The Baker's Man

by Jennifer Moorman

  At least baking was a distraction from the hollowness she felt because of Baron. It was also a distraction from Eli, from the way she wanted to reach out and touch him just to feel the intensity that rushed up her arms and made her stomach feel like she was riding the thrilling drop of a roller coaster, hands in the air, screaming with pure glee. She knew the feeling was wrong, but it came so naturally that it frightened her.

  She carried a warm tray of freshly baked mudslide cookies to the display case. Eli stood beside a table of four women, all held in rapt attention, and he laughed. One of the women reached out and playfully swatted him. A twinge of jealousy twisted in her stomach, and she looked away. Was the attraction a side effect of the secret ingredient? Did every woman in town feel the same magnetic pull to Eli? Did he turn them to pudding, too?

  Anna closed the display case and groaned. Deciding if her feelings for Eli were abnormal or real or manufactured was the least of her worries. She had a man, who had sprung up fully formed from a ball of dough, and she had no idea how she was going to explain his existence at all, let alone figure out what to do with him at the end of the day.

  Two hours later, when the bakery closed and she and Eli cleaned and put everything away, her stomach was in such a tightly wound knot that she felt as if she’d been spinning too long on the merry-go-round.

  Eli hung his apron on the hook and rubbed his hands together. “Finally,” he said. “You’ve been working like a machine today. Ready for a relaxing evening?”

  Anna wanted to say something, but she was afraid if she opened her mouth, she might pull a repeat of the twelfth grade rum incident.

  “You really are worn out, aren’t you?” Eli said. He crossed the room and untied her apron, pulled it over her head, and hung it on the wall. “How about you take a bath and I’ll make dinner?” he asked, pushing her toward the staircase.

  As soon as he touched her, all the confusing, conflicting thoughts and fears in her head melted. She felt warm all over, like she’d already slipped into a drawn bath. Eli untethered something inside her, and her body seemed to float above them, looking down at the only two people in the world.

  Eli grinned. “Your eyes just glazed over,” he said. He stepped away from her and turned off the lights.

  Anna blinked a few times. “I’m tired,” she said defensively, and because she had no idea what else to do, she climbed the stairs to an apartment that she could already imagine bursting apart if Eli continued to touch her. Walls would not be able to contain the energy that surged when he came too close.

  ˜˜˜˜

  Anna stood awkwardly in the open area comprising the living room and kitchen, hands shoved in her jeans pockets, and listened to Eli’s footsteps on the stairs. He walked straight past her and into the kitchen. He dug through the pantry and then rummaged through the refrigerator. Anna could do nothing but stand in the living room breathing in the scent of winter pine and hot chocolate.

  Eli finally stopped and looked at her. “Go take a bath,” he said and made a shooing motion with his hands. “I won’t burn down the place.”

  Anna obediently walked into her bathroom, but how could she relax in the bathtub when there was a stranger cooking in her kitchen? She sat on the edge of the tub and winced as she pulled the rubber band from her hair. Somehow Eli didn’t feel like a stranger. In fact, he felt too close, too much a part of her core. She skipped the bath and opted for a quick shower.

  By the time she finished drying her hair and changing into her most chaste pajamas, she was tempted to drop onto her bed and sleep for a few hundred years. The entire apartment smelled spicy, and she found Eli grabbing bowls from the cabinet. She leaned against the doorframe and watched him.

  “Spying on me?” he asked without looking at her. He ladled chili into the bowls. The room smelled like cumin and cayenne.

  Anna pushed away from the door and stepped into the living room. “How did you know I was there?”

  He glanced over his shoulder. “The air feels different,” he answered, grabbing two spoons and bringing the bowls to the coffee table. He motioned for her to sit and she curled up on one end of the couch, hoping to put distance between them.

  She thanked him when he passed her a bowl. She cupped her hands beneath it and warmed them. “How so?” she asked.

