Donuts & Daydreams: An Arcadia Valley Romance (Baxter Family Bakery Book 4)

by Elizabeth Maddrey

  “You two okay?”

  Ursula sighed.

  Mal gave a hesitant nod.

  Jonah waited a moment before poking a photo of Ruth on the app. Ringing was the only sound for several seconds before Ruth and Corban filled the screen.

  “Oh, yay! It worked.” Ruth grinned and waved. “Gloria! You’re there, too?”

  “Yeah. Hi. It’s neat that you can sort of join us for lunch.” Gloria smiled.

  Ruth’s eyes narrowed. “Are you and Jonah finally together?”

  Gloria’s face heated.

  Jonah cleared his throat. “She agreed to go on a date with me. Beyond that, we haven’t really—”

  “Yes.” Gloria swallowed, her gaze flicking to Jonah’s and holding it. “If he still wants that, we are.”

  One corner of his mouth curved up. “Really?”

  She gave a single nod.

  Everyone around the table broke into applause and cheers.

  “It’s about time.” Ruth beamed at them through the screen of the tablet. “We have some good news of our own.”

  “Yeah?” Serena leaned in until her picture appeared in the small window that showed what the tablet camera was picking up. “Do you get to come home soon?”

  “Next week.” Corban slipped his arm around Ruth and kissed the top of her head. “They said he’s doing great and barring any setbacks, we’ll be released on Saturday.”

  Gloria’s eyes filled. What amazing news. “God is so good.”

  “He really is.” Ursula turned to Malachi, her eyebrows lifted.

  He closed his eyes and gave a small nod.

  “We have some news of our own.” Ursula cleared her throat. “I wanted to wait a little longer—but I’m pregnant.”

  “What?” Jonah jumped to his feet. “Congratulations! Why would you wait with news like that?”

  Malachi gestured for Ursula to speak. Her cheeks turned pink. “I miscarried once already. Two months after we were married. It was super early, I’d barely found out I was pregnant. But it still...it hurt.”

  “Of course it did.” Serena crossed her arms around her middle and leaned into Micah. “Why would you go through that alone?”

  “We didn’t want to...it just seemed like...” Ursula faltered and glanced at Mal.

  He scooted closer to Ursula and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Sorry.”

  “You know better. Both of you.” Jonah frowned.

  Ruth nodded. “What he said. But there’ll be time to berate you later. Today is for celebrating.”

  Gloria’s eyes found Serena and she hurt for her friend who had been in an accident that took the life of her husband and their unborn child, leaving her infertile, before she came to Arcadia Valley. Serena wore a smile, but the signs of strain were there for those who could see them. Pregnancy announcements were hard enough for her, but talk of losing a baby, too? What must she be feeling?

  Serena met Gloria’s look and her smile grew slightly. She mouthed, “I’m okay.”

  Micah rubbed Serena’s shoulders, the two of them just slightly apart from the excited conversation that washed over the table.

  Gloria glanced over at Jonah. His eyes locked with hers and he reached over and took her hand. He leaned closer, his breath tickling her ear as he spoke. “As exciting as their news is, I’m happiest about what you said.”

  Her mouth went dry as her heart picked up speed. She turned slightly, a smile on her lips. “Me, too.”

  It was Wednesday before Gloria had time to track down Serena. Now that Jonah had taken over the kitchen at L’Aubergine, it wasn’t as if she was going to go to the bakery for her usual afternoon break anyway. Not that Micah and Malachi weren’t always happy to see her, but it wasn’t the same. Why was it that now she and Jonah were together they never seemed to have time to see each other?

  She knocked on the door to Serena’s pottery studio before entering.

  “Hey.”

  Serena looked up and offered a tired smile before taking her hands off the clay spinning on her wheel and letting it come to a stop. “Hey yourself. What brings you out this way? Shouldn’t you be serving and protecting?”

  “I am. I’m on a break.” Gloria searched her friend’s face, noting the signs of sleeplessness. “You’re not okay.”

  Serena sighed. “Let’s go in and grab a drink. Maybe a break’s not a bad thing.”

