Priceless Ink: A Small Town Romance

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  She looked like she was going to throw up. It was actually kind of funny, watching her come to the realization that this was her life if she stayed here. It wasn’t just that I wanted to torment her. I wanted her to really think about what she wanted, and this was a taste of the life she would have if she decided not to go back home. It wasn’t going to be an easy transition, and the sooner she saw that, the sooner she could make up her mind. And I would be there to watch it all unfold.

  “And what about shoes? I don’t even have any.”

  “Oh, well, I got you covered there. Carly, another sister, had an extra pair of tennis shoes and she even gave you some socks to wear.”

  Her eyes slowly closed and I was pretty sure she was about to cry. “I’ve never worn tennis shoes before, and you want me to wear used ones?”

  I sniffed the inside and looked at her in confusion. “They smell fine. I’m sure you’ll survive.”

  She cried out rather pathetically and then flopped back on the couch. “My life is over!”

  “Only if you choose to think of it that way. Now, Mary Anne’s waiting on you. You’d better hurry. You don’t want to get fired before you even start.”

  She sniffled and grudgingly stood, shoving past me into the bedroom and slamming the door shut. I grinned as I watched the door in the dark. This was so much fun.

  “Not cool, Hunty.”

  “I know, but someone had to do it.”

  Sofia

  After pulling on my clothes and brushing my teeth with my finger, I stumbled out of the bathroom and snatched the pair of socks and the shoes Joe handed me. I had to admit, while they weren’t at all stylish, they were at least more comfortable than wearing heels. Still, I would never go out in public dressed as I am now. I would be an embarrassment to anyone that saw me. What would my friends say if they saw me like this?

  “Alright, I’m ready.”

  “Great, you’re going to take a right out of the building and walk four blocks. That’ll take you to the bakery. It’ll be the only place lit up at this time.”

  My mouth dropped, but refused to form words.

  Joe looked at me questioning. “Was there something else?”

  “You’re going to make me walk out there, in the dark, by myself?”

  “Relax, this isn’t Chicago. This is Small Town, USA, where absolutely nothing remotely exciting ever happens.”

  “Well, aside from Josh almost getting murdered,” Andrew said.

  “Right, well, that, but nothing else.”

  “Oh, and when Carly’s ex came back and kidnapped Natalie and then she died,” Andrew supplied not so helpfully. At least he had the decency to cringe as he said it.

  “She died?” I said, my face pinched in concern. This wasn’t sounding very good.

  “Look, it was a shitty thing, but I can guarantee that nothing like that ever happens around here,” Joe tried to reassure me.

  “Except for when serial killers buried bodies in the corn fields,” Andrew muttered.

  “Alright, I think we get the point,” Joe snapped.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t go walking out there alone.”

  “I can assure you, there is absolutely nothing that is going to happen to you.”

  I wanted to believe Joe, but Andrew wasn’t exactly painting a good picture right now. But I could tell that Joe wasn’t going to offer to go with me, no matter how much I didn’t want to go alone. Lifting my chin and putting on my brave face, I headed for the door, refusing to let them see how terrified I was. And not just about walking, but about going to an actual job. I was crazy. I should just go home and marry Graham. I would never have to worry about something like this ever again.

  But as I walked in the dark, jumping at every noise, I started to feel something close to excitement. Not at the prospect of doing actual work. That was going to suck no matter how I looked at it. But I was on the verge of something thrilling here. I was about to do something that was never allowed when I lived at home. I was wearing clothes, as horrifying as they were, that my parents would never approve of. And if they ever saw me working, they would think I was demeaning myself. This defiance, that was the exciting part.

  Before I knew it, I was in front of the bakery. I took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping into the dim space. There weren’t a lot of lights on, but I assumed that was because they weren’t needed.

  “Hello?” I asked, thinking someone would come out. When no one answered, I stepped closer to the counter and called out again. “Hello?”

  “Come on back!”

  Frowning, I stepped around the counter and carefully moved to the back. I passed racks of dishes before stepping into an industrial kitchen. I had never seen a kitchen like this before, or so many ingredients. This woman had everything laid out on the counter. A white substance was everywhere, covering every surface. I waved the dusty stuff away from my face, trying not to choke on it.

  “Um…I’m here for the job?”

  The woman looked up at me and took in my appearance. She looked to be maybe forty or fifty. It was hard to tell in this light. I stood there for a minute, not sure what to do.

  “You must be Joe’s new girl.”

  “I’m not Joe’s anything,” I said irritatedly.

  “Well, he sure went out of his way to make sure you had a job.”

  “I’ve never worked in a bakery before. It seems he could have gotten me a job anywhere else that would have suited me better. Maybe an office or something.”

  “And what would you do in an office?”

  “I don’t know. Take notes or something.”

  “Or something is right,” she muttered. “Look, this is a small town, and there aren’t a lot of jobs around here. You’d be lucky to get a job with as many people that are looking for jobs. Now, I agreed to take you on because Joe somehow always drums up business for my bakery, so don’t screw this up.”

  “Well, I can’t make any promises.”

