“Sorry I wasn’t able to stop by and grab the things for dinner.” Without any prompting, Anthony began setting the table for three, knowing where to find all of Faith’s cutlery,dishes, and placemats. “It took a lot longer at the hardware store than I’d budgeted for. Their key making machine was down.”
“Were you able to get one made?” Faith asked, looking up from her bag of groceries. “The key?”
Mitch watched the two dance about the small kitchen, Anthony sidestepping Faith when she moved toward the fridge, Faith ducking out of Anthony’s way when he opened an upper cupboard to retrieve a pitcher for water. It was a well-rehearsed kind of choreography, time and repetition guiding their effortless steps and coordination.
“After an hour,” Anthony said with a little huff. “But yep, I’m officially the proud owner of a key to your place.”
Mitch’s body drained of all feeling like the time he was a young boy and had been pressured to attend the neighborhood haunted house on Halloween. He’d somehow gotten shoved to the front of their group, and when he’d turned a corner only to come face to face with a ghostly apparition that made the loudest, shrillest sound he’d ever heard, he’d thought he had died right there on the spot. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, and could scarcely breathe.
“Mitch?” Faith eyed him. “You okay?”
“You know? My stomach’s not really feeling right. I’m worried I might be coming down with something.”
“Oh no.” Faith was just shy of gasping. “Really?”
No, not really. Still, he played out the lie. He was certainly full of them today. “Something’s definitely going around, and I don’t want to expose you. I probably picked it up the other day when I visited the elementary school. Anyway, I should get back to my place and confine my germs there. You two have a good evening.”
Anthony didn’t waste any time removing Mitch’s place setting from the dining table. “What was it you stopped by for again?”
Of course, the guy wouldn’t let him off that easy. “I had just wanted to see if Faith had heard about Josephine Major’s accident at the ranch.” He angled his attention toward Faith, shutting out Anthony by squaring his back to him. “She’s going to be fine, but I wanted to make sure you knew about it. Figured you two might be friends.”
The refrigerator door closed with a rattle, the contents in the door clinking while Faith’s hand remained on the handle. “I actually heard it directly from the horse’s mouth,” she said with a little chuckle. “That woman is nothing if not determined to the point of obsession. I mean, she had just been admitted to the hospital an hour earlier and was already attempting to get her ducks in a row with the soiree.”
“Yeah?” Mitch pretended he didn’t already know the entire story, and that he didn’t play a major part in it.
“Would you believe she asked me if I wanted to take it over? The whole thing?”
He cleared his throat. “Wow. That’s a bold ask. But…I mean…would you? Want to take it over, that is?”
Faith shrugged. “I told her I would think about it. It’s more work than I had bargained for, but she said it would be good to get some new blood in the leadership ranks. And she also said it wouldn’t be a problem to also use my bakery as the main supplier of the desserts. That was my biggest worry—that I wouldn’t be able to do both with how it might look to everyone on the outside. She said Holly from the Cornerstone Café used to run the event for years, and her business always catered the main dinner before they switched to desserts only. That made me feel a little better.”
The thought hadn’t even occurred to Mitch. In his mind, if Faith had full control and decision-making authority, then it would be a no brainer to showcase her bakery, too. But now hecould see that it might not look great on the outside, and he wondered if he had grossly overstepped.
“I told her I’d give her my final answer tomorrow, but as crazy as it may be, I’m leaning toward yes.”
“It’s not crazy.” It wasn’t. Faith was more than capable, and in Mitch’s eyes, the best person to run the show. No question about it. “I think you’re made for this.”
“I mean, there are a lot of rules and regulations when it comes to organizing an event of this proportion.” She teasingly waggled her brows.
“Then it’s a good thing you know a guy who’s got those down to a science.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Mitch could swear he just saw Anthony roll his.
“It’s too bad you’re coming down with something,” Anthony interjected. “Sounds like Faith could really use your help.” The guy tapped a plate on his palm, like he was keeping the beat of an invisible drum. “Shame, really.”
“Hopefully it’s just a twenty-four-hour bug.” Mitch rubbed his stomach, playing up the schtick. “I’ll go home and rest and will be good as new before you know it.”
Yep. Definitely an eye roll. Anthony even added an incredulous snort this time.
Mitch ducked out before the guy had another opportunity to challenge him. Honestly, he could handle his scrutiny. It was Faith’s disappointment that he wouldn’t be able to stomach. But based on her conversation with Josephine, everything was falling into place, despite Mitch’s meddling and miscalculations.
He just needed to trust the process and let things unfold.
And remember to call in sick to work the next day.
CHAPTER 14
Faith had bitten off so much more than she could chew that she was practically choking on her responsibilities.
