"Should we have grabbed your car when we were at the bakery?"
I winced, not wanting to rely on him to drive me around for the next few months."I don't have one.Everything I need is in town, or I call a driver.But you live outside of town."
"I thought you had a car at some point?"
"I sold it to open the business.I needed everything I had to get started.I figured I'd get one when things took off, but then I didn't really need one.Until now."
"Then it's settled.I'll be your chauffeur."
"You don't have to do this.I can call a friend.I'm sure one of them will help me."The shop owners had rallied around Angela when her shop flooded.
"I have nothing to do today, so I'm all yours.Your other friends are probably running their stores today.
What was I going to do with all this time on my hands?What if I couldn't secure a kitchen?What if I couldn't fulfill my existing contracts?What if I lost the customer base I'd so carefully built?
"You're spiraling over there, aren't you?"He glanced at me, then the road.
My lips quirked."Possibly."
"Don't worry.We're going to find you a kitchen."
"You can't know that for sure," I said.
"We're both determined people, and we get what we want, so we're going to find you something."
He was helping me because of my brother, but I wasn't going to turn down his offer of a ride.I didn't want to be alone with my thoughts right now anyway.
"What about the church?"He nodded toward the white building with the steeple.It was set back from the road slightly with a grass lawn area that kids loved playing on.
"That's a good idea.Hopefully, the minister doesn't hold it against me that I only attend at Christmas or when I'm worried about Tom."
He parked at the curb."You go to church sometimes?"
"I pray for Tom to come home safely.It feels more impactful if I'm inside the church," I admitted, a little surprised that I'd shared that detail with him.I felt more comfortable with him because he understood what it was like to be close to someone who was deployed.
He reached over and took my hand."It's really hard when he's gone."
"I only get to talk to him occasionally.He reserves most of his calls for our parents and maybe a girl I don't know.Not that he'd share that information with me."
"I don't get the video calls, but he emails to stay in touch.He wants to know what's going on with the town and my family."
"He's always loved your family."It felt good that we shared our affection for Tom.
"I don't know why.They are loud and annoying."But his voice was light.
I waved my hand at him."You love them."
"I do.Especially now that my brothers are taking the pressure off me by pairing off with significant others.Mom doesn't give me a hard time about being single."
I ticked the couples off on my fingers."Maverick and Belle.Hudson and Angela, Ford and Natasha."
"And Lincoln and Penny."
I stared at the red double doors of the church.
He rested his hand on the steering wheel, turning slightly to face me."Are you ready to go inside?"
"There aren't many places in town that are going to have a large enough kitchen with multiple ovens."If it was the perfect space, then I had to convince the owners to let me use the kitchen.Was this something people even did?
