1. Aubrey #2
“You’re doing it again, boss.”
I snap out of my momentary daydream down memory lane, blinking a few times and looking over at Octavia who’s fixing the muffin display. “What?”
“You’re staring at your phone with that dreamy look in your eyes, and your cheeks are all flushed.” She turns to face me and rests her hip against the counter, crossing her arms with a knowing smirk lingering on her lips.
“No, I wasn’t,” I defend myself, even though I can feel my face heating up. I quickly turn off my phone screen and shove it into the back pocket of my jeans.
“You’ve been standing there for exactly…” Tavie looks at the time on the register. “Eleven minutes, not moving, not talking, just staring at your phone like it was the most fascinating thing.” She raises a brow, waiting for me to tell her she’s wrong again. “Were you thinking of him again?”
By now, Octavia knows all about Shane. I needed someone outside of my normal circle of friends to talk to about this situation I have with him, and despite her being eighteen, she’s become a dear friend of mine, and I love working with her.
It’s not that I can’t talk about him with Morgan, Cecilia, Emma, or Ronnie.
It’s just that every time I do, they push me toward him.
I know they’re just trying to help and want to see me happy, but it’s like they don’t see the damage it could have on my relationship with my brother if I did let myself go there with Shane.
So talking about it with Octavia gives me a fresh set of eyes, one that doesn’t know all the back stories and isn’t in any way emotionally involved in the situation. She’s just a bystander listening to a story being told and giving advice in return.
I blush harder at the mention of him. “He liked my latest post, the one with the gingerbread cupcakes. And by the way, I’m not your boss, just the manager. I told you to stop calling me that.” I narrow my eyes at her with a point of my finger in her direction.
She rolls her eyes at me. “Same thing. I see Clara maybe once a month. I see you five times a week. To me, you’re my boss.”
She’s right, almost all the employees here have started considering me their boss instead of Clara, the actual owner of the bakery. I guess, in a way, I kind of am since they come to me with every little problem they have and I’m expected to fix them.
When Clara asked me to become manager during the holiday season last year, I hadn’t expected her to give me such freedom.
I thought she just wanted to spend a few extra days at home with her family instead of being at her store every day.
But now she only comes in once or twice a month, and it’s only to check on things.
I do still give her weekly reports and ask for advice from time to time, but everything else is on me.
Every new item we add to the menu, any changes we make—they’re all my choices, and I love it.
My dream has always been to open my own bakery one day, and I feel like this is good practice before the real deal.
“So… When’s the next time you’re going to see him?” Octavia asks, stepping closer and bumping her hip into mine.
Getting back to work, I note down inventory that’s left for the night in my notebook. “I’m not sure, probably not before the wedding.”
My brother and Emma are getting married on the twenty-third of December, back in Toronto near my parents’ home. I’m excited about the wedding and having Em as my sister, but I’m also really excited to see my parents again. It feels like forever since I’ve last seen them, and that was in June.
“A whole other month?”
I look at the time; it’s five minutes to eleven, which means we should start wrapping some of these goods up for the day-old discount shelf tomorrow if we want to close by eleven-thirty.
“Well, I don’t really have the time to go to a game this month, and it’s not like I have a reason to see him outside of that.” I point to the enclosed shelves with all the muffins. “Want to start wrapping up?”
“On it, boss.” She winks as she crouches to take one of the bottom trays out. When she stands upright once more, her gaze travels to the front window and her eyes widen. “Oh shit! He’s here! Incoming! Your man is here!”
My head jerks quickly toward the window, one part of me hoping she’s lying while the other begs for it to be true.
It’s true, he’s really here! Shane stands outside the bakery with a gift bag in hand, looking inside it.
He swipes his free hand through his mid-length rich-brown wavy hair, pushing the rogue strands away from his view only for them to fall right back along the side of his face near the top of his ears.
“Oh, God!” I grab Octavia’s wrist, pulling us down behind the counter. “Why is he here? What do I do?!”
I pass my fingers through my hair quickly, pushing strands behind my ears as the bell above the door chimes. Heavy footsteps get closer and closer by the second until they stop.
“I’m burning up, aren’t I?” I whisper as Octavia holds back a laugh and nods. “Ugh! Do I at least look okay?”