  Gloria waited while Serena washed her hands, then followed her friend back to the house.

  “Soda? Or water? I haven’t had time to make tea or anything lately.”

  “Water’s fine. I’m over caffeinated today as it is.” Gloria perched on a stool at the kitchen island. “Want to talk about it?”

  “No.” Serena filled a glass at the tap and handed it to Gloria before snagging a soda from the fridge and popping the top. “I’d much rather talk about you and Jonah. Has he kissed you yet? How was it?”

  Gloria pressed her lips together. “Not yet. Do you really want me not to push?”

  “I don’t know.” Serena rubbed her hands over her face and lowered herself onto one of the other stools. “Micah keeps trying to get me to talk about it, too. I don’t know what to say? I’m happy for her—them. I really am. But it also feels like a little part of my soul has been ripped out and shredded. I know what she’s going through, those first weeks of pregnancy, but because of the accident I’ll never get to say those words to Micah. And it breaks my heart.”

  Gloria swallowed, her own heart breaking as tears slipped down Serena’s cheeks.

  Serena swiped at them with the back of her hand. “He says it doesn’t matter. And maybe it doesn’t matter to him. But it matters to me. And then I feel small and ridiculous, because really, I’m making this all about me when it’s not about me at all. She miscarried. I know what that loss is like. But I can’t see past my own heartache to go to her and tell her that the pain will fade eventually. It doesn’t go completely away. At least, it hasn’t for me. I’ll always wonder about that baby. But it’s not so raw after some time has passed.”

  “I’m sorry.” Gloria gripped her water glass with both hands. Maybe coming here was a bad idea after all. It wasn’t like she had experience to share. All she could do was try to understand and empathize. And neither of those things were her strong suits.

  “Yeah, me too. He really hasn’t kissed you yet?”

  Gloria shook her head. Maybe it was time to let the subject change.

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  She laughed. “Not all of us kiss on our first date, you know?”

  “Please. The two of you have been out so many times already, you’re on like the nine thousandth date. Have you done the lean in and let your eyes drift half-closed thing?”

  Gloria snorted, trying to picture just how ridiculous she’d look trying that. “Do you know me at all?”

  “Sorry. Forgot who I was talking to for a minute.” Serena drummed her fingers on the counter. “Okay, so Gloria fashion. Hmm. That’s more along the lines of ‘Hey. Are you gonna kiss me or not?’”

  “I’m not that bad.”

  Serena’s eyebrows lifted. “On a scale of one to ten, how often does he see you in something other than your police uniform?”

  Ugh. She hunched her shoulders. “That’s not fair.”

  “Right. So when you’re in cop mode? What I described is exactly how you are.” Serena lifted a shoulder. “But apparently he goes for that, so you might as well use it to your advantage.”

  “Thanks. Thanks a lot.” Gloria drained her water and stood. How had a visit to her friend to try and be supportive turned into a critique of all the places she failed as a girly girl? “I should get back to all that serve and protect stuff and leave you to your pottery.”

  “Gloria?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks. I really do appreciate it. I’m going to be okay. But you might need to remind me of that every now and then.” Serena stood and slung her arm over Gloria’s shoulders. “I know
you’re not a hugger, so humor me, okay?”

  Gloria laughed and gave Serena a fast hug. “I’ll make an exception just this once. When you need that reminder? You have my number. Any time of day. Got it?”

  Serena nodded.

  Gloria gave her a quick salute before clomping down the deck stairs to her waiting cruiser. She’d made a lot of the first moves in her relationship with Jonah—at least once she was free to pursue it. Did she need to nudge him along a little faster in the kissing department?

  She caught her lower lip between her teeth. Her imagination could do a lot with the idea of kissing Jonah. It was something she definitely wanted to experience—sooner than later—but maybe she could find a way to send him a hint rather than walking up to him and laying it on the line. She could be softer, more feminine, when she needed to.

  A line from a poem flirted just outside of her mental reach. She’d do a little poking when she got off shift and see what she could come up with.

