Chapter 1
A REALLY BIG FAVOR
“Give me four.” The woman making the request doesn’t even bother to look up from her phone. Her thumbs fly across the screen as she stands in front of the counter.
“Just four? Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a half dozen?”
“No, four is good.” She glances at me for not even a second before returning to her text conversation, or game, or whatever it is she’s doing that is apparently more important to her than her order. “And any kind is good. I don’t care.”
Of course she doesn’t. And why would she?
She doesn’t care that I’ve been here since four this morning.
My skin, hair, and clothing are coated in a thin sheen of grease from the fryers, and for some reason, I took pride in frosting the various varieties of doughnuts, even though I had to follow guidelines that were probably decided by a committee in a conference room in some faraway corporate office.
I artfully applied the packaged icing that was no doubt manufactured in a factory.
How could she possibly know that the treats she’s ordering were assembled by an educated pastry chef making the best of a complete lack of job opportunities? I am literally certified to make macarons, profiteroles, éclairs, and soufflés, but I put my best into this job at this chain doughnut shop.
I offer a smile she doesn’t return as I hand over the small white bag containing her four random doughnuts, then check my watch. Another day done. As I’m about to punch out, the shift leader calls my name. “Maddy, we won’t need you to open tomorrow. Come in at ten instead. Okay?”
I nod, not having a choice in the matter, or any predictability in my schedule at all, apparently. I hope I can make up the hours later in the week. I clock out and start back to the tiny room in the cramped apartment I share with two other minimum wage workers.
This is my life, and so far, it looks nothing like I imagined it during all my years spent dreaming of culinary school and an exciting and rewarding life in the big city.
Halfway through my thirty-block walk home—because buying a bus pass makes it difficult to also pay my share of the rent—my phone vibrates with a text.
Mom: Hi honey, can you talk?
Her message sounds innocent but I’m instantly on alert. Mom texts a few times a week but those brief messages are always just little hellos and check-ins. We talk every Sunday evening, so it’s unusual for her to want to talk mid-week.
Half a block further I turn into a corporate courtyard that will offer some shelter from the relentless noise of traffic, and I click the call button.
“Hi, sweetie! I didn’t expect you to call immediately. Are you home from work?”
“I’m on my way home. How are you? Is everything okay?”
“Yes, yes, everything’s fine,” she says, but there’s a current of nervous excitement buzzing around her words. “How are you?”
“Mom, I’m fine. What’s going on?”
Now there’s a nervous laugh. I picture her pacing around the small living room, or maybe she’s still at her shop, obsessively wiping down the counters as we talk.
After a long pause and a throat clearing her voice sounds more grounded. “I feel funny having this conversation over the phone, and I’d much rather tell you in person, but since you don’t plan to come home until the holidays, and I haven’t seen you in six months, I thought I’d better—”
“Mom, what is it?” My tone is sharp and I’m gripping my phone so tightly that a twinge of pain shoots up my arm.
“Oh, Maddy, everything’s okay. I’m calling you with good news. Really good news.”
I let out a breath but don’t fully relax. Something’s definitely not right.
“I don’t know quite how to tell you this. It’s probably going to come as a big surprise…”
“Mom!”
“Okay, okay. Well, a few months ago, I started dating someone. I didn’t mention it right away because I didn’t think it was a big deal. But things have moved really quickly and… well… last night he proposed to me and I said yes.”
I can’t make sense of her words.
“I’m getting married. We’re getting married!”
I can’t find my words.
“Mike and I are getting married. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, and I really didn’t expect this, but he asked me, and well, it just makes sense. We don’t see any reason to wait. Not at our age.”
My mom, who, as far as I could tell, never once even dated anyone since my father left when I was a toddler, is suddenly marrying someone named Mike?
“Honey? Maddy? Are you still there?”
“Yeah, Mom, I’m here.” I pull my long brown hair out of its ponytail and shake my head, trying to focus, trying to make sense of what she’s saying.
“As I said, I wanted to tell you in person. I didn’t mean to spring this on you, but sweetie, I’m so happy, and I couldn’t wait to tell you.”
A million questions start racing through my head. Who is this guy? What does he want from my mom? Can she trust him? What does this all mean for her? How could this be happening so suddenly? Shouldn’t I have at least gotten to meet him before she made a life-changing decision?
Then I think of all of the sacrifices my mom made for me my whole life.
She went to work at the grocery store when my dad left us, but when that wasn’t bringing in enough money, she started making cakes on the side, and with a lot of hard work she grew that side hustle into her own shop.
Now she is not only the most in-demand baker on the little coastal island where I grew up, but people come from the next county for her wedding cakes.
She worked hard to make her business a huge success, but she was always there for me when I needed her.
She made homemade Halloween costumes for me that won contests at school, she threw amazing birthday parties for me when I was little, and when I graduated from high school, she sent me off to the city so that I could pursue my dreams. A painful pang of guilt runs through me when I think about how well that’s not going.
My mom deserves every happiness, and I hope this is a good thing, but she’s such a nice person that I worry about someone taking advantage of her.
“You said his name is Mike?” I manage to ask.
“Yes, that’s right. You might remember him. Mike Harding. He owns the car dealership in Littleton?”
I start to feel like I’m underwater. My mom sounds far away as she continues. “He used to own the repair shop here on the island but now his sons have taken it over. You went to school with them, remember?”
No. No. No, no, no, no.
“Adam, Matthew, and of course the twins, Joshua and Jacob?”
Nononononononono.
“Maddy? I know I’m springing a lot on you but I have a big favor to ask. A really big favor.”
I’d do anything for my mom. Anything. That’s my immediate thought. But after all of this, after this shocking news, after finding out she’s marrying the father of—no, my brain just won’t let me go there. Not yet. I sink down on a stone bench and squeeze my eyes shut as I wait for her request.
“Mike wants us to go on a long honeymoon. And after that, he wants to travel a lot, which you know I’ve always wanted to do. Maddy, sweetie, I know you’ve always wanted to be in the city and you can definitely go back, but I need you to come home and run the bakery for me.”