Chapter 2 Stella #2
“Oh sorry. That’s business lingo,” I told him, shaking my head. “If a business is in the black, it basically means they are profitable. If you are in the red, it means you are spending more than you are taking in.”
“Ahhh okay.” He nodded. “Sorry to interrupt. Continue.”
“Anyway, I was very polite and declined, telling him my focus was on the business. Well, thanks to Anna’s special news feature on me for her Small Business Saturday program, my bakery took off.
But then my father got sick again, so I told him I didn’t really want to date so I could focus on helping my mom in my spare time.
I was hoping he would take the hint. So far he hasn’t, and it seems he’s only gotten more… umm…tenacious.”
“You mean aggressive,” he interrupted.
“I was trying to be polite,” I told him, shrugging as my way of conceding his point.
“Stella, sometimes politeness does not work,” he pointed out.
I knew he was right, but when you worked in hospitality, being polite to customers was ingrained in you, so it was hard to break that habit.
He asked me a few more questions about the letters, Braden’s job, his appearance, and whether he’d had any encounters with people I worked with. Even though the basis of our conversation wasn’t exactly a positive one, I found he was really easy to talk to, not to mention very easy on the eyes.
“Hey, Stella,” a familiar voice cut through my conversation with Axel.
“Oh, hey, Milo,” I said, realizing we must have been talking for longer than I thought if Milo was already here for his shift.
That was Milo, though. Despite being just over six feet tall, he was stealthily quiet, which I always assumed was because of his lanky build. He also had a boy-next-door look about him. He wasn’t unattractive, but he also wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous like the man currently sitting across from me.
We’d gone to culinary school together but then parted ways after graduating. When I started this bakery, Milo had read the job ad I’d put in a food industry forum and reached out to me about the position.
“Did you have enough of the princess cakes? I made double like you asked, so I was curious if you needed me to make even more tonight,” he asked.
The last few weeks, we’d been running out of princess cakes by midday, so I had asked Milo if he could make double the recipe last night and see where that got us today.
“We only had one tray left before I sat down, but I’m not sure if that’s still the case,” I told him and then turned to point to Axel. “Milo, this is Axel. He works for the same private investigation group that Anna’s husband does. He’s here to see if he can help with the creepy letter guy.”
“Oh, nice to meet you,” he said, holding his hand out to Axel. “I’m happy you finally decided to call someone in to help.”
“Well, technically, Anna talked me into it,” I told him.
Honestly, the only real reason I had held back was that I figured the police had bigger crimes to solve, and I hadn’t wanted to bring in a private detective because those cost money. I was trying to invest my profits back into my business.
“Good,” Milo said. “She lives upstairs, so I’ve been walking her back to her place when her shift is done because I don’t trust this guy.”
“You live upstairs?” Axel asked me, making me realize I hadn’t yet shared that part.
Milo, who had been talking to me, turned to Axel. “Yes, but the faster you can tell that jerk to back off, the better. Until then, Luna or I can keep walking her back to her place.”
“We’ll do our best,” Axel told him, nodding.
“Alright, I’m going to head back and check on the princess cake stock,” Milo said. “I’m assuming you want me to continue the double batch?”
“Yeah, let’s keep doing it for a full week and see if it’s worth it,” I told him, because I knew one day’s worth of sales did not match all the other days.
Due to the custard filling, princess cakes really couldn’t be served after more than two days because the texture and consistency just didn’t hold well.
“I’ll get going,” Axel said, standing up from the table. “I took up lots of your time already.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I really appreciate what you all are doing for me,” I told him.
“Do you mind giving me your phone number in case I need to ask you questions?” Axel asked me as I stood up.
“Oh sure,” I told him and rattled off my number.
He typed it into his phone and immediately sent me a text.
“Now you have my number too. If you get another letter or something happens, please text me.”
“Okay,” I responded, really taking in how tall he was now that he was standing close to me.
I wasn’t short by any means. I was five foot eight, but Axel looked to be about six and a half feet tall, so I had to tilt my head back as I looked at him.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Anytime. Just text me if you think of anything else,” he said.
As much as I didn’t want another letter, I found the notion of having another conversation with him not exactly a bad thing.
I turned to see Luna packing up a large bag of goodies for Jack, which were most likely for his wife.
“Those are on the house, Luna,” I told her so she didn’t charge them.
“You got it,” she replied, finishing putting everything in the bag and then sending them on their merry way.
I watched them as they exited the bakery and saw Axel as he turned back at the last moment to look me straight in the eye, smile, and then walk out.
“God, those are two good-looking men,” Luna said quietly to me, likely having caught his smile as he walked out.
“Yeah,” I said a little breathily.
That was all I was apparently capable of.
“Even when he was talking in Swedish and I had no idea what he was saying, it was still kinda hot,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
I rolled my eyes, but she wasn’t wrong.
“I know you aren’t looking to date right now, but I feel like one night with that man wouldn’t be a bad idea,” she added, causing me to chuckle.
Luna had been on my case for nearly two years to go out on dates, but I just wasn’t interested. I’d done that in my early twenties but then changed my focus to my business for the latter half of that decade and didn’t feel like I was missing anything.
My time was split between Scandinavian Sweets and spending time with my aging parents, especially since my father’s health had declined in the last few years.
“Okay, while there’s a lull in customers, fill me in on what Axel said, and I’ll tell you what his partner, Jack, asked.”
I spent the next fifteen minutes filling her in and getting details from her as well, and I felt hopeful that Braden would finally become a memory instead of a constant headache.
I made my way back to the small office in the back to get some paperwork done on some upcoming orders, and I got a ping on my phone as I walked in.
I pulled out my phone as I sat at my small desk in the corner to see a new text from Axel.
Axel: It was nice to meet you. I will stop by your bakery later this week with an update if that is okay?
Me: That sounds great. I’ll have some more goodies for you to take back to Ruthie as well.
I felt a small smile stretch across my face just from this simple exchange, even though I felt a little silly when I added the smile emoji to the end of my last text.
Maybe I should listen to Luna. I wasn’t looking for Mr. Right, but Mr. Right Now wouldn’t be so bad. Just because I was on a diet didn’t mean I couldn’t look at the menu options, right?