  17

  Jonah cracked open the seal on an ice-cold water bottle and drained half of it in three long swallows. Prep for the dinner service was finished, finally, and they had about fifteen minutes before the first reservations were due to arrive. Morgan had a solid team in her kitchen. Why did she think she needed him? Maybe none of them were particularly creative, but surely they could execute the menu as written? They’d done a good job the past three nights.

  Morgan’s surgery was scheduled for today. Hopefully it had gone well. Would she let him know? They were casual acquaintances at best, even if she had asked him to take over the kitchen in her absence. He shrugged it off and finished the water.

  “All right, gang. You ready?”

  The two line cooks nodded and made a few last-minute adjustments to their stations.

  Jonah left the kitchen and walked briskly through the three dining rooms, double-checking that everything was ready. The front-of-house team was just as solid as the back. Maybe Morgan was too much of a control freak.

  He stopped by the desk at the front door where the manager waited with the hostess. “I think we’re set. Any issues?”

  The manager winced. “We’re down a server. Juliet called in at the last minute. Again. I think we’re going to need to let her go.”

  Juliet. Jonah sorted through the blur of faces that made up the wait staff. “High school senior?”

  “Yeah. With a new boyfriend. I’m guessing her illness is more love sickness than anything else.”

  “That’s hard. See if you can get a replacement before you let her go. I’ll double-check with Morgan, but I’m pretty sure she’d agree.”

  The manager nodded. “That’s my feeling. Just know the servers are going to be scrambling to cover the tables and get food out.”

  Jonah blew out a breath. “Get me a copy of the table layout. I can run food if it starts to pile up.”

  She blinked. “You’d do that?”

  He shrugged. “Why not? Food’s better when it’s hot. I’d rather run some food than have to redo it when it’s sent back for being cold.”

  “All right. Thanks. I’ll try to keep it from becoming a habit.”

  Jonah chuckled. “Do that. We stay busy back there, but we’re all on the same team, right?”

  “Right.” The manager glanced at the hostess. “Let’s open up.”

  Jonah turned and headed back to the kitchen. It was good to be surrounded by something other than the smell of bread all the time. Knowing the kitchen awaited him in the afternoons made his mornings of kneading and baking fly by. The only potential problem was, of course, that he was burning the candle at both ends. He was up and baking by five each morning and didn’t fall into bed until after midnight. It left him no time for anything remotely resembling a personal life.

  Just when he finally had one.

  He sighed and pictured Gloria on Sunday at the kitchen table. He could almost feel her hand in his, her eyes locked with his, electricity zinging between them as she corrected him in front of everyone. Together. A couple.

  At last.

  A server bustled in with a ticket. Jonah took it, cleared his throat, and called out, “Here we go.”

  The night was zipping by. So far the wait staff had done an admirable job keeping up with their extra tables, but now he had five dishes waiting for pickup. “Guys, I’m going to run this food before it dies. How are we doing?”

  “Four minutes out on the four-top, six for the next two-top.”

  That was enough time. Jonah grabbed the plates, balancing them precariously since he didn’t see a tray handy, and pushed through the kitchen door into the main dining area. The four-top was table sixteen. He closed his eyes and pictured the chart before heading across the room into one of the smaller areas.

  “Good evening. Who had the filet?”

  An older woman Jonah vaguely recognized from church raised her hand. Was her name Nancy? Pon...something. Someday he would get better with names. He set the plate down and went through the rest of the table, pleased that he hadn’t gotten the location wrong. The single plate was in the back room, overlooking the garden. He wished the diners a good evening and passed through the doorframe, stopping as his gaze landed on Gloria.

  “Hi.”

  She grinned up at him. “This is a nice surprise.”

  “I think that’s my line. What are you doing here?”

  “Eating dinner. Is that my stuffed eggplant?”

  “It is.” He set the plate down and reached for her hand. “It’s really good to see you.”

  “I was going to ask to speak to the chef. I didn’t realize they’d downgraded you to food delivery.”

  Jonah laughed. “One of the servers called out, it was all starting to pile up, we had a minute so...in the end, I think it worked out pretty well. For me, at least.”

