Baked with Love

by Erin Wright

  It didn’t seem to really matter to anyone, when it came right down to it, that him working hard was how his grandparents enjoyed their retirement. He had to make his payment to them every month without fail – they depended on him. If he got behind financially, he couldn’t just declare bankruptcy. It’d ruin his grandparents. He had to make this work, and that took time—

  “Hey Gage, I’m heading out,” Sugar said, looking tired but pinning a valiant smile on her face as she went.

  “Thanks for coming in today, and letting me get caught up on paperwork,” he said, for probably the millionth time. “I know you weren’t due back until next week and I promise not to keep asking you to come in—”

  “It’s okay, really. Jaxson was happy to hang out with Rose and the boys were at school for most of the day, so it worked out just fine. Any excuse that he has to play with his daughter, Jaxson is all over. Other than the dirty diapers,” she wrinkled her nose a little at that one, “he’s a terrific dad. No surprise there.”

  “No, no surprise,” Gage agreed. He hadn’t been too sure about the new fire chief when he’d moved into town – actually, Gage had been sure he wouldn’t last a week, so it really didn’t matter what he thought about the guy. But the day of the bakery fire…Jaxson had saved both of their lives, and that wasn’t something Gage would ever forget. “I’ll see you over at the house soon. Tell my sister if she’d stop calling me every ten minutes, I’d get more work done.”

  “I’ll make sure to mention that to her,” Sugar said dryly, “but I presume you’ve met your sister once or twice, so I’m fairly sure you know how well that line of reasoning will work.”

  “Tell her I know how to block phone numbers, and she’s treading close to the line – how about that?”

  Sugar threw her head back and laughed. “I’ll pass the message along. See you soon.”

  She slipped out the back door and into the parking lot behind the bakery, there only for employees, closing the door quietly behind her.

  Gage turned back to the pile of paperwork on his desk with a groan. Despite his brave words to Sugar, he knew what Emma was like, and knew that if he was too late to Emma and Sugar’s dual birthday party, she’d still be flipping him shit about it when he was 90. Best friends from the moment they met, Emma and Sugar had been even more delighted when they’d compared calendars and had realized that they were only born four days apart from each other. It’d been years now of celebrating their birthdays on the same day in the same huge party, and it had turned into a bit of a community event, honestly.

  One year, Emma’s boss had brazenly informed her that she couldn’t take the weekend off to go back to Sawyer because they had a big project on the line. She’d told him in no uncertain terms where he could stuff that big project and that she’d see him on Monday, either to pick up her last paycheck or come back to work, and then had walked out. She’d still had a job when she went back, of course – she was too damn good for them to give up, even if she was mightily un-flexible about taking the third weekend in April off every year.

  If Gage could just reconcile these two inventory sheets, he might call it good for the night, and head out. Maybe if he brought a tray of lemon poppyseed muffins with him, he could buy Emma’s forgiveness. It couldn’t hurt, anywa—

  “Hey, quick question.”

  The feminine voice came out of nowhere, and Gage jumped, shoving his chair backwards as he shot to his feet, automatically dropping into a fighting stance as he peered through the poor evening lighting, his desk lamp casting a concentrated pool of light onto his desk but leaving the rest of the kitchen in semi-darkness.

  “Oh,” he gasped, slowly straightening up, trying to get his heart rate to slow down when he spotted Cady’s slight form just inside the doorway that led out to the main dining area. “It’s you. I think you just took ten years off my life.” The thundering in his ears made it hard for him to hear or think or breathe properly. As his heart began to slow down, though, he could finally ask the obvious question. “Hold on a sec, how did you get in here?”

  Even in the dark, he could tell that Cady’s eyes were wide – probably with panic, knowing her – and he cursed his instinctual aggressiveness. He’d just been so sure that he was completely alone, so to suddenly hear someone, even a female voice, coming out of the darkness…

  “It’s okay,” she said, backing slowly towards the swinging doors that led out into the main dining room area. “I didn’t mean to bother you. I’ll just go—”

  “No, really, it’s fine.” He was tempted to put his hand out and stop her, but he somehow knew that it’d just scare her even more. “But really, how did you get in here?”