  Eli brought a box of Saltines and two Cokes to the coffee table and sat beside her on the couch, causing her to slide so close to the armrest she was nearly sitting on it. She couldn’t risk touching him, not when her defenses were weakening due to the sleepiness that crept in at the corners.

  He smiled at her and scooped a spoonful of chili into his mouth. He swallowed and answered, “It’s easier to breathe, like a sigh pulled from way down here.” He tapped his stomach. “Plus you smell sweet, like sugar cookies and cupcakes.”

  Her breath caught in her throat. It was a ridiculous sort of compliment, but it made her feel warm and gooey like a cookie straight out of the oven. She tried to readjust her position on the couch, and her knees bumped into Eli’s legs. He patted his thigh.

  “Stretch your legs out,” he said.

  Her eyes widened. An alarm blared through her brain, and the words Danger, Will Robinson, danger! echoed inside her mind. “I’m comfortable,” she lied.

  Eli balanced his chili bowl in one hand and grabbed one of her legs, and then the other, with his free hand. Before she could argue, her legs were stretched across his thighs, and within seconds, she felt the white-hot pulse of Eli’s warmth radiating up her legs and causing her entire body to tingle. She could barely breathe, let alone think.

  “Eat up,” he said. He popped the top on his Coke can and took a big gulp.

  She shoved the spoon into the bowl, distracted. She filled her mouth too full and then spent the next few seconds trying to figure out how to chew without food spilling out. When she finally swallowed, she said, “It’s my favorite chili recipe.”

  “I know,” he said and grinned at her.

  “How?” she asked.

  “I know lots of things about you,” he said with a simple shrug.

  “How?” she asked again. The chili revolted halfway down, and Anna rubbed her fingers across her chest in an attempt to fight off the heartburn. Did the fact that she created him give him an insider’s guide to her memories, to her thoughts and desires?

  “Because we’re friends,” he said and ate another spoonful of chili. He put his bowl down on the coffee table and rested his hands on her shins. “But we’re different, too.”

  Anna knew she wouldn’t be able to eat any more. She stared at his hands on her legs, and rational thoughts fled the scene. She felt the uncontrollable urge to reach out and touch him. Eli took the bowl from her hands, which was a mistake because her fingers began to twitch, itching to find out what his skin felt like. Would he feel real? Would she be able to feel his heartbeat? Would she feel a pulse at his wrist, against his neck?

  “I don’t know what we are,” she whispered. When his blue eyes locked on hers, she could feel her hand lifting. Even though she knew she should jam it beneath the couch cushions, she couldn’t stop the movement. And then her fingertips were against his cheek, tracing the shape of his jaw line, slipping down his neck. Eli reached up and grabbed her hand, and a volcano exploded inside of her. Her vision tunneled, and she couldn’t inhale enough air into her lungs. She felt herself leaning forward, her eyes closing, wanting nothing more than to see what Eli felt like up close.

  The Turtles’ ringtone “So Happy Together” blared from Anna’s cell phone in her bedroom. Her eyes jerked open. “Baron,” she gasped. She jumped up so quickly her forehead slammed into Eli’s, knocking his head into the back of the couch. He groaned, and Anna scrambled over him. “Sorry.”

  The cell phone vibrated off the dresser. She snatched it from the air before it hit the floor. “Hello? Hey, you made it? Oh, I was in the other room. Had to run for the phone. How are you? It ended up being a super busy day. I’m lucky I had help… Yeah,
he’s…eating.” She shielded her mouth with her hand and whispered, “Of course he isn’t going to sleep in my room. You know my bedroom door doesn’t lock, and that’s crazy. He’s not like that.

  “Tell me about where you’re staying,” she said, easing onto the edge of her bed. An evening wind drifted in through her open window, causing her hair to tickle her face. Anna sighed. “Sounds really nice. I guess the firm will keep you busy while you’re there. Oh, okay, well don’t miss your ride. Call me later. Or text if that’s easier. Talk to you soon.”

