Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Shep adjusted his reading glasses on his nose and peered down at the account book in front of him.
He jotted down a note with his pencil, grunting a little.
He enjoyed going over the account books, but it was a task that required a great deal of concentration and he tended to grunt a lot when he was concentrating.
Normally, he didn’t stay at the bakery that late in the afternoon.
Once it reached one or two p.m. he typically handed the running of the bakery over to Iris and went home.
On days when he did the accounting, however, he stayed later, sitting at a little makeshift desk that he’d set up in a corner of the counter in the kitchen.
As soon as he’d finished with the accounting, he intended to sneak out the back door and head home.
“Hey, Shep?” Iris opened the door that led from the kitchen into the front of the shop. “I need to step out for a minute. My baby is all done at Whiskers and Wags and I have to go pick her up and bring her home. We live right by there so I won’t be long at all—back in a second.”
Shep’s brow furrowed. He always disliked it when people used phrases like “in a second” when what they actually meant was twenty minutes or more.
Still, he knew that Iris meant well and was simply trying to communicate the fact that she would be back soon.
The second thing that had confused him for a moment was the phrase “my baby,” but he realized an instant later that Iris was referring to her beloved poodle, who must have been getting groomed at Whiskers and Wags, Coral Sands’ pet shop, which also offered dog grooming.
“Okay.” Shep sighed internally as he realized that Iris was asking him to man the front of the shop while she was gone.
His personal inclination would have been to just put a “Be Back Soon” sign in the window and not fuss about it—but he had to admit to himself that was bad business.
After all, he was there, and he was perfectly capable of greeting customers, even though it was far from his favorite thing to do.
It should be uneventful, he thought, glancing at the clock. This is a slow time for the shop. Maybe no one will come in at all.
“Thanks, boss.” Iris grinned. “Be back in a jiffy.”
Shep nodded, standing up. He would have to finish the accounting later.
He trudged into the front of the shop, sniffing the air and smiling slightly as he noticed how pleasant it smelled.
In addition to the sweet aroma of the cookies and the doughnuts, Iris seemed to have added the scent of vanilla to the air.
He glanced around and saw that she had one of those fancy little scent plug-ins inserted in an outlet behind the counter.
He grunted. He was glad Iris took charge of making the bakery more homey.
It was the sort of thing his wife used to do, and he was glad it was getting done.
He himself didn’t have the talent for cheery little details like that.
Women tend to be better at those things, he thought. Some women anyway. And some men aren’t good at them, like me. I guess I’m the kind of man that really ought to have a wife.
His heart ached for a second, and he stared down into the bakery display case without really seeing anything inside it.
He missed his wife. They’d had good years together before she’d passed away.
He didn’t often acknowledge how lonely he was, but there were moments when a longing for a partner overwhelmed him.
There’s no point in feeling this way, he thought, shaking his head. I’m going to be a bachelor for the rest of my life, and I’m okay with that.
At that moment, the shop bell jingled. Shep looked up, his heart jumping up as he was startled from his reverie and then sinking as he realized that he had a customer.
For a moment, he couldn’t see the customer, since they were blocked from his view by a floral arrangement that Iris had set up on the end of the display case. A second later, however, they came into view.
“Elaine!” he exclaimed.
Elaine Sutton might have been the one person in town Shep never minded running into.
Despite the fact that she herself always seemed to be buoyant with kind, positive energy, she never acted offended by his gruffness or his terse replies.
Her bright blue eyes shone with kindness as she stepped up to the counter, and he noticed that she’d pinned her silver curls back with two gold hairclips, which he thought looked very nice on her.
“Hi, Shep.” She smiled at him. Her smile always had a way of making other people feel at ease. “I haven’t seen you in a long time. I feel like you never show your face, even in your own shop.” She dropped her voice conspiratorially and then winked.
Shep felt embarrassed by the bluntness of her comment. “I have to stay in the kitchen most of the time,” he replied in a tone that was more gruff than he’d intended. “Otherwise the pastry shelves wouldn’t be stocked, now would they?”
