Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1)

by Simonne, Andrea

  “You’re divorced?” She sounds surprised.

  “Yeah, I married too young and it was a mistake. It only lasted a couple of years. Though I don’t regret . . .” He stops talking because he very nearly told her about Serena. It probably doesn’t matter. I don’t plan to get romantically involved with Natalie. Still, he doesn’t say anything further.

  “You don’t regret what?”

  “I don’t regret getting divorced. We’re both happier as a result.”

  “It’s complicated for me, since I have an eleven-year-old daughter.” She hesitates like she’s going to say something more, but doesn’t. Anthony figures she’s holding back a tirade about her husband.

  “So how’s the boxing?”

  “I like it. Though I should admit I haven’t been doing it very long, so I’m not really the badass I claimed to be.”

  “Yeah? Going through a divorce, I imagine it feels pretty good to hit something as hard as you can.”

  “It does.” Her voice grows soft. “I don’t usually make any New Year’s resolutions, but decided I’m going to make one this time. I’m pushing myself to try some new things.”

  “That’s not a bad idea. I get the impression you work a lot.”

  “I do.” She sighs. “I enjoy it, but I’m starting to see there’s more to life. Can you hang on a second again?” Anthony hears that same beeping in the background. There are more scuffling sounds. He wonders why it’s so quiet and he doesn’t hear anyone else working.

  “Where are you?” he asks when she comes back on the line.

  “At home.”

  “Oh, I thought you were at the bakery. I figured you’d be working.”

  “I am working. I work out of my own kitchen in the mornings, because we don’t have enough oven space to accommodate everything.”

  Anthony is taken aback. “I didn’t know that. So you bake at home and then bring it into La Dolce Vita?”

  “Are you really that surprised?”

  “Of course. I never realized things were that tight.”

  “I guess now you understand why we want that space next door so badly, and why I can’t stop insulting you.”

  “Hey, you never told me any of this. This is a new variable.” Anthony’s already thinking of how he’s going to add it to his calculations.

  “A new variable? That’s all you have to say?”

  “How many mornings a week is this?”

  “Five.”

  “Natalie, you have to tell me these things. How would I know otherwise? Don’t blame me because you never mentioned it.”

  “I shouldn’t have to go through all this. Any sane landlord would have leased us that empty space months ago.”

  Anthony’s tightens his grip on the phone. “Look, why don’t you two just move your bakery to another location? I’ve had enough with all the static you’re giving me.”

  Natalie scoffs. “Are you kidding? I’d love to move! You don’t think we’ve tried to find another building? Unfortunately, we’re stuck with you.”

  “Then get over it.”

  “I’m a single mom now, too, and I need that extra income. I’m trying to keep my home, but I have to buy out my husband.”

  “I don’t mean to be a dick, but that’s really not my concern. Maybe it’s never occurred to you, but I also have mouths to feed. I can’t afford to lease you guys that space next door and then discover you aren’t able to pay the rent.”

  “I thought you were a college professor.”

  “I don’t know what you think college professors make, but we’re not wealthy. Besides, I’m not tenured yet. So a large part of my income comes from that property.”

  “So in the end, all it comes down to is money for you?”

  “Basically, yeah.”

  “What about giving someone a chance?”

  “I’m not running a charity.”

  “A charity?” Natalie pauses. He can hear her sharp intake of breath. “You know what? You are a dick!”

  The phone goes silent in Anthony’s hand and he realizes she’s hung up. He tosses his phone onto the nightstand, though he feels like throwing it at the wall.

  Donna pazza! Crazy woman!

  NATALIE HAS ALWAYS enjoyed the holidays at work, and it’s fun decorating the bakery for Christmas, filling the front window with angel cookies, fruit cake, and other seasonal treats.

  On a personal level though, the holidays are depressing. All she can think about are past Christmases with her family, and how she’ll never have that again. To make matters worse, Peter somehow convinces Chloe to go over to Lena’s house the latter half of Christmas Day, which only depresses Natalie further. A couple hours after Chloe leaves, there’s a phone call from her. Natalie worries something is wrong, but Chloe quickly dissuades her of that notion.