A throat clears and I squeeze my eyes shut.
Taking a deep breath, I open them and slowly rise from behind the counter while Octavia stays seated on the floor, snickering quietly.
Shane stands right there, one hand resting on his side of the counter, eyes lit up with amusement and a small smirk playing along his beautiful lips.
They’re a little puffier than most men, giving him this pouty look, but I find them irresistible.
It makes me want to flick them with my tongue before biting them slightly.
See how beautifully my teeth imprint on them.
The thought that pops into my mind out of the blue makes me flush even brighter as my eyes go wide.
“You always look beautiful, Aubrey,” he says, his dimples popping out as his smile grows wider.
My face feels like it’s on fire, and without thinking I start fanning away at it. I swear this excessive blushing is a curse. “Shane… What… what are you doing here?”
“I thought it was time I visited the place.”
He looks at the empty seats around the bakery and all the cute homey decorations I’ve put into the place.
We never have many customers near closing time, maybe one or two.
He then gazes down at his hand and lifts the gift bag onto the counter.
“And well, I know I’m a little late, but I wanted to give you your gift. ”
He pushes it toward me as my hand reaches out to bring it closer. The bag is covered with cupcake designs all over it, and teal-colored tissue paper comes out from the top.
“You bought me a birthday present?” My fingers pick delicately at the tissue. “I didn’t know you knew when it was,” I say quietly, not able to meet his eyes as my heart swells with love.
“I know more about you than you might think, Aubrey.” His words take my breath away.
My eyes snap up to his turquoise-colored ones. They’re such a fascinating shade, vibrant blues and greens swirling together, and depending on the weather or his mood, they become greener or bluer.
“Why?” It’s barely a whisper, the question falling from my lips on its own will.
His gaze searches mine, something passing through it. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Oh my God!” Octavia squeals from the ground. I throw my leg to the side, kicking her subtly. “Ouch!” she whispers harshly.
I don’t answer his question, because that would mean admitting that he likes me the same way I like him, and I’m not ready to believe that entirely. Instead, I refocus my attention on the gift before me.
“Can I open it?”
He smiles tenderly. “Of course.”
I carefully pull out the tissue wrappers, setting them down on the side, and peek inside.
There’s a wrapped gift in the shape of a big book, but when I pick it up, it kind of wobbles as if it’s flexible.
Maybe a paperback? I push the bag and tissue aside, setting down the gift, and begin peeling off the wrapping delicately, my heart hammering in my chest and my hands shaking slightly with each tear of paper.
When I finally get it in full view, a small gasp leaves my lips. It’s a beautiful rust leather-bound recipe book with a tiny silver whisk embellishment on the wrap closure, and at the top of the cover “Aubrey’s Bakery” is embossed into it.
When I flip the cover over, a typed-out note greets me saying, “May all your biggest dreams come true, starting with the title of this book. Love, Shane xx”. My eyes well with tears as I glide my fingers over the note, feeling his choice of word penetrate me. Love.
“Oh, Shane…”
“I know you probably already have a ton of books that you write your recipes in, and it’s okay if you don’t use this one right away. I just…” When I look up, I find him rubbing at the back of his neck as he chuckles nervously.
“I thought you might like this one, and I mean you… you can never have too many recipe books, am I right?” He laughs. “I did some research on it, and they say that bakers can have over twenty books filled from front to back with recipes. So I thought it would be a good gift idea sin—”
Oh, he’s rambling, it’s adorable. At least I don’t feel so alone getting tongue-tied in front of him.
“Shane,” I interrupt him. He snaps his jaw shut as his hand drops from his nape and his eyes fall to mine, his Adam’s apple bobbing with a swallow before he sighs. “I love it, thank you. It means a lot to me.”
“Oh, he’s adorable!” Octavia whispers to me with a giggle from her spot. I forgot she was there.
My eyes widen when Shane chuckles, now realizing that he most likely knew she was there from the start but is nice enough not to have mentioned it.
I put the book back in the gift bag with a sigh. “You can come up now.”
She gingerly climbs to her feet at my side, waving her hand in a dramatic way with a way-too-wide grin on her face. “Hi, I’m Octavia.” She reaches out a hand to him that he shakes immediately. “It’s so nice to meet you, Shane. I’ve heard so, SO much about you!”