Chapter 1 #2
Maggie’s eyes danced around at Regina as the girls decided on what they wanted.
Ever since Maggie arrived in Dunhollow with the plans of opening a bakery, Regina lingered around her like a ghost. There was never a day where Regina felt the need to remind Maggie that her family-owned store had been the single bakery in Dunhollow for decades.
Competition was something Maggie prepared for, though Regina’s consistent intensity never once failed to send a chill of nerves through Maggie’s spine.
“Can we get the last couple of chocolate cupcakes?” one of the girls asked.
Maggie lit up. Another product cleaned out!
“You certainly can!” She diligently stepped towards the case, pulling it open from her side and reaching for the cakes with a pair of metal tongs.
On the other side of the bar, Regina watched with an intense stare, her attention beginning to turn towards the patrons.
“Haven’t I seen you girls at Dunhollow’s Cakes?” Regina asked.
The girl closest to her stiffened before glancing over her shoulder. Her smile was polite, but placid. “Sure,” she replied. “Once and a while.”
Regina was inching closer. “Maybe we’re in the “a while” stage.
” Her laugh was meant to clear the air, Maggie assumed, but it was something more on the verge of maniacal with her sterling green eyes honing in on the girls.
“It’s obvious you girls like cakes! My bakery has the best recipe, and I can tell you that for sure and certain. ”
The look she gave Maggie was something like a friend having a laugh, but she knew that wasn’t the real case. Maggie worked quicker to get the girls their treats.
“I’m sure we’ll stop by soon,” the girl said, and Maggie couldn’t help but be impressed at her maturity in an awkward situation.
Once she handed over the small box that contained their cupcakes, the girls handed over a couple coins and didn’t bother to tell Maggie to keep the change before retreating out of the storefront.
The trio of blondes still lingered in their seats, now murmuring to each other with quiet glances in Maggie’s direction.
Regina, taking her chance, stood directly in front of the display case.
“Can I get you anything, Regina?”
Regina breathed in deeply before she spoke, her gaze lingering on the Dunhollow women for a second or two.
They took it as their sign to leave, and gathered their things.
The remaining patrons were beginning to clear out as the clock struck six o’clock, leaving behind their empty plates.
As the door swung shut a final time, Regina’s eyes glinted dangerously.
“Listen here, Hart,” Regina snapped, the fake politeness leaving with the rest of the customers. “If there’s one thing you’ll never catch me doing, it’s buying one of your products, is that clear?”
Maggie’s brow shot up. “Don’t tell me this is all because of a business rivalry!”
“I suppose you thought it would be as easy as cake,” she muttered.
“Showing up in Dunhollow with your grand ideas and recipes, thinking you can meld into our little town in the matter of a year.” Regina scoffed and crossed her arms defiantly.
“Things aren’t that simple, Hart, especially when there’s something fishy about you. ”
Panic clicked into Maggie’s mind. She gulped. “F-Fishy? But I haven’t -”
“And once I find out what it is, no one in Dunhollow is going to want to come to Hart’s Crumbs anymore.”
Moving to a new town wasn’t something Maggie was unfamiliar with, but there was something fishy about her arrival, something that changed the entire game.
The secret she ran from, the truth she kept hidden deep within her, was the one thing she would never dare let slip.
Dreams were made into a reality the moment Hart’s Crumbs was opened in Dunhollow.
The pride that came with it was something Maggie never knew, and she was in no rush to let it leave her anytime soon.
Even if it meant dealing with Regina Cersie’s ever-present attention.
Pulling on her kindest smile, Maggie stepped out from behind the counter, and politely began to steer Regina towards the front door. “Well, then,” she murmured, “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you later then, right?”
Regina frowned. “I suppose you will.”
As she pushed the door open, a short chime above her head from a bell, Regina wrapped her arms across her chest as though she was hit with a chill in the dead of summer.
Maggie remained in the doorway, peering out into the woody courtyard that sat at the center of the circle of small-business owned shops.
With a deep breath, she raised her head to the sky, feeling the evening breeze swipe gently across her face.
Maggie chose Dunhollow for its small community, for its distance from the cities and bigger populations. She chose it for the shade it might provide her, to keep her secret locked within the confines of her bustling bakery.
Maggie Hart was no ordinary woman. Being a forty-three year old business owner was the simplest thing about her.
It hid the truth: that magic lied deep within Maggie’s soul, something that the human world was not at all ready for.
In fact, the power was considered forbidden.
Which was why she’d spent so many years traveling across the country, never staying in one place long enough to get caught.
A streak of light skating across the sky caught Maggie’s eye.
“A shooting star,” she whispered. Though she felt like a small child, she squeezed her eyes shut, and let the next words tumble out from between her lips. “I wish to be a baker, to find happiness, and a place I belong.”
And perhaps she’d already found it.
When Maggie opened her eyes next, the humid evening settled in around her, a few mosquitos beginning to buzz around her ears. With a sigh, she slipped back inside the bakery, shutting and locking the door behind her before flipping the sign to close.
Despite it all, there was still plenty to be done.