  “The front door was open…?” Cady said slowly, as if that should’ve been obvious. “The bell over the door jingled and everything.”

  “Dammit,” he cursed under his breath. “Sugar’s been gone for a while on maternity leave,” he explained to Cady, even as he was wondering why he was telling her, “and I think she got out of the rhythm of our shutdown procedures, forgetting a couple of important steps like actually locking the front door. Well, whatever.” He waved his hand in the air to brush all of that away, and then flipped on the overhead fluorescent lights, bathing the kitchen in brilliant stark white light. He didn’t like to have them on in the evenings – it was too sterile and made him feel like he was working in a hospital or morgue or something – but somehow, he figured Cady would feel better if she could see clearly. Sure enough, as soon as the lights flipped on, she stopped doing her backwards shuffle towards the swinging doors, and stood up a little straighter.

  “So, are you going to tell me what you needed?” he asked, casually leaning against the cinder block wall of his kitchen, trying to convey a sense of openness and calm.

  Red climbed up in her cheeks and she looked positively miserable. “I hate to…I just couldn’t…”

  She was stuttering, and he wondered for a moment if she was going to finish her thought or if they were just going to have a staring contest all evening. He didn’t say anything, though, and didn’t move a muscle. It was like trying to interact with a wild animal that might bolt at any moment.

  What in the hell happened to this lady? There is nothing about this that’s normal or healthy.

  “I looked it up on my phone,” she finally blurted out, “and I can’t find any restaurants in town that are open past two – in fact, I only found one restaurant in town according to Google – Betty’s Diner, and I haven’t eaten there yet but they have good reviews but they’re a breakfast diner and it’s a little late for breakfast of course but I am starving and I don’t really want to drive to Franklin so I thought I’d come over here and ask if you knew of another restaurant that was open that just wasn’t showing up on Google. I tried calling my friend Hannah but she didn’t answer, and you were the only other person I could think of.”

  The torrent of words finally dried up, and Gage just stared at Cady for a moment, trying to think through everything that had just spilled out of her, because there was a hell of a lot to unpack there.

  “You know someone in town named Hannah?” he asked, knowing that wasn’t the point but still, too surprised to let it go. He’d somehow thought that Cady didn’t know a soul up in Long Valley – at least, he’d never seen anyone come into her business to help her out with the cleaning and remodeling.

  “Hannah Lambert – she’s a fifth grade teacher over at the elementary school. We were roommates at BSU.”

  “Oh, I know Hannah,” he said with a bright smile. She was a regular at the bakery, along with Carla from the flower shop and Michelle from the city pound. The three of them had been meeting up at the bakery as long as Gage had owned it. “A real nice lady. Well, that aside, Google was right. The only restaurant in town is Betty’s, and they’re only open until two. Their food is good, but you’re not going to have much luck there right now.”

  “Dammit.” Cady looked completely deflated by this information. “I thought
for sure that Google was just missing something. How does Sawyer only have one restaurant?!”

  Gage shrugged. He hadn’t thought about it much – it was just the way it was. “Well, one and a half if you count this bakery,” he pointed out, his pride a little bruised at her complete dismissal of his business. At her skeptical look, he was of course obligated to push back. “Not everything I sell is laced with sugar. My muffins are pretty healthy, and I do have whole wheat bread for sale.”

  “Well, I better get going,” she said, pointedly choosing to sidestep any discussion on the healthiness of his wares. He narrowed his eyes at her, but she seemed completely oblivious to how her dismissal of his business might be a blow to his pride. “Franklin is, what, 30 minutes away?” She was already turning to go when he reached out and stopped her, his hand on her shoulder. She flinched and he hastily dropped his hand down to his side.