  She jerked her head. “Come over here. Wash your hands in the sink and then slip on some gloves.” As I moved closer, she grimaced. “Did you bring something to put your hair up in?”

  “What’s wrong with my hair?”

  “Nothing, but customers don’t enjoy hair in their food.” She bent over and grabbed something under the counter and tossed it at me. “Here, wear this.”

  I looked at it, wondering what the heck it was. It looked like a shower cap. “I can’t wear this.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, first of all, it’s hideous. My hair will look terrible, not to mention my face. I’ll look like a common worker.”

  “You are a common worker,” she said slowly. “Sweetie, you need to get something through your head real quick if you want to work here. It’s dirty, it’s hard work, and I expect you to put in your time just like I do. I can find a dozen girls that would be dying to work here just so they had a little money. Joe says you’ve got nothing, and I want to help him out. So, either get over here and do what I tell you, or you can run back to wherever you came from.”

  I looked down at the cap, close to tears, and slowly pulled it over my head. I didn’t want to wear it, and I didn’t want to work here, but I also didn’t want to run home because I was a failure. This was my chance to prove to myself that I could be something other than what Andrew described me as. Maybe this wasn’t my dream job, but I was going to try and do it. At least if I failed, I failed trying to do something.

  Taking a deep breath, I walked over to the woman and nodded. “I’m Sofia.”

  “Mary Anne. It’s nice to meet you,” she smiled.

  I returned her smile. “So, where do we start?”

  * * *

  I looked at the mixer again, trying to figure out which things I was supposed to press or turn or something. Mary Anne had shown me three times already, but I just couldn’t seem to get the hang of this. Biting my lip, I took a chance and pulled the lever all the way to the end. The mixer spun to life and a thick cloud of w
hite stuff shot up in the air, covering my face. I choked on it, waving my hand in front of my face.

  “What in God’s name is going on back here?”

  I looked through the cloud of what I now knew to be flour and saw Mary Anne staring at me in amazement.

  “Um…I turned the thingy on, but I think I did something wrong.”

  “Well, you didn’t use the guard, for starters. And you weren’t supposed to add all the flour in at the same time. Didn’t you read my instructions?”

  I looked around for them, finding them under the dozens of cracked eggs. I was only supposed to use two, but the shells kept falling in. You would think I would have figured it out by now, but I was exhausted and ready to cry. I wasn’t sure I could really do this job. In fact, I was pretty sure this is exactly what someone would call failing miserably.

  “I’m trying,” I said, my lip quivering. “I’m a mess. Do you see this? I have flour all over my face and egg in my hair! My shirt is soaked with something I don’t even want to know about, and I can feel all kinds of squishy things in my socks,” I cried. “I hate this job!”

  Mary Anne looked almost sad for a moment and then she burst out laughing. “Come on, honey. There’s someone here to see you.”

  “To see me? Oh, God, did my father find me? I can’t see him like this!”

  “No, it’s not your father.”

  “Then who is it?”

  “Just go take a look.”

  Swiping at my tear-streaked face, I grimaced when I noticed that the flour was clumping on my face from mixing with my tears. I was a mess. I brushed my hands off, wanting to cry again at the mess under my fingernails, but I took a deep breath and stepped out from the back room. I was shocked to see the place packed. Mary Anne walked over to me and wrapped her arm around me, pulling me out into the open.

  “Everyone, this is my new assistant, Sofia. She’s staying with Joe right now,” she nodded to Joe, who was smiling at me. God, how mortifying. “Joe?”

  He came over and took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. How could he be so nice when earlier he was so mean to me? And how could he handle having my hand wrapped in his when it was so disgusting?

  “So, like Mary Anne said, this is Sofia. She recently ran away from her wedding when she discovered that her fiancé was cheating on her.”

  Everyone gasped and started whispering about me. Great. I was now the talk of the town, and looking like I did, they probably thought the worst of me.

  “Now, I want you all to give her a warm welcome,” Joe continued. “She’s from a pretty fancy family in Chicago and she’s not used to living in the country. But she’s here and trying to figure all this out, so let’s help her out like we do everyone else.”

  That was actually really sweet, considering he was an ass to me the whole time. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Don’t fuck this up. I’m trying to get people to be nice to you.”

  I smiled at everyone and whispered back. “Funny, I wonder if they would think that if they knew how you’ve been treating me.”

  “If they knew your real personality, they would agree with my methods.”

  “I’d love to kick you in the balls right now,” I murmured through gritted teeth.

  “Try it and see what happens. You’re not going to gain many friends that way.”

  “And you’d have so many friends if I told them about what you did to me in

  the woods?”

  “There’s something you don’t know about me yet.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “I’m a Cortell, and pretty much everyone in town loves me. Good luck trying to get someone on your side.”

  * * *

  I dragged my tired ass home at the end of the day, ready to cry and go running back to my mother and father. My back was killing me and my feet were so sore that every step hurt. How did people do this every day? Sure, I wore heels every day, but I could sit down if needed. Those boring charity meetings were nothing compared to what I had to endure today.

