“Oh, I forgot my wallet yesterday, and she didn’t charge me for my drink. She’s by far the kindest woman in this town.”
All because she gave some woman a free fucking coffee.
Okay.
I take another step, but the next statement stops me again.
“If there was an award for most loved person in town, she’d win it. Hands down, no questions asked.”
Brooke Sloan, the most loved person in town.
Shit.
They’re probably right.
Which means, if I want this town to like me again, enough to help influence Henry to pick me so I can head off the lodge’s downfall before it begins, I need Brooke on team Dutton.
How in the fuck am I going to manage that?
Chapter
Four
BROOKE
When I was a kid,I would turn the entire living room into my fake bakery. I would steal the money out of my older sister's Monopoly games and pretend it was the bakery’s cash, and I would pretend the drawer to the end table was the cash register. I’d take all my mom’s knick-knacks off the shelves and pretend they were cupcakes, muffins, cookies, and whatever else I could think of. Then, when I sold out, I'd pretend I was a teacher and show others how to bake. The crazy part is, I never made that part up. I'd get out a cookbook and be so serious, one would think I was actually baking.
Fifty percent of the time when my sister played, she would actually let us bake. I’d read her the instructions, and she'd do all the things.
It was the best.
The fake play eventually faded away, but I kept baking.
Then, the dream faded. My mom left us when I was twelve. Dad buried himself in work as the sheriff, and my sister, Halli,focused on school enough to graduate with honors and get enough scholarships to take her pick in colleges. She left the day after she graduated from high school and hasn’t been back. I only see her if I go to visit her.
I don’t blame her. She wasn’t destined for the small-town life the way I am.
Still, that left me alone to finish my teenage years with Dad, and let’s just say, baking was never at the top of the list.
It actually took years to come back to me, but once it did, I took every opportunity I could. Which is how I ended up taking over B’s Bakery from Sadie and why I’m clutching a notebook to my chest as I head down Main Street for the bank.
If I want to officially buy the storefront from Sadie, I need to get things in motion, and the first thing is going to the bank to secure the loan I couldn’t get when Sadie offered me the bakery all those years ago.
I push the doors open and Mrs. Whittaker, the town's biggest gossip, is just walking away from the teller.
“Oh, Brooke, you look lovely today.” She beams at me.
“So do you, Mrs. W.”
“Big plans?” she asks, nodding at my hands.
I hold the notebook out.
“Just trying to make my dreams come true,” I say with a small laugh at how unsure I sound.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Good luck,” she says.
I hold the door for her as she hobbles along with her new cane, and then when it’s clear, I head for the teller.
