Chapter Twenty-One
I gave up my post a few minutes later, satisfied I had nothing to fear, and cut through the kitchen and out the door nearest the front desk.
When I emerged, Camilla and Jeff were chatting with Pam at the welcome stand.
“Oh my goodness, hello!” I called, darting past Pam to hug my daughter and future son-in-law. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We were in the area looking at wedding venues, and I’m starving,” Camilla said.
I held my smile in place. “It’s a beautiful day. Let me find you a seat on the patio.”
I led Camilla and Jeff to the patio, carefully avoiding Virginia. “Wedding venues, huh?” I asked, placing the menus on a table out of view from the inside.
Cami and Jeff stole meaningful looks at one another as they took their seats.
“We talked it over, and we both really want to get married near the river,” she said. “Imagine wedding photos with the river behind us.” She sighed.
“We both have such fond memories of the area,” Jeff added. “I think it’s brilliant.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the stretch of green grass above the river, and flashes of Cami as a toddler, chasing ducks and throwing stones, curved a smile on my lips.
“Hey, there,” Lucas’s voice brought me back to the moment. He approached with a congenial smile and curious eyes. “Pam told me your daughter and future son-in-law were here. I had to come out and congratulate them.”
I froze, desperate to know everything Virginia had said, but this wasn’t the time. Instead, I made introductions. “Well, this is my precious daughter, Camilla,” I explained. “And her fiancé, Jeff. This is my boss, Lucas.”
“Welcome to Chez Margot,” he said.
The men shook hands while Camilla made wide eyes at me.
I looked away.
“I thought I saw you leave,” Lucas said.
Jeff rose to pull out another chair. “Sit,” he told me. “I didn’t realize you were off the clock. You, too, Lucas, if you have a minute. Join us.”
Lucas shook his head. “Oh, no. I have too much to do, and that starts with bringing you some congratulatory wine and a nice charcuterie. When’s the big day?”
“We’re thinking early next spring,” Camilla said.
I blanched. “That’s only a few months from now.”
“A perfect time to start something new,” Lucas agreed.
“It’s more than half a year,” Camilla said, eyes fixed on me.
“Why the rush?”
She frowned, then forced her mouth into a tight smile. “Summer is too hot, and I want to be settled in a new home next fall, not stressing about the wedding.”
“What about finishing college?” I looked to Jeff for some help, but the poor kid couldn’t see me past the big red hearts in his eyes.
“I’m not quitting college,” Cami said. Her voice was low with warning. “I am, however, getting married in the spring.”
I locked my jaw to stop a flood of advice she didn’t want and raised my eyes to Lucas, hoping for moral support.
He shifted forward, folding his hands on the table. “Do you know who the woman in the pantsuit is?” he asked. “The one asking about the Invisible Baker?”
Camilla inhaled sharply, then coughed roughly into one fist.
Jeff was on his feet in an instant.
“I’m fine,” Camilla croaked.
Lucas set his dark eyes back on me. “Did you recognize her?”
“She told me her name,” I said. “I knew who she was after that, but I didn’t tell her. I hope she writes something nice about your planned expansion.”
Camilla cleared her throat, still trying to recover. “Who is it?”
“Virginia Bonnie Black,” I said.
Camilla’s mouth formed a small O.
“I knew it,” Lucas said. He drummed his thumbs against the table’s edge and sucked his teeth. “She was more interested in where we get our daily pastries than in my black-tie dreams.”
“What did you tell her?” Camilla asked.
I wanted that answer, too, possibly more than I needed air.
He squinted slightly, maybe weighing his words. “I told her I’d met the owner a number of times, and he was a very nice older gentleman who preferred anonymity.”
“You met the owner of what?” Camilla asked, her gaze shifting quickly to me.
I frowned. “The Invisible Baker?” What he said made zero sense.
Lucas nodded. “She didn’t seem satisfied, which was curious, so I asked her why it mattered. Where is the story?” He unfolded his hands, palms cupped skyward.
I forcibly stopped myself from launching across the table to tackle hug him. I had no idea why he’d lied, or if there was really an old man somewhere claiming my work as his own, but I didn’t care. Lucas had saved my day, and I absolutely adored him for it.
Camilla visibly relaxed. “Where is the story?” she echoed.
Lucas shrugged. “I usually like her posts, but forcing a business owner, or anyone, really, to explain themselves seems a bit obnoxious. People still have a right to privacy in this country, I believe.”
“Someone should tell her,” Camilla muttered.
