Chapter 12
Exhausted as I was when I woke well before dawn had even stirred, the quiet familiarity of my early morning at the bakery was calming. There was something therapeutic about kneading dough. It was probably as effective as axe throwing or rage rooms.
My conversation with Ryan had left me unsettled, but I really didn’t see an alternative to the current situation—not unless he was willing to subsidize my entire existence indefinitely.
Even then, though, how could I forgive myself if I let May down after my promise to her?
I didn’t want to hurt Ryan or make him feel like I didn’t care what he’d gone through, but…at what cost? A literal cost, mind you. I had bills and a future to consider.
Whatever he thought, I could be professional. I wasn’t some angsty sixteen-year-old anymore. I could take care of myself, however James did or didn’t look at me.
The bell jingled twenty minutes before store opening, and I glanced up from my place organizing the display case.
Morgan walked in, trailed by Mrs. Keller.
“Hi,” I said with a smile as I wiped my hands on my apron.
“Good morning,” Morgan said, looking put together and enviously flourless. She had a blunt blonde bob with a bold red lip, looking like she belonged in a high-rise more than a small-town bakery. “Good to see you again, Sadie.”
“Likewise. Welcome back to Autumn Ridge.”
“How did it go last night?” Mrs. Keller asked, as if she hadn’t already called up at least two of her friends to ask.
“It went well.” She didn’t need to know about the glaze fiasco, and she certainly didn’t need to know about the parking lot incident. “The event was really nice, and people seemed to enjoy the cheesecake.”
Morgan came behind the counter, and I pushed my body against the display case to allow her to pass behind me.
She stopped in front of the menu board, tilting her head as she looked it over. “Have you raised the prices for leaf peeper season yet?”
I glanced at Mrs. Keller.
“No,” she said. “We don’t do that. Same prices all year round.”
“Consistency is nice,” Morgan said with a smile, “but dynamic pricing is becoming more common, and it could really make a difference. Even a 10% bump.”
By the time I went to turn on the open sign for customers, Morgan had made a few other suggestions.
They weren’t bad. In fact, a couple of them were topics I’d brought up before—or had wanted to but hadn’t bothered because I’d known Mrs. Keller’s response would be no. I tried not to be annoyed when she actually entertained them coming from Morgan.
When I added a comment about the tables, which were in need of an upgrade, Morgan didn’t pooh-pooh my comment. She just looked at me like I was another part of the bakery she needed to decide what to do with.
Maybe she’d feel I needed an upgrade.
She might be right.
With Morgan’s go-get-’em energy, the bakery counter felt crowded. Or maybe I was just tired. Either way, my calm morning was officially over even before customers started coming in.
When 10 o’clock rolled around, I hung up my apron with a sigh of relief and headed to the maple farm. What I wanted was a nap, but I needed to tweak my boring maple cookie recipe. Time was running out if we wanted to capitalize on the season.
When I pulled up at the maple farm with the maple I hadn’t needed for the mayor’s party, May was moving a couple of boxes from the trailer to the porch. She walked with a small limp, so I hurried out of my car to help.
“Oh, I’m fine, darlin’,” she said, setting down her box on top of another. “Just gettin’ these ready for pickup. It’s for one of our customers in Burlington.”
“Are there more boxes?” I asked.
“Nope. That’s it.” She looked me over and smiled. “Seein’ you here at the farm brightens my day.”
“Likewise.”
She brushed off her hands. “Are you headed to the shack? I think James is there.”
My heart did a flip. I wasn’t sure what to expect after the encounter last night, but I was determined to keep things professional. Which was why I’d decided against my middle-of-the-night idea to stuff my hair full of bobby pins again and see what happened. “Yeah, I’ve got some baking to do.”
“I’d love to see you workin’ your magic sometime.”
“There’s very little magic, I assure you. Just a whole lot of flour and dirty dishes.”
“Like I said, magic.” She winked. “You know you can always join us for dinner afterward.”
I smiled. “I know. I’ll probably head home to sleep, though. I had an early morning at the bakery.” That and the fact that another dinner with the Carvers was something I doubted Ryan would consider a professional necessity. Not that he knew of the first one.
Ugh.
I pushed aside the discomfort in my stomach and told May I’d see her later.
She headed inside, favoring one leg slightly.
I let out a sigh and made my way to the sugar shack. My chest tightened at the sight of James, crouched in front of the wood stacks with a piece of furniture in front of him. He had a screwdriver in hand, the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirt pushed to his elbows.
