The middle-aged man brushed an imaginary pieceof lint from his shoulder. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You’re treating her like she just delivered a second-rate cake. And maybe it’s not as grand as you’re used to seeing, but it’s a beautiful cake and you have no idea what it took for her to get it here in time for this wedding.” He pointed at Erin. “This woman has more talent than I could ever hope to have, and I imagine more than you have, otherwiseyouwould have been hired to bake the cake.”
Erin’s heart swelled at the way Logan talked about her. The same couldn’t be said for the caterer. His eyes widened in anger. “How dare you.”
She could sense Logan tense, and while she knew he wouldn’t actually fight with this man, she wanted to avoid making any more of a scene. She reached out and touched his arm. “Let’s go.”
Logan looked back at her, and his expression softened. He nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
They ignored the caterer’s unkind words as they walked out of the kitchen and through the reception hall. They didn’t speak the entire time, but once they reached Erin’s station wagon, Erin stopped and faced Logan. “Thank you for saying those things in there.”
Logan clenched his hands at his side. “He had no right to talk to you like that.”
She reached out and grabbed his hands, loosening his fingers from the fists they’d formed. “He doesn’t know what happened last night. He only has what he’sheard to go from. I’m sure the bride and her mother didn’t have the kindest things to say.”
“That’s another thing.” He looked down at their feet and shook his head. “I don’t like the idea of anyone talking badly about you.”
“Well, I hate to break it to you. They won’t be the only ones. I still need to go talk to the owners of Good Eats. I imagine they won’t have very nice things to say right now either. I have a feeling my days baking for them are over.”
He glared at the ground like it had personally offended him. “I don’t like that either.”
“Why not?”
He looked up at her. “Because ... ” He closed his eyes and let out a loud sigh. “Because I don’t.”
She squeezed his hands. “It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever had to do. I’ll be okay.”
He opened his eyes again and looked at her with such intensity that she was sure he was trying to see her soul. “I’m sorry that you’ve had to endure so much alone. And I’m sorry that I was one of those people who hurt you.”
Erin smiled softly. “I know.”
“I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”
Her smile turned sad. “I know.”
But even as she said the words, she knew that he was going to. He had found a way into her life against her better judgment and he was going to leave again. While she hoped his leaving would look a lot differentthe second time, he’d be leaving nonetheless. But that was a problem for another day. The last twenty-four hours had been hard enough without adding that to the mix. She decided that was something she would worry about another day.
“Come on,” she said, tugging on his hand. “One more stop before we can go home.”
Erin was soexhausted that when Logan offered to drive after her disastrous meeting at Good Eats, she didn’t argue. Not only was she tired, but she had so many worries swirling through her mind, it wouldn’t have been safe for her to drive anyway.
Erin had to pay back the money from the wedding cake, had been officially let go from Good Eats, and was sure her reputation as a baker was in tatters. Like she’d told Logan, those were things that she could handle. What she couldn’t handle was the fact that her dream of buying Aunt Betty’s house was slipping through her fingers faster than water. This was the kind of financial setback that would be impossible to recover from.
Erin wanted to trust the Lord in this. As of right now, she and her children still had a place to live. She knew Aunt Betty wouldn’t kick her out of the house, but she also knew that everyday they got closer to a ‘for sale’ sign going up in the front yard. When that time came, Erin would need to either be in a position to buyor have a new place to go. And she had a feeling it was the latter.
She was barely keeping her tears at bay when Logan pulled into Aunt Betty’s driveway. Parker and Samantha started running to the car and the joy on their faces took away the sadness that had been hovering over her all morning. She practically jumped out of the car and started moving toward them.
“I love you,” she said as she lifted Parker off the ground and twirled him around.
“I love you too,” Parker said as she safely settled him back on the ground.
Erin crouched down and pulled Samantha into a hug. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too,” Samantha said into Erin’s shoulder as she squeezed back.
Erin stood up. “I’m so happy to be home with you guys.”
The kids, not missing a beat and totally oblivious to Erin’s inner struggles, started giving Erin a breakdown of all they’d done that morning. It was such a sweet moment, and Erin’s earlier tears threatened to return, this time with happiness to know that no matter what happened, she had her children. The Lord would see them through whatever came their way.