  “Guess what?” Chloe’s voice is high-pitched with excitement. “Daddy says he’s buying me a horse!”

  “He what?”

  “It’s my Christmas present! We’re going to start looking right away!”

  “He’s buying you a horse?” Natalie repeats, stunned.

  “We’re going to stable him, of course, but he’ll be all mine. Or she will,” Chloe amends. “I’m not sure if I want a stallion or a mare.”

  Natalie is dizzy with shock that Peter would do something like this without consulting her. “A horse is a big responsibility. We talked about you getting one when you were a little older.”

  “Daddy and Lena both say I’m old enough. You’re not saying no, are you?” Chloe’s voice takes on a worried quiver.

  Lena says she’s old enough? “Can you put your dad on the phone?”

  Natalie listens as Chloe calls Peter to the phone. There’s some scraping sounds and then she hears Peter’s testy voice. “I know what you’re going to say, Natalie, but I don’t see the problem.”

  “The problem is we agreed Chloe isn’t old enough to care for a horse yet.” They’d talked about how it would be good for Chloe as a teenager to have the responsibility, that she could even get a part-time job to help pay for the horse’s upkeep. Apparently, those plans have all been flushed down the toilet along with her marriage.

  “We’ll find a good stable for the animal. As Lena pointed out, we can just pay the stable to care for the horse until Chloe is old enough to take over.”

  Natalie grits her teeth. “This is a parenting decision we already made together. You can’t just change things without consulting me!”

  “Have a heart, Nat. It’s Christmas. Do you really want to tell Chloe no?”

  “And look like the bad guy? Of course not! How could you do this to me, Peter?”

  He sighs as if she’s being unreasonable. “Don’t be ridiculous. No one is doing anything to you. Lena said you’d make this all about yourself, and she was right.”

  Natalie wants to curse, but instead, takes a deep breath, trying to gain control. “This is just like that smartphone you got her. You think you can buy Chloe’s love and forgiveness, but you can’t. Those things aren’t for sale.”

  “I just want my daughter to be happy. Why is that so hard to understand?”

  She almost chokes on the words she wants to say, that if Peter truly wanted Chloe’s happiness he wouldn’t have left her for Lena in the first place.

  Natalie tries not to dwell on her resentment against Peter, though it isn’t easy. Chloe is over the moon and looking at horses online every day. She’s at least glad to see her daughter’s enthusiasm, so she doesn’t say anything more against the idea.

  For some reason, Natalie can’t stop thinking about her last phone conversation with Anthony. Fighting with him probably wasn’t the smartest way to handle things. There’s something about him that makes her reckless. And the worst thing is, he called her that second time and she suspects it was to show he’d forgiven her for the asshole comment.

  “Are you still planning to add some Italian pastries to our menu?” Blair asks after Natalie has finished unloading her morning
baking.

  “Yeah, now that the holidays are over I plan to add some. I want to update our biscotti offerings, maybe do a weekly special. Also, I’m thinking about adding a panna cotta and a tiramisu. What do you think?”

  Blair considers Natalie’s suggestions. “Sounds good. I wonder if we should ask Anthony for ideas. It might put us on his good side.”

  “Let’s not bother him,” Natalie says quickly. “I’m sure he’s busy right now with classes.”

  “They always say the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Of course, if that were true, men would be beating down our door.”

  Natalie grabs a clean apron, thinking about Blair’s words. She remembers how Anthony told her tiramisu is one of his favorite desserts.

  Blair is watching as she ties on the apron.

  “What is it?” Natalie glances over.

  “I’m still getting used to you as a blonde, not to mention the new clothes and makeup.”

  “I know,” Natalie sighs. “Everyone keeps commenting on it. In truth, I feel self-conscious. And then I discovered that Lindsay and Chloe hid my Lord of the Rings hoodie!”

  Blair laughs. “I can’t say I blame them, but you look great.”

