“I’m fine too.”
“Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?”
“Nothing too fancy,” Angela said. “We’re just having a small dinner.”
“A small dinner sounds lovely. I’ll be cooking dinner for almost thirty.”
Angela couldn’t imagine a gathering of that many people. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate your efforts.”
“I certainly hope so,” the woman said with a laugh. “They’ll be bringing some food as well, so it won’t all be on me.”
The bell chimed again, and Mrs. Martin turned to greet the entering customer. Pulling out the paper with the list she and Kiara had made the night before, Angela got one of the small wheeled carts and made her way down the nearest aisle.
There wasn’t much variation in what they bought from week to week, so it didn’t take her long to gather everything on the list. She also had a small list for their landlady, so she added those things to her cart.
Once everything was in the cart, she took a couple of minutes to add up the total of everything on the paper. After a brief hesitation, she headed to the candy section.
She picked up a package of gummy bears for Kiara and a plain milk chocolate bar for herself. Kiara would probably tell her she shouldn’t have wasted the money, but she’d still eat the candy in one sitting.
There was one other customer standing at the register when Angela approached it. Knowing that no one ever rushed when Mrs. Martin checked them out, Angela stood looking at the magazines in the rack beside the checkout.
She and Kiara hadn’t been raised knowing anything about celebrities. There had been no television for them, and the books they’d been given to read had all been historical.
It wasn’t until they’d gotten older and started coming into town periodically with Jim and Sandra that they’d realized that there was so much more to the world than the homestead surrounded by gardens and trees.
Kiara had memories of the time before she’d been adopted, but Jim had gotten angry with her whenever she’d tried totalk about the shows she liked on television. Eventually, she’d stopped talking about any of it.
Now, though, Kiara loved to read all the magazines about movie stars and professional athletes. Her favorite thing was to look at pictures from fancy events to see the red carpet looks. Kiara also liked to watch movies, shows, and even sporting events on their old laptop.
“Did you find everything, hun?” Mrs. Martin asked as Angela shuffled forward with her cart and began to unload it.
“Yes, thank you.”
Mrs. Martin deftly rang up each item, giving Angela a wink when she got to the candy. When she told her the total, Angela frowned and looked down at her paper.
Had she done her math wrong? Thankfully, she’d erred on the high side, so the bill was lower than she’d expected.
Math had always been a weakness for her. As a baker, she had to know measurements and how to adjust recipes, but she always double and triple-checked her figures.
“There are a few things on sale this week that I haven’t gotten around to changing the price tags for yet,” Mrs. Martin said.
“Really?” Angela had a hard time believing that, but she was grateful. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, hun.”
Once Angela had paid for both orders, she thanked the woman again, then picked up the bags. The door swung open as she approached it, and a middle-aged man stepped back to hold it open for her.
She gave him a smile and a nod before stepping out into the chilly air. Cold had swept in that week, a reminder that winter was on its way.
It took her fifteen minutes to walk from Main Street to Hawthorn Avenue, where she and Kiara rented a basement suite from an elderly woman.
After living in the apartment above the bakery for over two years, they’d had the opportunity to move somewhere else. And just a couple of days prior, they’d transferred their meager amount of belongings into the basement apartment.
It was small and dark, but it was safe and affordable. Best of all, they didn’t have to worry about Patty, the owner of the bakery, her boss, and their landlady, walking into their space whenever she felt like it.
There hadn’t been a lot of options for rentals in the small town, but they hadn’t had a way to get somewhere bigger. That hadn’t bothered Angela too much, as she’d been wary of living in a more densely populated city, even if it was farther away from Jim and Craig.
Before going down to the apartment, Angela knocked on the door to the main part of the house. Hearing Miss Ida call for her to come in, Angela opened the door and stepped into the kitchen.