  Anna stared at the phone until the screen went black. Guilt, viscous and raw, churned in her stomach like boiling simple syrup. She dropped onto her bed, arms splayed at her sides. Less than a minute ago she’d been a breath away from kissing Eli. She draped her arm over her face and groaned. When she inhaled, she breathed in the rich scent of Eli, all dark chocolate and passion. Anna pushed herself up on her elbows. He leaned against her doorjamb.

  “I can’t do this,” she finally said when the silence dragged on too long. “You know I can’t.” She averted her eyes. “I love Baron.”

  “I know,” Eli said as he stepped into her bedroom.

  “Then you know why I can’t do this,” she said, waving her hands in front of her, “whatever this is. You’re doing something to me, and it’s messing with my head.”

  Eli smiled. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, sitting beside her on the bed.

  Anna slid away. “Just stop what you’re doing. I can’t think.”

  Eli’s smiled faded. The air around them shifted. Anna held her breath.

  When Eli spoke again, his voice was low. “I can’t stop,” he said seriously. He moved his hand across the bed until their fingers touched. “Can you? Tell me you don’t feel it too, and I’ll try to give you what you want. I’ll leave right now.”

  Could he really leave? Was he free like everyone else to do as he pleased? The thought of Eli walking out the door made her mouth go dry. He wrapped one finger around one of hers, and she looked down at their hands.

  “Do you want me to go?” he asked.

  She shook her head, and the sight of his slow smile had her holding her breath.

  “I’ll give you some space. Why don’t you go on to bed, and I’ll clean up.”

  Anna nodded and Eli rolled off the bed. She scooted farther up the bed until she lay on her pillow and stared at the ceiling. He couldn’t possibly stay, but she couldn’t bear to send him out the door. Where would he go? What would he do for money? How would he get anywhere without transportation? He was wearing borrowed clothes and living off memories that weren’t even his own. Anna squeezed her eyes closed. It was worse than that; she didn’t want him to leave. Even now she wanted him to walk back into her room just so she could feel the intensity that rippled off him and washed over her.

  A few minutes later, with the bedroom lights turned off, Anna listened to Eli pull a quilt from the linen closet, settle on the couch, and dial the radio to a local station turned down low. As tired as she was, she couldn’t fall asleep. Knowing he was in the other room kept her awake and listening.

  Some time near midnight, Eli stood in her doorway and whispered, “You awake?”

  She swallowed. “Yeah.”

  “You’re supposed to be sleeping,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “Want me to tell you a story until you fall asleep?”

  Anna pushed herself up on her elbows, and her heart pounded. “Are you joking?”

  Eli jumped onto the empty side of the bed and nearly bounced her straight off the side.

  “I would never joke about bedtime stories,” he said. “What would you prefer? Suspense, horror, adventure, happily ever after?”

  Anna knew she would never have a chance of falling asleep now that Eli was inches away from her, filling up her room with the smell of rosemary and pine. “Definitely not horror.”

  Eli rolled onto his side. “Once upon a time—”

  “Are you making this up, or is this a real story?”

  “All stories are real if someone believes in them. Now, hush.”

  Anna listened to Eli tell a story about a young boy who woke up in a strange land. She stayed awake long enough to learn he met a beautiful young girl, but Eli’s voice calmed her in a way she hadn’t expected. She drifted off to sleep just as the girl told the young boy she needed his help.

  5

  Chocolate Caramel Bombe

  Anna dreamed of lying on the beach, the sun warming her skin, a breeze blowing in from the ocean. She could feel Baron beside her, so she moved closer to him and pressed against his side. She sighed in the perfect moment. In the distance, someone began singing “Working 9 to 5.”

  Anna mumbled, “Keep it down.” But the music only grew louder and louder until she found it too irritating to ignore.

  “Time to get up,” a male voice said.

  Anna’s eyes opened. She found herself in her room, not on the beach with Baron. Dolly Parton sang from her alarm clock radio. Anna’s arm and leg were draped over the man in her bed, who was most definitely not Baron. Her whole body tensed.

  “For the record, that was all you,” Eli said in a deep, sleepy voice. “My hands are under my head. You, on the other hand, are all over me and making it difficult for me to behave.”