  “I just thought I’d offer,” he said before he could think better of it, “my sister and her best friend’s birthdays are only four days apart, and so during Birthday Time, Emma comes back from Denver and they throw this huge party at my parents’ house. Half the town shows up. You could come over with me. It’s a potluck so every kind of food you can imagine will be out for you to choose from, and because it’ll be so crowded, no one will think twice about me showing up with you. It won’t be like I’m bringing you home to meet my parents as my date or something.”

  He laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of the idea, but her eyes went wide as dinner plates at the thought. She clearly hadn’t considered that possibility as she’d listened to the invitation, and now that it’d been introduced to her, she was well on her way to freaking out about it.

  He mentally kicked himself for even bringing it up. “But like I said,” he hurried on, “that’s not going to be what anyone thinks, because most of the town will be there, and everyone just hangs out with everyone else. You should meet someone else here other than Mr. Burbank, and the world’s worst electrician, and Hannah. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know other Sawyerites if you’re going to open up a business here, right?”

  She nodded slowly as she thought through that. “Yeah, you’re right. So, we’re just going as friends?”

  “Just friends,” he repeated, and held out his hand to her to shake. It was a weirdly formal thing to do, but then again, that was a phrase that summed up Cady perfectly: Weirdly formal. And skittish. And prickly.

  And downright gorgeous the few times he’d actually managed to make her smile.

  Not a full-blown smile, of course – he was charming, not a miracle worker – but even the small quirk of her lips had made all the difference in the world.

  She put out her hand and they shook quickly, her grip surprisingly forceful, and then she pulled away, clasping her hands behind her back. “I’ll go get my purse and stuff and meet you in the parking lot in the back and follow you over, okay?”

  “Perfect. But—” He touched her lightly on the shoulder before she could turn away completely, and then pulled back when he saw her flinch again. “I just wanted to make something clear…my sister, Emma, is a matchmaker of extreme proportions. She had Sugar, her best friend and my only full-time employee, convinced that I was desperately in love with her, and it caused problems for a while between us. So, I wanted to say upfront that no matter what insanity my sister spouts, please don’t believe her. She’s sure that without her help, I will die an old and single man, never having tasted true love.”

  He laughed because obviously, you can’t get any crazier than that, but Cady just arched an eyebrow at him.

  “I’ll do my best to remember you’re not madly in love with me,” she said sarcastically. “See you out back,” and then she was walking quickly through the front dining room area and out the front door, leaving him standing and watching her go.

  “Sometimes, you’re a real idiot,” he said aloud to the empty bakery. “Inviting Cady to this party just tops the list. You might as well have invited the offspring of a porcupine and a rattlesnake mating.” He rubbed at his forehead wearily, and then grabbed a to-go box and began filling it with lemon poppyseed muffins, Emma’s favorite. Something made him think that a little bribery could go a long ways with his sister tonight.

  Chapter 7

  Cady

  She followed Gage’s tail lights in the darkness, winding their way to a part of town she hadn’t been to yet. With the setting of the sun, all of the warmth of the day had disappeared, and Cady found herself shivering violently as she drove.

  Was it the cold, though, causing the shivers? Or was it panic?

  I am not panicked. This is a fun event; an easy and low-stress way of getting to know my neighbors. I am going to have fun and hang out and I shall not throw up or pass out. Not even once. Not even a little bit.

  She could tell which house was the Dyer’s house from a block away – there were cars and trucks parked up and down the street, people walking every which way, laughter and music ringing out…

  It appeared that Gage was not exaggerating when he said that half the town would be here tonight.

  I am not going to panic – it’s good that so many people are here. Makes it easier to hide in the crowds. No one will notice me.

  She clung to that thought, hanging onto it for all she was worth. She wondered what Emma and Sugar were like. She’d never met either one of them, and with the size of the party that was in full swing, she doubted that’d change tonight. No doubt there’d be crowds of people around the two of them.

