Sweeter Than Honey (Pride in Pine Grove #1)

Chapter One

Cammie

Now, the empty spot was just another reminder that I was going to have to prep and make everything for the bakery myself today, just like every other day.

Busy Bee Bakery and Tea was my dream… and it was failing. I desperately needed help, but now that I was newly single and alone in this, I couldn't afford to hire anyone.

My now ex-fiancé, Justin, had encouraged me to open the bakery. Never mind that Pine Grove was a small town and the building we bought was basically right next to Deja Brew, the town's favorite, well-established coffee joint.

Justin had said tea and coffee shops had completely different audiences, and he might've been right if I had the money to make Busy Bee's more of a teahouse.

I'd been wanting to do a fancy afternoon tea service, but I didn't have the money to invest in anything new or the time to do anything extra since I was barely staying afloat as it was.

I'd done what I could with the cafe, painting the walls a buttercream yellow that made me smile and adding a lot of greenery hanging from the exposed ceiling beams.

I'd done my best to make the atmosphere cozy and inviting, but I wasn't supposed to be alone in this.

Justin was supposed to have been around to be the handyman and help me fix the place up.

He'd said he was in this for the long haul and wanted to support me and my dreams, only to skip town with the next pretty girl who looked his way and most of my meager savings.

That was a few months ago, and all things considered, I was doing surprisingly well coping with the failing bakery and my failed engagement.

I'd thought I was going to marry Justin, and instead he left me.

I suppose he, in a twisted way, did me a favor by showing his true colors before we actually made it down the aisle, since that would've been far harder to undo when he left.

I'd felt blindsided since I thought we were happy, but in the early morning hours prepping and baking alone, I'd realized that life wasn't meant for me.

Some people were built for an epic love story, for a happily ever after, and some people, like me, were built to be content at best and alone. I'd been asking too much from the universe.

I wasn't content with the thought of the bakery failing, though, so I had been pouring what little there was left of everything I had into the bakery, and it was just going to have to work out. Thanks to Justin, I didn't have any other choice.