The Bachelor Baker

by Carolyne Aarsen

  “Do you figure Melissa thinks owning the bakery is a privilege?”

  “It’s her dream,” Brian said. “And that’s okay too, but I can’t be just her employee. I need to be her equal at least and until I quit, truth was she was my boss. I can’t live like that. I need to bring something to the relationship and I couldn’t do that working for her.”

  His grandfather gave him an understanding smile. “I get that.” He looked back over his shoulder at the house behind him. “I love this house and I know you do, too.”

  Frowning, Brian tried to follow the sudden leap in the conversation, but he was willing to go along for now. “I do. It’s a beautiful place.”

  The perfect place for a family.

  “You know how I got it, don’t you?”

  Brian frowned. “I thought you got it from your father, Grandpa Montclair.”

  Grandpa laughed and shook his head. “Nope. I got it when I married your grandmother. She inherited it from her parents and when we got married, my name got put on the title. But we were partners on this property, which was rare for that time. Mostly everything was put in the man’s name, but she insisted her name stay on the title. We fought about it because I thought she didn’t trust me and needed a backup, but she said it was because she wanted to stay on equal footing with me.” Grandpa winked at Brian. “Keep me in line so to speak. She was a feisty one. Independent, too.”

  Like Melissa, Brian thought.

  “I knew she was feisty,” Brian said with a smile, remembering arguments she and Grandpa used to have. “I just never knew that about the house.”

  “When your grandmother died, I sold the place to your parents and bought that house in town. Couldn’t be on this place here without her. She was my better half.” Grandpa’s tone was careful, but Brian heard the sadness in the words.

  Then Grandpa turned back to Brian. “You said you can’t bring anything to your relationship with Melissa. I think maybe you need to think of what you can bring instead of what you can’t. You own this house. I remember how dreamy-eyed she got when you came here. She loves this place.”

  “Well, yeah—”

  “So that’s the first thing,” Grandpa said, raising a finger. “You can provide a home. Another thing—you were telling me some of your plans and it sounded to me like you were giving her many good ideas for her bakery.”

  Brian lifted his shoulder in a laconic shrug, still not convinced of what his grandfather was saying. “I did but I was still just an employee.”

  “Maybe you need to rethink how this could work between the two of you,” his grandfather said. “You came up with good ideas for the bakery. Apply that creativity to your relationship. Is she worth fighting for?”

  Brian let the words settle. Once he might have said, Absolutely. But now?

  I don’t need you.

  He couldn’t seem to get past those words. Brian picked up his shovel and attacked the flower bed again.

  “I don’t know if it’s worth it because I’m not sure if she thinks I am.”

  “I wouldn’t say that and I wouldn’t make any hasty decisions. Think about this and pray about it. Let go of what you think has to happen and be open to how God wants to work in your life.” Grandpa pushed his hands on his knees and stood. “I’m getting a glass of water. You want anything?”

  Brian shook his head, turning over the dirt in the flower bed around a large rosebush. As he worked, he mulled over what his grandfather had told him. Maybe he had to let go of his pride. Maybe there was another way to deal with Melissa.

  However, he wasn’t sure what it was. He only knew his feelings for Melissa had taken root so deeply in his heart, he wouldn’t be able to remove them as easily or as painlessly as the weeds he now pulled out.

  And he knew that his grandfather was right. He needed to pray about this. To put everything in the hands of the One whose love was unconditional and uncomplicated.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “So that’s it? Just like that, it’s over?” Lily snapped her fingers, the sharp sound underlining the pain Melissa was dealing with. “Just before Gracie’s wedding?”

  Lily had come to the bakery this morning to discuss delivery of the items for Gracie’s wedding. When she noticed Brian wasn’t working, she started asking questions Melissa tried to avoid answering.

  “I guess,” Melissa said, focusing her attention on putting the final touches on the first batch of petit fours she was making for tomorrow. She’d had to work harder without Brian’s help, but she couldn’t sleep last night so had come here a couple of hours earlier. Amanda was doing some last-minute errands, and when she came back they would start on the buns and the rest of the pastries. The cake was already done and in the cooler, awaiting its delivery to the hall.

  Now her head buzzed and her heart ached and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and forget everyone and everything.

  You keep going and you take care of yourself.

  “Will you be able to do all this by yourself?” Lily asked.

  “Amanda is helping.” She spoke quickly. Curtly. Struggling to suppress the quaver she felt building in her chest. She couldn’t let her pain over Brian overcome her.

  “I can’t believe that he would walk away like that.”

  “He didn’t walk away,” Melissa said, pressing an index finger to her temple, feeling the need to defend Brian. “I drove him away. I told him I didn’t need him.” She looked over at Lily, as if to emphasize what she just said. “And I don’t. I don’t want to need someone. It hurts too much when they disappoint you. When you don’t measure up to what they want.”

  “Is that what you think happened?”