He grinned. “Yes, but in kinder terms, of course.”
Lucas excused himself to bring us the charcuterie and wine.
Camilla and Jeff caught me up on the wedding plans, and I played my new mantra on repeat in my head.
Camilla is not me. Jeff is not Robert. Shut up and do not spoil their day.
Lucas joined us again as promised, and the conversation flowed smoothly, without further mention of Virginia or the Invisible Baker.
Camilla peppered him with questions about working with me.
I nearly drowned in pride when Lucas responded with unbridled enthusiasm.
“Everything I show her, she learns immediately,” he said. “It’s just like this.” He snapped his fingers. “And she remembers. I never have to say anything twice. Except which way the doors swing.”
I snorted a goofy laugh, and he smiled.
Camilla and Jeff traded odd looks.
“That’s a long story,” I said. “And Lucas is being too kind. He took a huge chance by letting me work here. I was lucky to catch on so easily, and you know I love to bake.”
“Understatement of the century,” Camilla said, lifting her glass to her lips.
Jeff chuckled, and I realized Camilla had shared my secret with him too.
Of course she had. I didn’t like the way the circle of people who knew my secret kept expanding.
Alicia and I had been the only two who knew for years, aside from those who placed orders.
I’d told Camilla and Ilona after Mom passed.
Now Jeannie and Jeff knew. If I wasn’t careful, Virginia’s Secrets would soon know too.
Which is to say the hundreds of thousands of her followers as well.
The pressure to reveal my secret was growing by the minute, and I hated it.
Why did everyone need to know it was me?
Why couldn’t an anonymous person own a business that helped others without raising questions?
I’d created the company as a shield. For busy moms. For my best friend.
For me. If Robert had known about the Invisible Baker before, he’d have made me shut it down.
If he knew about it now, he might take it from me in the divorce.
I didn’t know how, but I knew he’d try, and he rarely failed when he wanted something.
And if he succeeded in convincing the court we were bankrupt, I’d need the second income stream to survive.
Stress flooded my bloodstream and lightened my head. My shirt was too tight and the air too thick. I felt as if I was under attack, though I sat at a lovely table in the autumn sun.
“Did you ever consider culinary school?” Lucas asked.
It took a moment to realize he was talking to me.
I shook my head. “I didn’t think of baking as a job until very recently,” I confessed.
But I liked the possibility of formal training.
There was so much more I wanted to learn.
“I think, if I had life to do over,” I said thoughtfully, “I’d start baking professionally much sooner, and I’d open a storefront.
” Instead of working in secret and dodging bullets from Virginia Bonnie Black.
I imagined this alternate life, and I fell in love with the vision that rolled out before me. “I wouldn’t have gotten married,” I said, too harshly. “And I never would have given up all my dreams.”
The table went quiet, and I recognized my faux pas.
Camilla’s expression tightened, her energy deflated.
Jeff squirmed across the table, probably itching to reach for her, but was stopped by three feet of wrought iron.
Lucas appeared equally aggrieved.
I spluttered and backpedaled, but the damage was already done. “But I’m thankful for every choice that brought me to this moment,” I added. “Being Camilla’s mother and friend is the greatest joy of my life.” I reached for her hands, but she pulled them off the table.
She offered a sad smile. “I get it,” she said. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not. I misspoke,” I said. “I only mean that marrying young is a huge risk, and we never know if the person we marry is going to be the same a year later, or ten. If they let us down, we’re just stuck.
I don’t want you to be stuck. Either of you,” I added, jerking my gaze from Camilla to Jeff, then back.
Her lips drew into an impossibly deeper frown. “Nice, Mom.”
Lucas excused himself, and I wished for the ground to open and swallow me.
I stared apologetically into my beautiful daughter’s eyes, but I couldn’t bring myself to say sorry.
I wasn’t sorry. Camilla was too important to me to pretend that marriage would guarantee happiness.
Or that she definitely wouldn’t become her husband’s second mother, cook, cleaning service, mental load carrier, and potential kicking post. Because I didn’t know that, and neither did she.
Camilla finished her wine quickly and made an excuse to leave within minutes. She offered me a limp, one-armed hug, then walked away with Jeff’s hand in hers.
I’d messed up. My heart broke with the knowledge that I’d hurt her. I’d let the stress of the day interfere with my better judgment, and I’d been harsh when I should’ve bitten my tongue.
It was ironic, really. The amount of time I spent fearing Camilla would wind up just like her mother, only to open my mouth and realize I was becoming mine.