Chapter 29. He Made Things Right
CHAPTER 29
He Made Things Right
The next couple of weeks were a dream come true. The bakery was busy round the clock, both from walk-in customers and online orders. On days when we announced a special, limited-edition menu item—matcha cinnamon rolls for today—customers would flock and form long queues outside, hours before we were open, and we’d sell out within the first two hours. We’d gotten so busy that I’d had to hire two part-time employees: one to assist Ruby at the front, and one to work in the kitchen.
Someone from the Port Benedict Gazette —an actual journalist from the actual newspaper this time—got in touch, wanting to feature us in their weekend edition. Thanks to the article, which raved and spoke glowingly about our “ delightful choices of guilt-free, decadent baked goods, guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth ,” a few businesses in the city had reached out, wanting us to cater for their next corporate events.
So far, so good. Life was finally turning around. Business was picking up, and our profit and loss for the first month—I was putting my finance training to good use—was looking solid. I was finally free of my parents. I made plans to move out of Kim and Jenna’s sofa, scouring real estate listings for one-bedroom units to rent, preferably close to the bakery. Everything was perfect, and absolutely nothing (and no one) was missing from my life.
When I announced that to Kim and Jenna, they’d snickered and said I was full of shit.
I was most definitely not. In fact, I liked to think of myself as careful and cautious, because I now planned all my trips in advance and made it a point to avoid all the places he would usually go to. Instead of getting my Indonesian food fix at Java Spice like I used to, I drove twenty minutes farther to find another restaurant, thereby eliminating the possibility of running into him. I had even rescheduled my weekly grocery shopping trips to fortnightly, because I now had to drive twice as far to find a supermarket in another area, so I wouldn’t accidentally bump into him in the fresh foods aisle.
But the city wasn’t big enough for the two of us, so I knew the odds were probably not in my favor. One day, be it in the near or distant future, I would run into him. It was inevitable, just like getting old and dying. And I hadn’t prepared myself for what to do when that day came. (The day that I ran into Alec, not the day I died.)
A knock on the thick glass windows of our open-plan kitchen broke my reverie.
“Ellie? A customer is here to pick up their order and asked to see you.”
“Thanks, Ruby. I’ll be right out.”
I’d gotten used to requests like this. Ever since our videos became viral, two out of five customers that came into the store had asked to speak to me—especially on busy Fridays like today—either to just say hi, or have a selfie taken, or ask questions about our recipes. Some of them genuinely wanted to have a chat, while others only wanted a picture with me so they could post it online, hoping to boost their followers. I was fine with that, because it was still advertising the bakery in some way.
I quickly finished what I was doing—slicing the matcha cinnamon rolls with dental floss to get nice, clean cuts on them—then placing them in a pan and leaving them to rest for a while before they went into the oven. Taking off my apron, I washed my hands, then turned around and fixed a friendly, customer-service-appropriate smile on my face.
Then froze in my tracks when I saw who it was.
I’d been so preoccupied in the kitchen, I hadn’t noticed that Alec had come into the store. He wasn’t in his usual suit-and-shirt attire, which was highly uncommon for a weekday. Instead, he wore a navy T-shirt with dark jeans and sported a few days’ worth of stubble. His hair was also slightly longer than when I saw him last.
What is he doing here?
My heart thumped loudly, breaking out the taiko drums once again. He was watching the customers queuing outside, with one hand shoved in his jeans pocket, and the other holding one of our Twisted Sweets boxes. For a brief second, I wondered if I should go back to the kitchen and hide there until he went away.
No. Ellie 2.0 was made of stronger stuff. I steeled myself, viciously stomping on the tiny seed of hope that was beginning to sprout in my heart. My reasonable, levelheaded brain wisely advised that I should approach him with the caution I would reserve for great white sharks, taipan snakes, and saltwater crocodiles.
As if sensing my gaze, he tore his attention away from the ever-growing line outside and looked at me. I blinked once, working hard to organize my facial muscles to show zero emotions. As if to say, Screw you, Alec Mackenzie. I don’t need you in my life.
Without saying a word, I slid behind the counter to serve the next customer in the queue. Flashing the petite woman a friendly smile, I began boxing up her order, then dutifully answered all her questions about the plant-based sweetener used in our cupcakes. For the next twenty minutes, I continued to ignore him, attending to customers and chatting with them about the weather, the news, and the latest episode of the reality TV show they were currently watching.
As my latest customer turned to leave, I glanced at him. He was watching me, his expression unreadable, with one hand still in his pocket. I was tempted to make him wait for another twenty minutes, or for the rest of his life, but that wise, levelheaded voice in my brain came back, reminding me it was a clear violation of Basic Manners 101 to keep people waiting.
Curse you, levelheaded brain.
I strolled over to him, pretending it was just another ordinary day, and I was clearly unaffected by his presence.
“Alec.” I nodded at him, cooler than a frozen cucumber. “Can I help you?”
“I was here to pick up an order.”
I folded my arms, not saying anything.
“How have you been?”
“Fantastic.” I waved my hand around the shop, indicating the customers milling about, and the long lines of people queueing outside. “Business is going well. No complaints.”
“Glad to hear that.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Where are you staying now?”
“Let’s skip the small talk. Why are you here? Something wrong with your order?”
“I just want a chance to explain things,” he began, but I cut him off.
“There’s nothing to explain. You signed a black-and-white agreement. It’s legally binding, it can’t be undone, and you took the money. Can’t be any clearer than that. Anything else? Otherwise, I’ve got a bakery to run.”