  “Brian wants a perfect wife who stays at home, and I can’t be that person.” She looked around the bakery, her lips lifting in a melancholy smile. “This is everything I’ve ever dreamed of. It’s my dream. My plan. For the first time in my life I’m doing what I want and not blindly following someone else’s dream.” She turned back to Lily. “I’m not letting someone else’s plans and dreams determine what I’m doing. I want to be in control of my life and my plans.”

  “Man plans and God laughs,” Lily said.

  “What do you mean by that?” Melissa asked, shooting her friend a puzzled frown as she boxed up the tarts she had made this morning.

  Lily chuckled. “It’s a way of saying we might think we’re in control when everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God, given to us by grace.”

  “That sounds like the passage I read last night,” Melissa said with a weary smile as she tucked the box flaps closed. “It was from Ephesians, something about following our own thoughts and desires, but God in His mercy gave us grace as a gift.”

  “Ephesians 2.” Lily took the boxes from Melissa and packed them in the coolers. “I’m glad to know you’re reading your Bible and seeking a relationship with God.”

  “I’m still struggling, but Brian has helped me there, too,” Melissa said.

  “How did he do that?” Lily asked, curious.

  “When I told him that I didn’t think God would want me back in church because I hadn’t been for a while, he told me God’s shoulders are broad. That He would be pleased to see me come to church and return to Him.”

  As Melissa spoke her heart twisted. What she and Brian had had was nothing like any relationship she’d ever had with any other man and much as she clung to her independence, a large part of her yearned for the closeness they shared on so many levels.

  “You look worried,” Lily said.

  Melissa pressed her trembling lips together, trying not to cry. “I can’t be the woman Brian wants, no matter how much I pray. But I can’t stop thinking about him and I can’t let go of this bakery.”

  “I don’t think God would require that of you,” Lily said.
“But maybe you need to know where to put the bakery in your life.”

  Melissa heard the wisdom of Lily’s words. She knew the bakery was all she had thought of since it had opened and the weight of making it succeed rested heavily on her shoulders.

  Then Lily patted her arm. “You don’t need to deal with that right now. Let’s focus on this wedding. Once it’s out of the way I’m sure things will be clearer.”

  “I don’t see how,” Melissa said. “But at any rate, I’ll be fine.”

  “I’ll be praying for you,” Lily said, giving her a comforting pat on her shoulder before she left.

  “Thanks. I’ll need it,” Melissa replied, then turned her attention to the list of instructions she was compiling for Amanda.

  Half an hour later the van was loaded up with items for the reception tomorrow and she was backing out of the lot behind the bakery. As she put the van in gear a shiny, candy-apple-red truck stopped at the edge of Bronson Park.

  Brian’s truck, she realized with a lift of her heart.

  Brian stepped out, wearing blue jeans and a grimy T-shirt, his hair falling across his forehead in an appealing tangle. He pulled a couple of shovels and hoes out of the back of the truck and then he looked up.

  He paused, the one shovel falling to the ground as he saw her. For a moment he just stared. Melissa’s heart leaped as he took a step toward her van. But he was only bending over to pick up the shovel he dropped.

  Melissa’s cheeks burned, and she tore her gaze away, focusing on the road and the work ahead of her. However, as she drove to the church, she couldn’t get his face out of her mind.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Brian smoothed his hand over his hair as he stepped into the church foyer, thinking again that he should get it cut before he started his new job. Didn’t hurt to leave a good first impression.

  “Good afternoon,” Max, Gracie Wilson’s oldest brother, said to him with a curt nod and handed him a program. “Friend of the bride or groom?”

  “Bride, I guess,” Brian said, taking the program and glancing over the gathering with a heavy sigh.

  He hadn’t counted on coming to Trent and Gracie’s wedding today. The idea of attending a wedding when his own heart had been dragging around his ankles the past few days seemed too ironic.

  Since his little chat with his grandfather, he’d picked up his phone any number of times to call Melissa, but he stopped himself. She didn’t want him. Didn’t need him.

  No man likes to hear that.

  At the same time, however, he wanted to support Gracie today. He knew she had been having a few wedding jitters.

  Max motioned for him to follow, and Brian had no choice but to get moving. The church was beautiful. Little clusters of flowers were attached to the end of each pew and huge bouquets filled the front.

  To one side a string quartet was quietly playing music, adding an elegant ambience to the entire proceedings.

  That must have cost a few dollars, Brian thought, following Max.

  The church was almost full and Brian wondered where he would end up. Then Max stopped and gestured for Brian to sit down. Brian nodded, then looked over to the empty space Max had chosen for him. His heart jumped up from his heels, thundering in his chest.

  Lexi Ross was moving over, smiling as she made room for him to sit down beside Melissa as if this was the most normal thing for him to do.

  Of course, he thought. This was Bygones. Sitting in church together the past two Sundays had signaled to the community their intentions. Now most people assumed they were together. But there were a few glitches in the Bygones network. Obviously neither Max nor Lexi had heard about their fight.

