and drink plenty of water. Don’t worry; this has happened dozens of times before and I’m clearly fine.”

“If you’re sure…how far away is the person coming to get you?”

“Hard to tell with traffic but if I had to guesstimate I’d have to say about thirty minutes. Sorry you’re stuck with me that long. I’m sure your brother’s video game arguments would be more fun than this.”

Christian snorted. “They really wouldn’t. While we’re stuck here we should talk about something to pass the time. Any ideas?”

Now that he mentioned it… “What do you do for a living? I wondered before but it never came up.”

“Oh. I’m a patent attorney. Super boring stuff; you probably don’t want to hear about it. Even I get bored of it. My firm is in the same building as your bakery about forty floors up. It’s kind of crazy how many different types of businesses can fit into one skyscraper, isn’t it?”

No kidding. Patent law was worlds apart from baking.

Was he seriously a lawyer? He didn’t look that old. Asking flat out was rude but she might be able to guess if she knew how long he had worked there.

“Seriously. How long have you been there?” Avery asked. “I’ve been at the bakery for about two years now. Before that I worked in a grocery store bakery section, which vastly underutilized my skills.”

Christian smiled. “Having seen your cakes that’s definitely true. I’ve been there for about five years now. It was my first job out of law school and I didn’t see a reason to leave it because I prefer to avoid courtroom drama. Contracts are so much easier…and duller.”

Five years straight out of law school would make him about thirty. Four or so years older than her.

“Courtroom drama, huh? Is it better or worse than what you see on TV?”

“Honestly, it depends. I saw some pretty wild stuff when I was in law school but that mostly involved divorce cases. Family law is messy. I would take contracts over that any day of the week. So how did you end up as a cake decorator? I’ve never met another one personally,” he said.

Avery let out a small, nostalgic laugh. “Kind of a funny story, actually. I was raised by a single dad and he was a horrible baker. Had to buy my birthday cakes and his own every year. When I was about eight I decided to give it a shot myself and the results were unsurprisingly horrible.

“Because I was determined to have a pretty cake like my friends’ moms made for them without getting it from the store I practiced for any somewhat special occasion you could think of. When I was eleven he signed me up for a cake decorating class and it was all downhill from there. I went to culinary school and specialized in cakes.”

“I’m sure your dad appreciates all the effort you put in so he doesn’t have to buy himself birthday cakes anymore,” Christian said without realizing he was twisting the knife.

A wry smile appeared on her face. “He did. He was really proud of me for graduating and getting that dinky grocery store job. I wish he could have seen where I ended up. Carmine’s Bakery owes its reputation largely to me.”

The blood drained from his face. “I’m so sorry, Avery. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay. My dad might not be here anymore but he’s with me in spirit.” And in the smartwatch she never took off her wrist. She would carry on his legacy no matter the cost and do what he couldn’t.

Avery exhaled heavily before replying in a light tone. “Geez, way to overshare. My medical history, my dad…you heard all sorts of things you didn’t want to today.”

Christian shook his head. “Don’t apologize for that. I’ve enjoyed talking to you though I do regret that you had to get injured for it to happen. Fall on me anytime…actually, forget that. That sounds totally weird. You know what I mean though!”

She cracked a smile. She did know what he meant. “Yeah. No worries.”