When I arrived the next morning, there was a long line at the counter while Lainey and another girl I hadn’t met helped them. I hustled toward the kitchen, trying to make Ruth and I as inconspicuous as possible
Lainey called out, “Welcome in—oh hi!”
She stopped what she was doing and announced to the entire store, “Everyone, this is our new baker, Jessica, and her helper, Ruthie. Jess—this is Paulina,” she side-hugged the girl standing next to her in a pink Beaumont Bakery apron. She looked to be about my age, and I wondered if she was also a single mom Lainey was helping. Then Lainey gestured to the customers on the other side of the counter, “And everyone.”
Paulina smiled warmly at me and waved, and I heard a few hello’s and hi’s from the crowd.
Some faces looked familiar. Even though I hadn’t attended the local high school like most of the residents, I had gone to public school until sixth grade. And it was still a small town.
Then the bell over the door jingled, and I turned to see who’d just entered, and my heart skipped a beat.
Alan confidently walked in, looking as gorgeous as he had yesterday. Maybe more so, since the blue button-down he was wearing today was free of cinnamon roll frosting. His eyes immediately tracked to where I stood, and when he noticed me looking at him, his face split into a wide grin.
I could feel my cheeks turning red as he strode straight toward me while everyone in the store watched. He reached to take Ruthie’s car seat as he told me, “Good morning.” Then added, “How’s my girl today?”
My breath hitched, and I wasthisclose to answering, “I’m good, thanks,” when I realized he was talking to Ruthie.
God, I’m an idiot.
As if I hadn’t embarrassed myself enough yesterday.
Thankfully, I caught myself before making a fool of myself first thing in the morning.
However, the day was young.
I mumbled something that I hoped sounded like, “Good morning,” before he ushered me toward the kitchen.
****
Alan
I’d sat in Brian’s truck that I’d backed into a parking spot across from the bakery and waited like a goddamn stalker for Jessica and Ruthie to get dropped off.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a gold Buick they got out of, but a white Cadillac CT5. Jess’s smile when she waved to the driver before going inside made my heart sing.
I caught a good look at the person behind the wheel as she drove away. She was a pretty woman in maybe her mid-fifties that I was willing to bet was her mom since Jess was the spitting image of her.
It took all of five seconds after they walked inside before I was out of the Silverado and headed across Main Street.
I’d spent half the night looking at my phone, hoping Jess would text me.
She hadn’t.
Not that I was surprised, but hey, a guy could hope.
When I woke up that morning, I thought about what Lainey had said about it being a mistake to pursue her.
Maybe she was right.
But when I’d found there was no coffee in Brian’s cupboards after my run, I’d decided that was the Universe’s way of telling me I should go to the bakery.
I may have texted Lainey to find out what time Jessica was expected before I ventured out.
And the fact that my future sister-in-law actually answered me with the time told me she wasn’t as dead set on me not asking Jess out as she liked to pretend.
I understood that I couldn’t come on like gangbusters. I’d gathered that within thirty seconds of meeting Jessica, when she became so flustered at dropping the cinnamon rolls down my front.
While it seemed like the men in Haven Springs had a hard time telling the women they liked that they were interested, I was from Lancastle, Massachusetts. I wasn’t going to have that problem.