Think professional. Think professional.
He glanced up as I drew nearer. The same uncertainty I felt was reflected in his dark eyes.
“Whatcha doin’?” I asked.
He straightened to a stand. “I figured we’ll need a way to display the things you’re making.
We had a few old stands from years ago, so I thought I’d see if they’d work.
” He frowned as he looked over the piece, one large hand gripping the top corner.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think these can be salvaged. ”
I tended to agree. It looked like they’d been left outside to weather a decade of the elements.
“Hm,” I said. “Maybe we could ask Bennett to make us something? I need to go talk to Rosie Harper about getting a booth at the Harvest Festival. I could stop by Dust & Timber tomorrow after work.”
“Bennett Walker?” he asked.
“Yeah. He does higher-end stuff now, but I bet he’d make something nice and simple for us if we ask nicely.” Ryan and James used to hang out with the Walker boys back in the old days. “Anyway, I should get started on my boring cookies.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “I really regret saying that.”
“Don’t. You hit the nail on the head.” I glanced over my shoulder when he followed me to the door.
“Gotta wash my hands,” he explained as he opened it for me.
“Thanks.”
“Lemme take that for you.” He lifted the bag from my shoulder.
Maybe it was because I was so focused on proving to Ryan that my relationship with James was purely business, but the way his fingers slid down my shoulder made the skin under my shirt tingle.
The door shut behind us as we stepped into the kitchen, and he set the bag on the counter.
“That’s the maple we didn’t need last night,” I said—very unnecessarily since it was the same bag he’d brought it in. “Thanks, by the way. For bringing it.”
He turned on the tap at the sink. “Of course.”
It was quiet for a few seconds as I got on my apron.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I glanced at him in surprise and found his eyes on me as he rubbed his hands under the stream of water.
It wasn’t a polite question. It was in direct reference to what had happened in the parking lot.
“Yeah,” I said, trying to keep my tone light. “Are you?”
“Yeah.”
Another silence.
“I’m really sorry,” I said.
He turned the water off and grabbed a hand towel. “It’s not your fault. It was bound to happen one way or another.”
“Maybe so.” I went to the cupboard and got out the ingredients for cookies.
“But I think it would’ve gone at least slightly better if he hadn’t come right when…
” I stopped myself. How was I supposed to finish that sentence?
Right when you were fondling my hair? I cleared my throat and set down the bag of sugar.
“He’s extra uptight because of my crush on you. ”
“What?”
My hand gripped the sugar bag, my back to him. I was doubting my ability to be professional more and more every second. Talking about the old crush you had on him was probably top of the list of things you didn’t say to a business partner.
But it was too late now. I forced a laugh and turned to look at him, using the back of my hand to brush the bangs out of my eyes. “What do you mean what?”
He stared at me. Stared like he was seeing someone new.
I let out a breathy, incredulous laugh. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”
He said nothing.
What? That crush had all but consumed me. I’d barely survived, and he hadn’t even been aware?!
“Well, that’s encouraging, at least,” I said. “I didn’t make a total fool of myself, then.”
“When was this?” He was still watching me.
I laughed again. Maybe to keep from crying? “Um…only most of my life? I mean, just until…” Again, a sentence that didn’t have a palatable ending. “Anyway, I assured Ryan that we’re two adults, fully capable of a professional relationship.” I looked at him. “Right?”
“Of course.” He turned and set the towel on the peg, but he was frowning.
“Oh! I had an idea this morning that I wanted to float by you. I’ve been trying to think of ways we can get the farm more business and sell more maple, and I was wondering if we might partner with Horseshoe Holler.”
He searched my face briefly. “Partner how?”
“Well, they offer trail rides, which are incredibly popular during leaf peeper season, and I think there might be some real interest if there was a package people could choose where their trail ride stopped at the sugar shack. They could do a maple tasting and a short tour or something. Obviously, we’d have actual maple syrup for sale, but we could display the baked goods as well. ”
He was quiet.
“Just an idea,” I said, hoping he’d feel free to shoot it down if it was dumb.
“It’s a really good idea,” James said, his tone impressed.
My cheeks warmed. “We’d have to run it by Archer and figure out how to split the revenue and all that, but I think he’d go for it.”
James’s eyes were a bit sharper as he nodded. “You went to the mayor’s party with him.”
Interesting segue. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the comment. “Yeah.”
“Are you guys…?”