“Girl, you’d be perfect. Though it’s sad to lose Bob and Donna. I have so many memories of them from Saturday morning donuts at Haven’s.”
“Doesn’t all of Hearts Bend?” Chloe smiled and the icy shell that had formed around her heart when she’d gottenthecall from Vivienne melted a bit more. “I think everyone in town spent Saturday mornings at Haven’s.”
“Chloe, we lost him. Jean-Marc…he—he’s gone.”
When Sophie glanced at her watch again, Chloe reached for her hand. “What’s this?” A ginormous diamond sparkled from her ring finger.
“This little ole thing?” She beamed. “I’m engaged. His name’s Eric, and he’s amazing.”
“Of course he is.” Chloe smiled. She may have lost the love of her life, but she still loved hearing others had found their one and only. “Love is—well, love is worth it.” Chloe nodded as if to assure Sophie, and herself, she meant it. Lovewasworth it. Even if it could also be painful.
“Thank you,” Sophie said. “That means a lot coming from you.”
They chatted a few more minutes until Sophie declared it was toddler story time at the Nook. “Which waits for no one.”
Chloe promised to stop in soon then finished her latte alone at the table, thinking of her day and the job interview that awaited her. All she knew was baking, but could she still do it? Did she want to do it? Chloe closed her eyes and inhaled, almost smelling the butter, vanilla, and sugar blending together.
After tossing her cup in the trash, Chloe slipped on her gloves and stepped outside into the cold. Where to next? She glanced toward the Book Nook…yeah, she’d definitely pop in there later. She could go to Gardenia Park and across to the Kids Theater. She’d spent a few happy summers there, working backstage.
Work… She’d been working twelve-hour days, six—okay, seven—days a week for the last few months, burying herself in work, without sleep. Yet, she found that the harder she worked, the less relief she felt—and the more elusive the joy that baking had always brought her. The weight of Jean-Marc’s death was so sudden, so unexpected, she lacked the ability to properly process it.
If she got the Haven’s job, would it only bring it all up? Would baking keep her chained to the past instead of inching her toward her future?
Sophie’s encouragement—“Girl, you’d be perfect”—soothed her a bit. She would be. The Bistro Gaspard was small, family run, but with a one-star Michelin rating. A well-earned accolade. Surely she could manage a small-town bakery like Haven’s. Hearts Bendwashome, and home was where she’d learned to love baking. Chloe rubbed her thumb over the indentation on her left ring finger. She was going to be fine, wouldn’t she? Were there any other options?
She walked to the market to pick up a few groceries for Mom then took them home and put them away. She answered a few emails, talked to Honey, and ate a light lunch. At one-thirty, she once again started for downtown Hearts Bend.
Maybe this would be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Sam parked in front of Haven’s, the weak Thursday afternoon sun sparkling on the snowflakes falling on the town. The last few winters had been pretty mild, so he took a moment to enjoy the drifting and floating bits of frozen crystals. He stood on the curb, looked up and down First Avenue. Though he couldn’t quite see Frank’s office from here, Sam knew it was up the block all right, exactly forty-five squares of sidewalk concrete away. He’d walked the route often enough as a kid, careful to avoid the cracks and not break his mother’s back.
Sticking his hands into his jacket pockets, he sighed as he looked up the street again. Yeah, no, he couldn’t do this. Couldn’t own a Hearts Bend business that was literally a hop, skip, and a jump from the old man’s office. Better get in there and tell Rick.
Sam climbed the four steps to the front door. The brace that kept his knee straight made him look like an awkward penguin, but he made it to the top and held the door open for a mom exiting with a squirming toddler. “Thanks,” she said, barely looking up at him.
His meeting with Dr. Morgan had gone well. She’d examined him, giving him much of the same report the team doctor and trainer had. He’d have to be careful, do everything she told him, and be faithful to his therapy sessions, at-home exercises, and to rest.
“Rest is the most important thing, Sam. You want to be on the field in July? Rest.”
Rest was such a weird word. He’d been working so hard to achieve his dream, rest felt like failure. He worked hard, played hard. Even his vacations were action oriented. Surfing at Malibu. Hiking the Grand Canyon. White water rafting in Colorado. Rest. Hmm. What would that be like?
Never mind that for now—he was inside the bakery with its amazing aromas. Ole Haven’s was a time capsule, filled with the same chairs and tables, booths, decorations, and pictures as twenty years ago. For the first time in a long time, Sam felt a bit at home in Hearts Bend.
Standing in the doorway, he inhaled the aroma of baking bread and rich roasted coffee. Suddenly, he was a kid again sitting in the corner booth between his folks, scarfing down crullers and chocolate milk. Mom sipped coffee and read a paperback while Frank rattled newspaper pages. The same red vinyl bench seats in the booths. The same square, chipped Formica tables around the room. The same employees.
Wow, he really had stepped back in time.
“Oh, good gravy. Sam Hardy.” Ruby’s expression filled with surprise as she came around the counter to give him a big hug. “We ain’t seen you in a month of Sundays.”
Same ole Ruby. “I’m looking for Rick Moses. Is he here?”
“In the office with Bob and Donna.” Ruby nodded toward the kitchen doors then stuck her hands on her hips. “So, we got us a quarterback for an owner.” Ruby’s voice rose above the voices and clattering dishes in the bakery’s dining room. “Our own Sam Hardy.”
“Shh, Ruby, no one needs to know.” He pressed his finger to his lips.
“Don’t shush me.” She patted his back. “Get on in there. And Sam, don’t know how you plan on keeping it quiet that the Titans’ quarterback now owns Haven’s.”
She had a point. But he was going to try. He just didn’t want his dad to know…and act all smug.