I was about to walk away when his next sentence stopped me in my tracks.
“I went to see my dad.”
That… wasn’t what I was expecting.
“I felt like I owed it to myself, seeing how he was pretty much the cause of all my family’s troubles. Closure and all that, you know?”
I watched him and said nothing.
“I spoke to my aunt, his younger sister, then tracked him down. Thought he’d be living with the family he’d left us for, but he said they didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore.” Alec gave a rueful smile. “Prison wasn’t kind to him. He looks different, a shell of the man I remembered. It was difficult to find work after he got out, so now he’s doing odd handyman jobs here and there, for anyone willing to hire him.”
“Does your mother know? That you went to find him?”
“Yeah. She’s okay with it. My dad said he regretted everything he’d done, but he was too ashamed to come and find us.” Alec blew out a long breath. “I wanted to yell at him, Ellie. For causing our family hardship for so many years. For breaking my mother’s heart and making her life hell. But I didn’t. Yelling at him isn’t going to change anything. It won’t bring our family back together. Or reverse all the terrible things that had happened to us in the past.”
Some customers who were waiting for their coffee orders were starting to watch us.
“I still haven’t forgiven him, but I felt sorry for him. He’s done time, paid for his sins, and now he’s got the rest of his life to live with the consequences, alone and miserable. Everyone that used to matter in his life left him, because he turned his back on them, on the people he was supposed to love. And I thought to myself, what a sad, sad life .”
The crowd watching us slowly grew, and God forbid I had another viral social media moment—this time with the man who broke my heart. I gave them all a polite smile, then dragged Alec away to the office and closed the door.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because seeing him has made me realize that I didn’t want that kind of life. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life being sad, miserable, and away from the people I care for, from the people I love. From you. I’ve wasted the past decade living thousands of miles away from you, Ellie. And I don’t want to waste even one more day if I don’t have to.”
My heart stilled for a couple of beats. Do I need my ears thoroughly checked and cleaned, or did he just imply that he… loves me?
I held my breath and ignored the uninvited cheers and fanfare that erupted from the depths of my brain. So much for being cautious, brain.
“I thought about what you said to me. That one hypo episode isn’t a reason to freak out and pull the plug on a relationship. And you’re right. I might have turned my back on you once, ten years ago, and I still don’t know if I’m good enough for you, but I want to be there for you, Ellie. To go through the ups and downs together with you, no matter how hard. I promise to do better, if you’ll give me another chance.”
As I stood there gaping at him, still trying to process everything, he pulled out a thick white envelope from his back pocket and handed it to me. I didn’t take it, and my brain took that as a cue to hum ominous doomsday soundtracks, and vivid mental images of sharks, snakes, and crocodiles began to play in Technicolor. He placed the Twisted Sweets box on my desk and the thick envelope on top of it.
“Eric also told me how your mother is still raging at you, and me, because you refused to return home to be with your family. Kept ranting about how your family name couldn’t be associated with someone like me, how you belong with someone who comes from a family of your financial status. And I finally understood that she will never change. She never cared about you, or your health, or anything else, and probably never will. All she cares about is your family’s reputation, the business, the money, and all the privileges that came with it.”
“Yeah.” It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he was right.
“I also went to see Jacqui. Last week.”
“You’ve been busy,” I said.
He gave a small chuckle. “I apologized to her. Told her everything, and explained that yes, it was a ruse at first, but it’s gotten real for me, and how I’ve had real feelings for you from a long time ago. That it wasn’t your fault, because it was all my idea from the beginning.” He shoved both his hands into his pockets, his eyes searching mine. “And I asked if she would consider giving you another chance.”
I gaped at him. “You did… what?”
“She agreed. Carmel will be in touch with you to place a new order for the party.”
“But… what about your business agreement with her?”
“We worked something out. She was still offended by our elaborate stunt, but she’s also a shrewd businesswoman. The numbers didn’t lie. It was still a wise business decision to invest in my company.”
“That’s wonderful, Alec.” Relief went through me. “Did she say why Phil did it?”
“He was trying to get her to invest in his business, to save him from financial trouble. Jacqui wasn’t interested, so Phil thought he could persuade her that his company was a better investment than mine. That’s why he started looking for dirt he could use to discredit me. Last I heard, he’s dissolving his business and filing for bankruptcy.”
For a moment, I felt a twinge of pity for Phil. No matter what he’d done, he was just doing what he thought was best for his company.
“I know you might not want to see me again after this, given everything that I did. So I’m going to give you some space to think about it.” Alec pointed at the white envelope. “Everything you need to know is in there. I’ll leave it with you, so you can read it in your own time.”
He walked backward toward the door. His eyes were still on me, his hands paused on the doorknob. “It’s good to see you, Ellie. I’ve missed you so much.”
With one last look, he walked out and disappeared from view, and I stood there, trying to compose myself. My eyes drifted to his envelope, and that’s when I realized he’d left his Twisted Sweets box underneath it.
I grabbed the box, with every intention of rushing out and going after him, but something caught my attention. My name was scribbled at the top, written in his handwriting.
He ordered these… for me?
Placing it back on the desk, I untied the white ribbon and lifted the lid open, immediately recognizing some of our customized sugar cookies. He’d ordered cookies shaped like oven mitts, mixing bowls, aprons, and colorful swirly cupcakes, all neatly arranged in rows inside the box. Behind the row of apron-shaped cookies, there were some alphabet-shaped, pink-and-light-green dotted ones.
I didn’t know how long I stood there, just staring at those pink-and-green cookies.
Because the letters read,
I.
Love.
You.