It felt like something else.
It felt like something new. Everything here did.
She felt like she was on the cusp of being an entirely different person. But in a good way. At first, she felt like she had lost control of everything. Like Aiden had taken that control away from her. Everything that she had wanted was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Now she felt like her life was so full of wonderful things that she wouldn’t have if she were still with Aiden.
And she felt like things were better.
Genuinely.
“You good?”
She realized then that she had been awfully quiet.
“Just thinking. It’s amazing how quickly everything can change.”
“Yeah. It is. I mean, it took a couple of years for this to come together, but still, it’s incredible now that it’s open. It’s actually happening. Now it feels quick.”
“Just a whole lifetime of effort,” she said.
“Yeah. That’s all.”
They walked off the path and into the parking lot of Juniper and Sage, which was packed. The parking lot was completely full, and there was a line all the way out the door.
“Wow,” he said.
“I knew she was busy,” Marlowe said, “but I didn’t realize she was this busy.”
She felt a little bit guilty. She probably should’ve been checking in with Cara a little bit more intensely. But she’d been distracted. Distracted with Cody, well, and with her job.Both of them had been. So, she supposed she didn’t need to feel all that guilty.
Because it wasn’t only that she was obsessing about Cody, it was also that everything was new. And she was finding her feet.
They got in the back of the line and fell silent as they listened to the chatter of the patrons and guests. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and no one seemed upset at the wait. There was a lot of conversation about how good they heard it was.
Several people seemed to have driven in from town just to partake of the goodies. People were already calling it the best bakery in town.
Marlowe was practically glowing with pride on behalf of Cara. Her sister-in-law had really needed a win. A strong start to her new life.
And she was definitely having that.
Poor Cara. She was grieving. The loss of her mother, the relationship she’d once had with her brother, and Marlowe felt like she probably could’ve been there for her a little bit more. She had forgiveness for herself, of course. Because it wasn’t like everything had been easy for her either. But she and Cara were definitely doing a girls’ night to catch up on everything. The bakery was closed on Mondays, so maybe on Sunday night, they could get dinner at the Painted Ridge dining room, just the two of them, and make sure to catch up.
Cara could even spend the night in the hotel. It wasn’t like they were at capacity. They were actually going to have a few weekends in the summer where they were, though, which was an exciting thing. All their online reviews had been good, and even though it had only been a week, she took that as a very promising start.
It wasn’t a very long wait, and when they got up to thecounter, Cara popped her head around the corner and shooed her employee away from the register. “Hi.”
She was staring at Marlowe, rather intently.
“This is great,” Marlowe said. “You’re packed.”
“Yeah,” Cara said, taking her phone out of her apron pocket and typing on it even as she stared at Marlowe. “It is.”
Marlowe’s phone buzzed in her pocket.
She took it out and saw that she had a text from Cara.
What is going on? Are you sleeping with him?
