SADIE
“Tomorrow, be on time.”Yana pointed at me before heading out the back door.
I still wasn’t sure whether or not she understood that she wasn’t my boss. On the bright side, if she did think she was, at least I hadn’t been fired yet.
“Yes, ma’am.” I nodded.
Once the morning baking was done, Yana was off duty. The shop was pretty quiet in the afternoons, and so I ran it solo. Once I was able to hire more help, I was going to start taking a morning or afternoon off here and there, but nothing crazy. This wasn’t work to me, I wanted to be here.
As I watched her go, I wondered what my life would be like today if I hadn’t met her on that stoop and she hadn’t asked me to make cupcakes for her granddaughter’s birthday. Would I still be nannying? Or bartending? Or dog walking? Or one of the countless other jobs I’d had before finding my true passion.
It was strange how one seemingly insignificant interaction could change the entire trajectory of your life.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out and saw that it was my dad Facetiming me.
“Hey, Papa Do Run Run!” I enthused as I answered.
His brow was furrowed as he stared at his screen. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I assured him.
“I got an alert that there was a man with a bat, breaking windows out of cars in the Tenderloin.”
Lord, give me strength.I loved my father with all my heart. But since he’d downloaded the Citizen app, he was driving me a little, no, scratch that, a lot crazy. The app gave real time safety alerts to users uploaded by citizens. Sometimes there were videos attached, sometimes there were written posts explaining the situation as it was happening. It was designed for residents to know what was going on in their own neighborhoods, but my dad had signed up for it using my location so that he would know what was going on with me.
As much as I appreciated his concern, I wished he wasn’t obsessing about whether or not I was safe. But whenever I told him that, he’d just tell me, “I worry a lot less now that I know what’s going on around you.”
“Dad, that’s nowhere near the bakery.”
“Isn’t it by the shelter that you take your food to? How many times have I told you, you shouldn’t go there alone?”
A million, give or take.
“If it was up to you, I wouldn’t goanywhere alone.”
“That’s right,” he confirmed, not seeing anything wrong with that statement. “You know, you can always move home. Your room is just waiting for you.”
“I have a business and a life here.” I explained for the millionth time, give or take.
“Well, I’m just saying. It’s not safe.”
Once he was in ‘worry-mode’ there was no steering the conversation to greener pastures. My best bet was to abort the call. “I’ve got to work on tomorrow’s specials dad. I’ll call you later. Love you.”
“Love you.”
I put my phone back in my pocket and flipped through my recipe book and saw my Pistachio Passion recipe. I hadn’t done those since I’d opened. The only thing that had me hesitating was if Mr. Smolder was a fan of pistachio or not.
No!I could not start making cupcakes based on the preferences of one customer.
You sure as hell can when he’s San Francisco’s Most Eligible Bachelor, I heard Charli’s voice in my head.
I chuckled to myself and went to the back to grab some ingredients leaving the front unattended. There was a bell on the door and I had video monitors in the back so I could see the counter. As I walked to one of my prized possessions, my commercial-grade stainless steel double refrigerator, I passed the magazine that Charli had left.
After dropping the bomb that Mr. Smolder was San Francisco’s Most Eligible Bachelor she explained that she’d known him even before the article came out. Apparently, she went to Soul Cycle with his assistant Mia. He’d taken a class with Mia once because he’d lost a bet to her and Charli had noticed him because he had what she so classily referred to as BDE. Big dick energy.
After finding out Mia wasn’t dating BDE, Charli grilled her about him. Mia had explained to Charli that, like me, her boss didn’t date. Although, he had a much sadder reason than I did. He’d lost his wife and teenage son in a tragic accident five years ago.
I’d known that there were layers to Mr. Smolder, but I never would’ve guessed that there was so much pain behind his crystal blue stare.