  “I won’t keep you. I just wanted to see you, even if it was only for a minute. I’m sure you’re slammed back there. Thursdays look almost as busy as Fridays, though I did manage a same-day reservation, so that’s something.” Gloria squeezed his fingers before pulling her hand from his. “Get back to work.”

  He’d never wanted to get back to the kitchen less in his life. “I wish I could sit with you.”

  “I promise to order dessert. Go on, I don’t want to be responsible for other people not enjoying their night out simply because I needed to see the man I love.”

  Jonah’s mouth opened but no words formed. That was twice now. Did she mean it?

  Gloria sent him a soft smile. “Go. Text me later. I might be up.”

  He nodded and went back to the kitchen, his brain still turning circles. She hadn’t told him she loved him, so it wasn’t as if he could’ve said, “I love you, too.” But at the same time, shouldn’t he have had some kind of response? Something beyond a slack-jawed stare?

  He was losing it. Badly.

  “Hey, boss, you have trouble out there? Got orders piling up.” The line chef nodded toward the little stack of written orders left by servers.

  Jonah pulled himself back into the present and forced down the desire to run back to Gloria’s table and declare his love. This wasn’t the time or the place. “Where are we with the four and the two?”

  “Ready for the final check.”

  “Okay, here we go.” Jonah rattled off the new orders, slid the tickets in line, and finished the plates for the completed dishes.

  The man she loved.

  The man who loved her.

  Thank you, Jesus.

  Jonah glanced at the clock as he kicked his shoes into the corner. Nearly one in the morning. There was no way Gloria was still up. Was there? They’d had two tables that kept ordering long past the time when the kitchen was supposed to close. He’d finally gone out to give them a little hint that it was time to move along since the manager didn’t seem to be making much headway. They were up from Twin Falls where they were vacationing. As much as Jonah loved that they’d heard about Arcadia Valley and all its charms, he’d wanted n
othing more than to get home and text Gloria.

  He grabbed a glass of water and tapped on the phone as he climbed the stairs toward his bedroom.

  “Hey. Imagine you’re asleep. Was good to see you though.”

  Jonah hit send and tossed the phone on the bed while he stripped off his clothes and dropped them into his overflowing hamper. He was going to have to make time to do laundry before long. In fact...he eyed the clothes and shrugged. There was no point in pretending he was going to sleep in the next hour. Might as well get a load started.

  Jonah pulled on pajama pants, not bothering with a shirt, and hefted the hamper. After a moment of deliberation, he grabbed the phone and dropped it in a pocket. There was no way Gloria was still up. But if she was, he didn’t want to miss her reply.

  He’d just closed the lid on the machine when the chime sounded. Probably a spam email. Those always seemed to come in the middle of the night. He spun the dial and got the cycle going before reaching into his pocket.

  His heart fluttered in his chest. A text.

  “Late night. Everything okay?”

  He grinned and hit call.

  “Hey.”

  “Is it okay to call? I guess I should’ve asked first.”

  She chuckled. “No, it’s good. I’m gonna be beat tomorrow, but I’ll survive. That’s what God made coffee for.”

  “Tell me about it. I’d forgotten how wired a dinner shift leaves you. I’ve been running on about four hours of sleep a night. It’s not a sustainable model.”

  “Ouch. No, it isn’t. What are you going to do?”

  Jonah passed through the kitchen and stretched out on the sofa in the living room. “I don’t know yet. When Micah’s in town, he can get started with the baking on his own, but the bread is really more my specialty. And it needs time to rise. I could maybe get it mixed and started rising after I leave the restaurant, but that might be too long, and it still puts more bread work on Micah’s shoulders than he wants. We’ll figure something out.”

  “I don’t suppose you can make it the day before?”

  “Nope. Fresh bread is our thing. I don’t mind so much the muffins and cookies if we’re in a pinch—and we’ve had to do that a couple of times when Micah disappeared to visit Serena—but not the bread. Day old bread simply isn’t the same. We’ll figure it out.” Jonah tugged the throw off the back of the couch and pulled it over him. Should he mention the love thing? How was he supposed to work that into a conversation? Even if he could, wasn’t it better done in person? “Thanks for coming by tonight.”