“Will it be here in time?” He scooped a spoonful of the pie into his mouth.
“It should be here by the weekend.” When David didn’t say anything, she bit her bottom lip. “Is it too tart? I added more lemon zest than I usually would.”
“I couldn’t imagine it any other way. If I had some whipped cream, I’d be in heaven.”
The grin he sent her didn’t do her pounding heart any good. “I could offer my customers cream or ice cream with it.”
“Good idea. What’s next?”
After five more samples, she discovered his sweet tooth was even sweeter than hers. When he was finished, she looked at the draft menu and counted the ticks beside each option. “After everyone’s feedback, I’ll put eight sweet and six savory options on the café’s menu.”
“Be careful how many dishes you include. Food wastage will make an enormous difference to your profit margins.”
Andrea’s eyes widened. “And you know this because?”
“I might have been doing a little research on the hospitality industry.”
“What else did your research tell you?”
“To be careful of blond-haired café owners who have a knife close to their hand.”
She flinched. His words brought back a horrific memory that she tried hard to forget.
David grabbed a stool and rushed around the counter. “Sit here. You look as though you’re about to faint.”
“I’m okay.” Sinking onto the stool, she took a deep breath and repeated the words that calmed her. She was safe. Her boys were safe. No one could hurt her.
“I was joking about the knife.”
“I know you were. It’s just…” Should she tell him about Scotty? About the years of abuse she’d lived with because she didn’t think she could leave?
“What happened?”
There was so much kindness in his expression her heart pounded even harder. “I used to be married to a man who couldn’t control his anger. He would fly into rages and take his frustration out on me.” She trembled as she remembered how angry he could be. “One day, he picked up a knife and threatened to kill me.”
The silence inside the kitchen was deafening. She glanced at David, hoping he didn’t think she was a fool for allowing herself to be treated that way. Because she wasn’t a fool. She’d been brainwashed into believing she was worthless. That nothing she ever did was good enough. That she wasn’t good enough.
“What did you do?”
Tears filled her eyes. “I pleaded with him to calm down. And then I made dinner.” Her reaction to the violence embarrassed her but, at the time, she couldn’t do anything else. “The boys were playing in the living room. All I wanted was for Scotty to stop.”
“Did he?”
Andrea nodded. “Eventually. My husband had two different sides to his personality. His friends thought he was charming, funny, and intelligent. But, when he was at home, he could be angry and mean. He wanted to be in control of everything.”
David leaned against the kitchen counter. “How long were you married to him?”
“Eleven years. He wasn’t always like that, but something inside him changed. A week after he threatened me with the knife, I told him I was taking the boys to school. Instead of going there, I kept driving. My cousin let us stay with her and helped me get a divorce.”
“That was incredibly brave.”
“It was the only thing I could do. I had to keep Andy and Charlie safe. When Scotty came looking for me, I left my cousin’s house and drove to Montana. The money I’d saved got us as far as Sapphire Bay. We arrived with three backpacks, my truck, and nothing else.”
David watched her move the leftover food onto a larger plate. “How did you manage?”
Her hand stilled as she remembered meeting Mabel Terry for the first time. “The boys were hungry. I had ten dollars in my wallet and no gas in my car. The general store was advertising hot dogs for a dollar. I went inside and spoke to Mabel. She must have realized how desperate I was. She took us to The Welcome Center and introduced me to Pastor John.” A knot of emotion clogged her throat. Without Mabel and John’s help, she didn’t know what would have happened to her or her boys. “John gave us somewhere to sleep and invited us to have our meals with the other guests.”
“Why did you decide to stay here?”