  Just then Melissa looked up from the program. The light from the stained-glass window landed directly on her auburn hair, burnishing it with multicolored light. Her soft yellow dress only served to set off the color of her hair, which she wore loose today, clipped back with a single yellow flower, and as she lifted her head, it flowed away from a suddenly pale face. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth formed a perfect O of surprise.

  At least he hoped it was surprise and not anger.

  More than anything he wanted to turn and leave, but people were watching and other guests were right behind him. So he straightened his shoulders and slipped into the pew between Lexi’s daughter, Treena, and Melissa.

  Melissa moved over to make room, but she couldn’t go far because Dale Eversleigh was on the other side of her, his toupee on straight for a change.

  Dale gave him a smile, added a puzzling wink, then turned away as if to give him and Melissa some privacy.

  “Good afternoon, Melissa,” Brian mumbled, running his finger around the collar of his shirt and feeling suddenly hot and uncomfortable in his good clothes.

  “Afternoon,” Melissa said, shooting a glance up at him and hurriedly glancing back at the wedding program she was clutching.

  Brian cleared his throat, shifted his weight and turned and smiled at little Treena, who was staring at him. He was about to ask her about her campaign to keep the school open when she ducked her head and traded places with her brother.

  Wow. He was really winning over the ladies today, Brian thought, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees, staring straight ahead and trying not to pay attention to Melissa sitting right beside him.

  He fiddled with the program, his mind ticking over what lay ahead of him. Tomorrow he had an interview with a construction company whose owner knew Mr. Randall. They were based out of Concordia, which would mean Brian could stay in Bygones.

  But it would mean he would be on the road a lot.

  He shot Melissa a sidelong glance, then felt his heart turn over again.

  She was looking at him, but when their eyes met, her gaze swung away. Looking anywhere but at him, he thought.

  He caught Lexi frowning at him as if trying to figure out what was going on.

  He ignored her as he tried to ignore Melissa. But he was far too aware of Melissa’s slender body beside his, the vague, flowery scent of her perfume, the way she crossed her feet at the ankles.

  Driving a truck all over the country. Being away from home stretches at a time. He closed his eyes, trying to do what his grandfather told him. Trying to find a creative way out of the dilemma facing him. He wanted to take care of his family. To be the kind of provider someone like Melissa deserved.

  Help me to trust in You, Lord, he prayed. Help me to put You first in my life and not to get caught up in the things I want. Show me wisdom.

  It was the same prayer he had been praying ever since Melissa ordered him out of the bakery.

  The string quartet kept playing and people kept filing in. After ten more torturous minutes of being too aware of Melissa beside him, thankfully the music changed.

  People shifted in their pews, trying to see what was happening. Trent was escorting Mrs. Morgan in. He brought her to her seat, then Max brought Gracie’s mother into the church and returned to his spot as usher.

  Trent stood at the front of the church, his hands clasped in front of him, his one foot jigging. Brian felt for the guy, but at the same time he was jealous of him. He was getting married. Going to start a family.

  This was something Brian had wanted since he was a young boy. Something he thought might happen with the woman sitting beside him.

  He shook those foolish thoughts off. Melissa was independent, and although he admired that, he also knew she wasn’t going to give him much space in her life.

  The tenor of the music changed again as Brian recognized Pachelbel’s Canon flowing from the instruments. His mother had loved that piece, he thought, his heart shifting over.

  He wanted to look at Melissa, feeling a need to connect with her, but he kept his gaze resolutely on the aisle. He just had to get through this wedding. Once it w
as over, he could leave.

  The bridesmaids were coming in now on the arms of the groomsmen, their black tuxedoes a contrast to the blue silk of the bridesmaids’ dresses. The girls smiled shyly, the bouquets of their flowers a bright splash of color against their dresses. He had no clue what they were, but they looked pretty.

  The bridal party arranged themselves across the church, the string quartet changed their music to the classic “Bridal Chorus” and everyone stood to watch the bride and her father make their grand entrance.

  The chorus went on. Still no bride and her father.

  People shifted and a few murmurs rose up.

  Still the quartet played and still the people waited and still no bride.

  Where were Gracie and her father? Had something happened?

  The quartet kept going and going. Then Max strode to the front of the church, past a frowning Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, to where the Pastor Garman stood. He bent over and whispered something in the pastor’s ear.

  Pastor Garman’s eyes grew wide and he pressed a hand to his chest. Then he looked over the gathering and cleared his throat. “I’m afraid I have an announcement to make. The bride has apparently left the building.”

  The murmurs had grown to gasps of surprise.

  “What? Are you kidding me?” Trent called out.

  Mrs. Morgan flew to his side, taking his hand as if to console him, but he flung it off and then stormed down the aisle, on a one-man mission to find his runaway bride.

  People looked at one another, unsure of what to do.

  Two of Gracie’s brothers ran after him, followed by a distraught Mrs. Morgan. “Where is that girl?” she called out as if people in the audience might have an idea and were keeping it from her.

  Her husband, a dapper gentleman also dressed in a tuxedo, his salt-and-pepper hair clipped short, followed Mrs. Morgan, his expression one of long-suffering.