  Anna groaned and quickly rolled over, flopping out of the bed. She looked at Eli who was stretched out on top of the covers, his long body barely fitting in her bed, wearing only a pair of Baron’s boxers. Anna rubbed her hands down her face and dragged herself into the bathroom. She pressed her palms and forehead against the closed door. She felt as though someone had shoved her into a cotton candy machine.

  The wood of the door warmed beneath her hands, and somehow she knew Eli stood on the other side.

  “I’m not trying to make this worse for you,” he said, his voice muffled by the door.

  She nodded and then realized he couldn’t see her. “I know, but I have a boyfriend.” “And he trusts me.” And I don’t know what you are or why I can’t control what I feel about you.

  “Nothing happened.”

  Anna groaned and flung the door open. “A man other than my boyfriend slept in my bed,” she argued. “That’s something. It makes me sick to think about him lying around with someone in his bed, which means I shouldn’t be doing this.”

  Eli stood before her in a borrowed pair of boxers, and her concentration wobbled. She took a step back into the bathroom and rubbed her eyes with fisted hands.

  “I’ll sleep on the couch. Pretend I’m your brother.”

  Anna grimaced. “Eww, no way. I don’t have a brother, and if I did, I definitely wouldn’t feel—” She stopped herself from finishing the statement with ‘this intense desire.’

  Eli smiled, slow and easy. He stepped into the bathroom. “Wouldn’t feel what? Like you wanted to plant a big fat one on me?”

  “Ugh, I thought you weren’t trying to make this worse,” she said, shoving him out of the bathroom. “Now, stay out. I have to get ready. Then, I’ll figure out what to do with you.”

  “I have a few ideas about what you can do with me,” he said and smirked.

  Anna closed the door and exhaled loudly.

  “I’ll meet you downstairs,” he said. “It’s cupcake day.”

  “I know what day it is, Eli!” The whole apartment seemed to expand with the sound of his laughter.

  ˜˜˜˜

  Anna tried to focus all of her thoughts onto making sure the bakery’s treats were prepared before the customers arrived at seven a.m. With Eli’s help, they finished baking, icing, cutting, and arranging with plenty of time left over to hang out, which Anna tried to avoid by cleaning the windows and organizing an already organized pantry.

  When the first customers arrived, Eli was right by Anna’s side, and she couldn’t help but notice what a great team they made. Before long, she was smiling and laughing with him and the customers. During a mid-morning lull, Eli sat down with Mr.
Silverstein, who always ordered six different cupcakes on cupcake day and ate each one in turn, relishing them like guilty pleasures. He swore they kept him curious and happy for an entire day. While Mr. Silverstein worked on the key lime cupcake with lime cream cheese filling, he and Eli discussed the town’s upcoming Fall Festival that would occur a week from Saturday. Anna saw this as an opportunity to slip into the backroom unnoticed. She grabbed her cell phone and crept into the large freezer. She wedged the door open with a wooden spoon.

  Anna quickly dialed Lily’s number. Her best friend answered on the fourth ring. “Hey,” Anna whispered, “do you have a minute? Okay, good. Let me preface this entire conversation with the fact that I know this is going to sound insane, but I haven’t lost my marbles. Something happened the other night after you left—yes, the rum night. Yes, I had a hangover. No, I haven’t heard from Baron today. Yes, I have a new worker in here, and he’s…yes, he’s gorgeous. I didn’t tell Tessa first. She came into the bakery yesterday, and it was a madhouse so I didn’t have a chance to call either of you—Lily, will you let me tell you?” Anna sighed in exasperation. “The new worker is Elijah, the man I made with the magic sand in Grandma Bea’s box.”

  Anna held the phone away from her ear because Lily’s laughter was piercing. When she finally stopped laughing, Anna said, “I’m serious. Why would I lie about that? Lily, just get yourself over here, okay? I need you. Well, I don’t care. Make Amanda work the register. I need you—”