  Natalie has been trying to relax and enjoy her new appearance. She never told anyone, but she went back to the salon for lessons in applying makeup and blow-drying her hair. Some days she feels great and others she feels uncomfortable with the attention. She’s noticed that people—especially men—are treating her differently. Where she used to be invisible, now they’re holding doors open for her and trying to talk to her. The biggest surprise is how much other blonde women stare at her. Who knew women were checking each other out so much?

  “I’m trying to relax, but it’s just out of my comfort zone. Lindsay and I went out for dinner the other night and some guys sent drinks to our table.”

  “And?”

  “And that’s never happened to me in my entire life!”

  Blair smiles. “You’ll get used to it. It might even be time to go on a date.”

  “I’d be so nervous that I’d have to carry a barf bag and hold it over my mouth the whole time. That might turn him off.”

  Blair laughs. “I doubt it would be that bad.”

  After a bit of online navigation with her computer and a quick phone call to the university’s Astronomy Department, Natalie figures out Anthony’s class schedule and office hours. Now she needs to come up with the perfect tiramisu. It can’t be too sweet, obviously. And it has to be the real thing. Something you’d find at a cafe in Venice or Rome.

  Natalie smiles and leans back in her chair. This is familiar territory.

  Angels will sing. He’ll be weeping with pleasure after the first bite.

  She imagines Anthony’s handsome face—his eyes closed with bliss. Warmth spreads through her. His pleasure will have come from me. She thinks about how Lindsay and Blair are pushing her to date. If only a man like Anthony showed interest.

  But then she stops that fantasy. She could never date Anthony. The evil landlord. Not that he’d ever be interested in her, anyway.

  Natalie has made tiramisu before, but she’s not sure how authentically Italian they were. Reading online, she discovers more than a few “traditional” recipes.

  Luckily, she knows someone who can help.

  Santosa’s Bistro, run by Chef Austin Santosa, is a few blocks up from La Dolce Vita and Natalie decides to walk there. In the past she would have driven, but after taking Ryan’s advice, she’s been finding ways to incorporate exercise into her daily life.

  Having a personal trainer seemed strange at first, but she has to admit that Ryan has been helping her stay on track. In fact, she has more energy than ever. Between that and the boxing, she’s probably the fittest she’s ever been.

  Admittedly, she’d still like to lose more weight. And exercising so much is making her hungry. Ryan has assured her that as she builds muscle she’ll lose inches without the scale going down.

  Let’s face it though, I’ll never be skinny.

  When she reaches Santosa’s, she finds they aren’t open yet, so she heads around to the back entrance. There’s a bustle of activity going on in the large kitchen, which she can’t help comparing to La Dolce Vita’s own cramped space.

  “Is Austin around?” she asks one of the prep cooks.

  “He’s out front.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Natalie heads into the front of the restaurant and immediately sees Austin’s bulky frame and his long brown ponytail. He’s standing with his back to her, talking to an older woman she recognizes as his sous chef, though she can’t remember her name.

  “Excuse me, Austin?”

  He tosses a look over his shoulder. “I’ll be right with you. Take a seat.” But then he turns back and his blue eyes widen. “Natalie?” He scans her up and down. “You look fucking hot! I didn’t even recognize you.”

  She draws her shoulders in and smiles. “Thanks, I think.”

  “It’s definitely a compliment. Jesus, I thought you were a vendor.” He turns to the woman beside him. “What do you think, Tanya, doesn’t she look hot?”

  Tanya nods. “You look really great. Also, that Herbes de Provence bread you sent over for us to try last week was fantastic.”

  “Oh? I’m glad to hear it. I was playing around with a new recipe.”

  Austin nods. “It was real popular. Can you hook us up with a regular order on that?”

  Natalie already knows she doesn’t have time for it, but figures she’ll work late. “Sure, no problem.”

  “Awesome.”

  Tanya motions. “I’m heading back into the kitchen now.” She nods at Natalie. “Good to see you again.”

  “Same here,” Natalie replies.

