Chapter One #3
Noelle continued to her room and cut on her bedroom light.
Her room, with its periwinkle-painted walls, was small.
There was enough space to fit a full-size bed, dresser, and a little bookshelf.
She hadn’t been a big reader most of her life.
That hobby had started when she’d needed a distraction while waiting in her mom’s hospital room and later at her physical therapy appointments.
Noelle read any- and everything. Right now she was in the middle of a suspense novel about an elementary school superintendent who’d been blamed for her husband’s gruesome murder.
She placed Tati’s silver flats on her floor in front of her closet. She snapped a picture of the shoes and sent it to Tati.
Back home. Not a scratch on the goods.
Tati replied within seconds, Thank you, ma’am. How’d it go? Any cute groomsmen?
Noelle snorted. Tati was always hoping that Noelle might meet a groomsman and fall in love. Preferably a sexy, gainfully employed groomsman. So far, no dice. And Noelle wasn’t looking for anyone anyway.
Nope, Noelle responded. But one of the bridesmaids is kinda crazy and obsessed with Rihanna.
Shine bright like a diamondddd, Tati texted. She sent a GIF of Rihanna tossing her ponytail.
Noelle laughed. Tati was staying over at André’s tonight.
They’d met a year ago when he’d walked into the hair salon where Tati worked, and she’d given him a haircut before his big paralegal interview.
He got the job and promptly took Tati out to dinner.
They were full-on crazy for each other and walked around with perpetual hearts in their eyes.
They were the kind of couple who gave Noelle the tiniest bit of hope that maybe one day, in the distant future once she achieved her goals and was financially stable with her librarian career, she might find her person too.
Despite her current romantic cynicism, she’d grown up as an only child with a mom who loved her but worked all day teaching, followed by evening shifts at a local restaurant, and deep down Noelle had always craved to be part of a unit of some kind.
At the various weddings she worked, her heart pricked with longing whenever she watched the happy couples surrounded by their big families.
Maybe one day she’d be part of something like that, but for now she was focused only on getting her degree.
She opened her banking app to check her savings account the way she always did before bed.
She needed a little less than seven thousand dollars to go back to college this fall.
She wanted to finish her final year at Riley University, the local state college about a forty-five-minute drive south of Brickton.
She’d already met with the admissions and bursar offices.
She’d switched her major multiple times while at UMD before finally settling on sociology.
Luckily finishing an undergrad degree in sociology wouldn’t keep her from applying to grad school for her MLS.
Between working at Bridal Bestie, Hidden Gems Books, doing food delivery and car share rides, she was saving every single penny.
Her mom and Bill had offered to give her a couple thousand too, but they lived on teachers’ salaries, and Noelle hated taking money from them that they needed for themselves.
Even with their money added, she would still be far from her goal.
She was holding out hope that a couple last-minute wedding gigs might materialize.
Otherwise, she’d have to put off completing her degree for another year.
So much could change in a year, though. In the past, whenever she came close to having enough money to finish college, something else always happened.
Her car engine blew. She fell ill with a bad bout of bronchitis and was left with a hefty hospital bill because she didn’t have health insurance.
Her car needed a new catalytic converter.
(She really needed a new car altogether.) Each incident took a chunk from her savings.
She’d already waited long enough to go back to college.
The time to get her degree was now before another thing went wrong.
Someway, somehow, she needed to figure out how to get the rest of that money by September.
Her stomach grumbled, and she remembered the precious Smith’s Sweets cookies that had been patiently waiting for her all day in the cabinet. She’d continue contemplating her money situation in the morning. For now, she deserved some chocolatey goodness.
She rushed to the kitchen and opened the cabinet above the sink where they kept their snacks.
The navy blue and white Smith’s Sweets cookie box looked like it was glowing.
She grabbed the box and opened the fridge to pour a glass of milk.
Noelle loved Smith’s Sweets. Had a hard day?
You deserved a Smith’s Sweets snack. Had a good day?
You deserved a Smith’s Sweets snack. Growing up, no Thanksgiving was complete without a frozen Smith’s Sweets pumpkin or cinnamon apple pie.
But Noelle’s favorite snack was the salted caramel chocolate chip cookies.
She sat at the kitchen table with her glass of milk and plate of cookies. Realizing that she forgot her phone in her room and she couldn’t scroll mindlessly on social media, she opted to read the Smith family story on the back of the Smith’s Sweets box—something she’d done a hundred times before.
It all began when Jeremiah Smith started baking for his pregnant wife, Minnie, in their small New Jersey home.
In 1965, Jeremiah and Minnie opened their first official bake shop.
They developed a full line of traditional baked goods, perfecting each recipe and baking each dessert from scratch.
People traveled from all over to try their delicious desserts.
Today, Smith’s Sweets is a nationally recognized brand, and you don’t have to travel to New Jersey to have a taste of the goodness.
Our award-winning cookies and desserts are available at dozens of retailers around the country.
Smith’s Sweets is proud to be a family-run business. From our family to yours, we hope you enjoy our sweets that are baked with love.
In the bottom-right corner, there was a small black-and-white photo of Jeremiah and Minnie standing in front of the original Smith’s Sweets bakery.
Jeremiah was tall and broad-shouldered. He had a handsome face with strong features.
Minnie was much shorter and very pretty, fashionably fitted in an A-line dress with her hair styled in curls.
She smiled at the camera as Jeremiah smiled at her.
He looked completely down bad for Minnie, as if the sun rose and set on her.
Noelle dipped another cookie in milk and glanced at the last line on the back of the box again.
From our family to yours, we hope you enjoy our sweets that are baked with love.
She did some quick math. If Jeremiah and Minnie had grandchildren, they were probably around Noelle’s age.
She’d bet they were loaded.