  I pulled on the door that led up to Joe’s apartment, but it wasn’t unlocked. I jerked on it again, but still nothing happened.

  “Why?” I cried out. “Why, why, why!”

  “Is everything okay?”

  I spun around, wiping the tears from my eyes as I tried to compose myself and act like the lady I was raised to be. The man was gorgeous with dark brown hair and captivating eyes. Of course, he was. Were all the men in this town so gorgeous? He wore a suit that fit him perfectly. Finally, someone I could relate to. Though, I found myself wondering if he had any tattoos on his arms the way Joe did, which didn’t make any sense since tattoos were not at all my style.

  “Are you alright?”

  I put on a bright smile and composed myself. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because you were banging on the door and screaming. Are you locked out?”

  I glanced at the door and sighed. There was no point in trying to deny it. “I wasn’t given a key yet, which I didn’t think about until I tried to get upstairs.”

  The man sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out a set of keys. He moved to the door and I frowned.

  “Um…I don’t think you’re supposed to do that. The man that lives here wouldn’t like knowing that someone else has his keys. Are you the old owner?”

  He turned to me with a smirk and pulled the door open. “Robert Cortell, at your service.”

  I rolled my eyes and groaned. “There are more of you?”

  “Brothers? Yes, there are unfortunately.”

  “And I’m guessing you’re all just as irritatingly charming and handsome as your brother. Although, I have to say, Joe leaves a little to be desired. He’s not exactly the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

  He grinned at me and waved me upstairs. I walked ahead of him, wondering if he was going to follow me the whole way. This was a little odd.

  “You know, I think I can take it from here.”

  “I’m sure you can, except that you need to get into the apartment.”

  “Oh,” I frowned. This was all new to me. I never carried around keys before. I had someone that opened my doors when I needed them opened. And the house was always open for me. There was no such thing as me locking up.

  He slid the key in the lock and shoved open the door, grimacing when he saw the inside. “I can’t believe he’s making you stay here.”

  “I know,” I huffed. “It’s disgusting. And the couch is so lumpy.”

  “He made you sleep on the couch?”

  “And he woke me up with a bowl of water all over my face,” I said, exasperated by the whole thing.

  He sighed, shaking his head. “Look, I’m really sorry about that. Joe can be…”

  “An asshole?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “I was going to say a little rough around the edges. But he brought you here and gave you a place to stay.”

  “Yeah,” I snorted. “I guess I should be really happy to be staying in this hellhole.”

  “Or you could be grateful that he’s giving you someplace to stay when you apparently have nowhere else to go,” he challenged. “Even if it is this place.”

  “Oh, here we go again. Someone else to tell me how grateful I should be. Do you know who I am?”

  “Not a clue.”

  “I’m a Lancaster,” I said, putting a little edge in my voice.

  He stared at me with a bored expression.

  “I take it you haven’t heard of my name either,” I replied snidely.

  “Oh, I’ve heard of you and your family. I’m guessing you’re the daughter that ran out on her own wedding. It was all over the society pages.”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Like you’ve ever read the society pages.”

  He leaned against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. He seemed so at ease in this place, despite the fact that he was wearing a suit and was probably getting it filthy. Didn’t he care?

  “You know, I
used to be a lot like you.”

  “I highly doubt that.”

  “I worked at one of the best divorce firms in the city. I lived off Lake Shore Drive and drove a really nice car. I had the best suits money could buy and had the most gorgeous women in the world flirting with me.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “Because all of that was a lie.”

  I faltered for just a moment. He was right, living that lifestyle was a lie, but it was also hard to just walk away from. Sure, everyone was fake, only being friendly when they needed something from you. There were no real friends in that world. There were business contacts and there were acquaintances that a person dealt with to keep their standing in society, but there was no sincerity to any of it. But it was still all I knew.

  “I walked away from a life here for a false life that I thought I wanted. I walked away from the woman I loved, but now I have her back, and I gave all that up for her.”

  I looked away and swallowed hard. “Yeah, well, you’re originally from here. The Lancasters are from old money. We didn’t just buy our way into this lifestyle. We created it and demanded the best.”

  I knew I sounded like a snob, but that’s the way I was raised. To command respect because of my name and move in circles that were deemed appropriate. Sure, Robert may have been a hotshot in Chicago, but his family name wasn’t impressive.

  But he didn’t seem to care at all. He smirked at me and picked up his keys off the counter. “Well, I can see now what Joe sees in you.” He glanced around the apartment and then back to me. “I hope you take this opportunity for what it is. He’s giving you a chance at a real life, something you’ll never get if you go home. But you have to want it.”

  He spun the keyring around his finger and headed for the door, smiling the whole way. I wanted to yell at him and tell him I was too good for this life, that I would never consider staying in a place like this, but I had already made the decision to try, hadn’t I?

  The door slammed as he walked out and I grunted, slamming my foot down, only to grimace in pain. This was so ridiculous. I just needed to call my father and have him come get me. I definitely couldn’t go through another day like today. I was not made for hard labor. I was a lady and a lady did not bow and scrape.