  Austin leans back against the counter and looks at her expectantly. “So what can I do for you?”

  “I came here to flatter you and tap your encyclopedic knowledge of Italian food. I’m looking for a great tiramisu recipe, but it has to be old school. Something traditional that you’d actually find in Italy.”

  He nods slowly. “Is this for the bakery?”

  “Possibly. Mostly I’m trying to apologize to our landlord.” Natalie explains what happened.

  Austin laughs. “Is the guy really that much of a dick? I don’t think I’ve ever met him. Though I heard you and Blair were trying to expand. You know,” he lowers his voice, “I haven’t told anybody this yet, and maybe I shouldn’t be mentioning it, but we’re thinking about moving to that new complex being built on Roosevelt. We’ve talked to the developer there, although there’s nothing solid yet.”

  Natalie stops breathing. “You might be leaving this space?”

  “Yeah, are you guys interested?”

  “Are you kidding me? I love this space. Who’s your landlord?”

  “Some investment group. We mostly deal with their lawyer—this dude named Graham.”

  “I know him! We deal with him, too.”

  Austin nods. “Like I say, nothing’s definite, but there’s talk. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”

  “Okay, understood. Hopefully, we can just expand where we are anyway. Our lease isn’t up for a while.”

  He pauses. “Let’s go back into the office and I’ll check my files. I think I do have a tiramisu recipe I picked up in Venice.”

  They head back into the recesses of Austin’s office, which is about as much in disarray as she’s ever seen a place.

  “How’s Lindsay doing these days?” he asks, grabbing a black binder with the word Venice scrawled on the side.

  Natalie tries not to smile. Lindsay dated Austin a few years back, and she’s pretty sure he’s never gotten over it. He was one of Lindsay’s many dumpees. “She’s fine. She just sold a piece to the library in Tacoma.”

  “Is that right?” Austin flips through his binder. “Tell her I said hello. Ask her if she’d like to go have a drink sometime.”

  “You know
she’s seeing someone, right?”

  He smirks. “Isn’t she always?”

  Natalie has to agree that her sister is seldom without a man on her arm. And Austin is just her type. A temperamental artist who looks like an ex-con, but in a sexy, bad boy kind of way.

  “I’ll mention it to her.”

  Austin pulls out a sheet of wrinkled paper. “Here, I found it. I got this from a small cafe in Venice. As I recall, it was exceptional.”

  He makes her a copy and hands it over. “I hope it works out and you can get this guy on your side.”

  Me, too. “Thanks, I’ll let you know.”

  When Natalie gets back to the bakery, she’s surprised to see Chloe in the kitchen. Chloe used to come and do homework after school, but hasn’t lately.

  “Chloe?” she says. Natalie notices there’s a cup of hot chocolate and a fresh croissant in front of her, though by the looks of it she hasn’t touched either of them. Blair is standing beside her and the rest of the kitchen staff are hovering nearby. ‘What’s going on?”

  Chloe turns and when she sees Natalie, immediately runs into her arms, bursting into tears.

  “It’s Peter,” Blair tells her quietly.

  “Has something happened to him?” Natalie hugs her daughter. The thought of Peter being harmed or injured is alarming. Despite everything, Peter is still her husband.

  “We just found out he—”

  “He’s marrying Lena!” Chloe sobs and hugs Natalie tighter.

  The kitchen quiets around them.

  “What?” Natalie is stunned.

  Blair nods. “That’s what he told her.”

  Chloe pulls away and starts to talk between sobs. “I went by Daddy’s work and Lena was there. They told me they’re getting married!”

  “They both told you that?”

  Chloe nods. “Lena has a big diamond ring on her finger.”

  Natalie is frozen in place. A wave of sharp pain washes over her. Apparently somewhere deep down, without realizing it, she was still hanging on to the small hope that things between her and Peter would work out and she’d have her family back. It was like a fresh betrayal all over.

  “They’re having an engagement party. Lena even asked me to be in their w . . . wah . . . wedding!”