“I’m not exactly sure.” I sank into a chair and Mavis sat opposite me. Dan settled into the chair next to me. Rufus returned to his work behind the counter, but he seemed very intent on participating in this conversation. While enjoying the best blueberry muffin I’d ever eaten, I told Mavis about showing up at the farm in the middle of the night, my “leave of absence” from work, my intent to work on the farm, and wanting to learn as much as I possibly could about my grandparents. I left out the parts about seeing Dan in his underwear, our surprising chemistry, and the fact that my intuition whispered that there was something more to the town’s connection to the farm than I was being told.
“Well, that’s understandable, dear. What would you like to know?”
“Well, everything, I guess.” I sighed and took a bite of my muffin. Mavis and Dan exchanged a wary look.
“Are you all right, sweetheart? You look a little pale.” Mavis leaned forward and pressed the back of her hand against my cheek.
“I’ve had a long morning.” I let out a weak chuckle. Once the adrenaline and endorphins of my injury had worn off, combined with the painkillers Dr. Westlake gave me before we left her office, the day was catching up with me. Plus, despite stripping down to the long-sleeve T-shirt, I was still baking in all the layers of clothes I was wearing. “Could you tell me where the restroom is? I wanna splash some cold water on my face.”
“All the way to the back and to the left.” Rufus pointed from behind the counter.
The cold water helped, but what I really needed was a nap.Determined to hold it together long enough for Mavis to tell me at least one story about my grandparents, I gave myself another bathroom-mirror pep talk and pulled the door open.
“You’d better tell her,” Mavis said. Her words made me stop short. They had to have been talking about me. “You don’t want her to find out on her own. Get ahead of it.”
Tell me what? Get ahead of what?
Almost thirty years of home training taught me that eavesdropping on conversations wasn’t polite, but seven years of public relations taught me that there was no such thing as too much information, especially if that information is about you.
“I know that’s right,” Rufus called from behind the counter. “Women always find out.”
“What do you know about women?” Leonard, whom I immediately recognized from the bathroom the night of the will reading, emerged from the back of the bakery wearing a Bob Marley T-shirt and a battered leather messenger bag. I leaned back into the doorway of the bathroom and closed the door a little more, hoping he didn’t notice me as he passed. “You’re still wet behind the ears, boy.” He chuckled and bent over to give Mavis a kiss, while doing something with one of his hands that made her jump in her chair and giggle.
“Ugh, come on, Pop Pop.” Rufus wrinkled his nose. “Aren’t you too old for that? This is a business.” He shook his head before adding, “And I’m twenty-two. I know plenty about women.” He ducked back behind the counter.
“He’s right, though, kid,” Leonard directed at Dan and chuckled, still rubbing Mavis’s shoulder. “Women always know more than they let on.” His wife slapped his thigh with the back of her hand andgave him a sardonic look. “And based on what I saw of her… and it was a lot”—that comment earned him another slap from Mavis and made my cheeks flame with heat—“you’d better watch out. Once a woman like that gets under your skin, you’re stuck… ask me how I know.” He tilted his head at Mavis and waggled his eyebrows.
“You old fool,” Mavis said with an almost girlish smile as her husband leaned down to give her a PG-13 kiss that made Rufus suck his teeth.
“If you two keep this up, I’m going back to campus early.” He walked away to help a customer who’d entered the bakery.
There was something simultaneously heartwarming and foreign about watching Leonard and Mavis be so blissfully attracted to each other after so many years together. My parents’ marriage was so cold and distant. I don’t think I ever saw them hold hands, much less kiss. Teddy hated kissing in public, unless it was an opportunity for him to sell what everyone assumed to be our picture-perfect relationship. I wondered if Dan was affectionate. All current evidence pointed to yes, considering the way he’d treated me the past few days. I realized that I quickly had to derail that train of thought.
“Where are you off to, honey?” Mavis asked Leonard, while Dan reached over and broke off a large piece of my muffin.
“I’m headed to the bank and making a few deliveries in town.” He patted his messenger bag. “Then I’m gonna swing by the hospital.”
“Oh, nice.” Mavis smiled. “Tell Dr. Yang I said hello.”
“I always do, sweet cakes.” He patted her shoulder. “Also, Dan, that last batch of George of the Jungle was the truth. I’m gonna need some more of that… you know, for my glaucoma.” He winked.
What the hell was George of the Jungle?
“I thought it was for your arthritis,” Dan joked, scraping his muffin crumbs into a little pile on his plate. He reached over to my plate and broke off another even larger piece of my muffin, and it almost made me rush out of my spying perch to stop him.
“The Making Whoopie Pies are for my arthritis.” He smiled. “You oughtta try one.”
“‘Don’t get high on your own supply,’ Leonard,” Dan joked.
Did Dan just quoteScarface? It was a weird comment to make about baked goods. Whoopie pies are good, but not that good.
“Well, then how would I know it’s quality?”
“Fair point,” Dan conceded. “The George of the Jungle should be ready in a few weeks. I’m trying out some new lights to speed up the growth phase without compromising the quality. So far, so good.”
“Well, we’re running low on Annie’s Green Gables. So you’ll need to get that to me ASAP,” Mavis interjected. “I swear the demand just keeps going up. It’s good for business, but it makes me nervous. Word is spreading, and that’s good, but we still need to be careful.”
“Sorry, Mavis.” Dan sighed. “I didn’t used to handle distribution. I’m still figuring things out, but I’ll look into it.”