  They slowly drove past the Dyer house, finally finding a place to park big enough for two vehicles a block down. Cady sat in the darkness of her car, gripping the steering wheel and chanting to herself.

  “I’m fine. Everything is fine. This is going to be fun. I’m going to enjoy myself. Everything is fi—”

  Knock-knock.

  “Are you coming?” Gage asked, his breath in clouds around his head in the freezing mountain air as he stared through her driver’s side window.

  She swallowed the yelp of pure terror that was strangling the breath right out of her, and instead slowly peeled her fingers off the steering wheel, one finger at a time. She really, really, really wished he’d quit doing that. Was it too much to ask that he stop jumping out of the shadows and scaring her every time she turned around?

  On wobbly legs, she got out of her Jeep and followed him back towards the brightly lit house, balloons and twinkle lights strung across every available surface, twangy music thumping out into the night. Cady concentrated on the lyrics of the song rather than on the rippling muscles of Gage’s arms as he carried the overloaded tray of baked goods, and realized to her horror that the country singer was singing about a red solo cup.

  I have officially moved to Hickville. No wonder I’m not fitting in around here. I don’t own a single pair of cowboy boots, and I’m in full possession of all of my teeth.

  She wanted to turn around and go back to her Jeep and drive away, but the smells were too enticing and her stomach was rumbling too loudly. She followed him up the front steps and into the brightly lit house instead, the warmth and cheerfulness immediately enveloping her. It gave her the strangest sense of déjà vu, and it took her a moment to figure out why.

  The bakery. Other than the moments when Gage is freaking me out completely by sneaking up on me, the bakery has always felt warm and welcoming. His parents – he must’ve gotten this talent from his parents.

  As strange as it was, the sheer number of people there made her feel more relaxed. In a crowd this size, no one was going to jump her or attack her – they wouldn’t dare. She was safe here.

  She felt the knot in the pit of her stomach unwind just a little, and her breath came a little easier.

  “There you are!” She heard a woman’s voice ring out above the general roar of the party and then a female was launching herself at Gage, hugging him and practically knocking the tray of goodies to the ground in her enthusiasm. Cady watched with detached interest
, wondering if this was Gage’s girlfriend, when the girl slung her arm through Gage’s and then turned towards Cady, her bright smile growing even brighter. The woman’s eyes skittered up and down Cady, clearly checking her out, and Cady gulped. Dammit. Was she going to get pissy because Cady’d arrived with her boyfriend?

  She opened up her mouth to proclaim defensively, “We’re just friends!” when the woman turned back to Gage and punched him on the shoulder. “She’s even prettier than you said!”

  Cady’s mouth snapped back shut as she took in two things:

  1) This most definitely couldn’t be Gage’s girlfriend, if he’d been telling her that he thought someone else was pretty; and

  2) He’d told this woman that he thought Cady was pretty.

  Eyes wide, she turned to Gage, waiting for an explanation that made sense.

  Clearly unhappy, Gage muttered, “Cady, this is my loud-mouthed sister who is turning 27 years old. Emma, this is Cady, my new next-door neighbor at the bakery. I am going to go deliver this tray over to the dessert table and see what else there is to eat.” He turned and marched away, back ramrod straight, his muscles rippling with every step.

  “Ignore him,” Emma said freely, slipping her arm through Cady’s. “He’s just a sourpuss because I spent the last hour hounding him to actually leave the bakery behind and spend time doing something other than adding up numbers or baking up cookies. The man has no concept of how to have fun. Over here,” and she began dragging Cady towards the overloaded buffet tables, apparently not needing a word in response, “is all of the food for the party. Pick out what you like, and then meet me through those doors,” she pointed at the sliding glass doors at the back of the house, “and you can sit with Sugar and me while we discuss Gage’s many failings together. He is my favorite older brother, but that doesn’t mean that he’s perfect.” She slipped her arm out of Cady’s and headed out towards the sliding glass door, skillfully winding through the crowds, glad-handing and chatting as she went.