Elaine smiled and didn’t miss a beat. “Someone else could do the baking.”
Shep wrinkled his nose. “I do the baking.”
“Oh, come on now. I know you’ve had other people bake for you in the past—you’ve gone on trips before. You’re the best baker in town, but it’s your recipes that are really where the magic happens. Someone else could bake for you sometimes if you gave them careful instructions.”
Shep shook his head. “It’s my bakery.”
“But that’s just the thing.” Elaine leaned against the counter playfully, her voice low and conspiratorial again, as if they were sharing secrets together. “My granddaughter thought you weren’t actually the one who bakes here, since she never sees you here and neither does anyone else.”
Shep blinked. “Why on earth was I the topic of your conversation?”
Elaine laughed, waving her hand through the air. “Never mind. I guess my point is, it’s good to see you. I’d like to order a dozen doughnuts and half a dozen of your famous macaroons, please.”
“Certainly.” Shep began to busy himself with gathering doughnuts for Elaine’s order.
Since she hadn’t specified the type of doughnut, he decided to give her three cream-filled, three lemon-filled, three jelly filled, and four regular doughnuts.
He didn’t usually give out a baker’s dozen to his customers, but Elaine was someone who he felt he wanted to treat well.
He arranged the doughnuts carefully in the box, wrestling with whether or not he should tell her out loud what each type of doughnut was.
He hated speaking to people he didn’t know very well, but he wanted her to know where to find each type of doughnut in the box.
Elaine started to hum as she waited, a cheerful little tune that Shep didn’t recognize. He wondered if she was making it up on the spot. He didn’t know Elaine all that well, but he’d seen her a few times since her granddaughter and daughter had come to town, and he’d noticed a lift in her spirits.
I’m glad she’s had them come into her life, Shep thought. She deserves to be happy—I’m sure she disliked being lonely even more than I do. And I think what the three of them are doing with The Birchwood House is just amazing.
Shep admired what the Sutton women were undertaking, and he was silently rooting for the success of the hotel.
“Here are the doughnuts,” he said, placing the box on the counter. “I’ve got three jelly doughnuts here, three lemon-filled here, three cream-filled here, and the rest are plain. I’ll get those macaroons.”
“Oh, thank you Shep. What a thoughtful arrangement.” Elaine smiled at him and he found himself smiling back.
That was odd, he thought, as he hurriedly gathered the macaroons into a small box. I told her about the doughnuts. I don’t even remember deciding to talk to her. I just did it. I wonder why?
He decided it was because Elaine had such a kind-hearted, easy-going energy.
She made him feel comfortable, so he’d just told her about the doughnuts because it felt easy to.
Or—had that been it, or had he just wanted to make sure she knew about the doughnut types?
He honestly wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he’d found himself talking out loud and he hadn’t had to force himself to do it.
Elaine paid for her baked goods with a quick swipe of her credit card, smiling companionably at Shep as she did so. “These look just delicious, thank you Shep.”
He nodded. “Glad you like them. They’re a particularly good batch, I think. The lemon-filled ones have a slightly tweaked recipe which I think is superior to the old one. If you have any feedback on it, I’d love to hear it.”
If Elaine felt any surprise in reaction to Shep’s unusual outpouring of sentences, she didn’t let it show on her face. Shep himself was shocked by his behavior. He hadn’t strung that many sentences together in years—not for anyone. The last person he’d said that much to at one go was his wife.
“I’ll be sure to,” Elaine said warmly. “I love lemon-filled doughnuts. I’m very excited to try your new recipe.”
“Well, fantastic.” Shep smiled at her.
She waved and left the shop, carrying her two boxes of treats in her arms. Shep watched her go for a moment, still feeling shocked by his own behavior but comfortably glad that he’d gotten to talk to Elaine.
She really is a lovely woman, he thought. I think I’m actually a bit glad that Iris stepped out for a bit. It was nice to get to see Elaine.
He busied himself with tidying up the counter, even though there was hardly anything to do. Instead of dreading the arrival of the next customer, he found himself absentmindedly humming the tune that Elaine had brought into the shop.