Thirty
S cott, I can’t take off in the middle of the afternoon.”
“Sure, you can. I checked with Melody and Olivia. Melody said you finished your baking, and she could handle the bakery and Olivia said she wouldn’t need your help until she found a grant. And from what Jake said, the smoked meat fest doesn’t start its planning for another five weeks?”
“My dad—”
“Is supervising Jake in the yard. I drove by before coming here?” He planned for every excuse she could come up with and had an answer for all of them.
“Fine. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Another one? Are we going fishing again?”
“No. We don’t even have to drive. We can walk.” He took her hand and led her out the back door of the shop before she came up with another excuse. After cutting through an alley, crossing the street and rounding the block, they came to their destination.
A mini-golf course. The course was run on the honor system. Guests dropped their cash in a box and “borrowed” a putter and ball. Scott wasn’t sure how honest people were, but it seemed to work since the little mini-golf course had been there ever since he could remember. It only had nine holes and was tucked away between two city buildings, the police department, and the library, but it was open. The other, bigger and arguably better course wasn’t open yet and was south of town along the highway.
“We’re going to play mini golf??”
“It will be fun.”
Forty minutes later, he brought her back to the bakery, led her into the kitchen where he kissed her cheek before returning to his makeshift office in the seating area of the bakery.