The Bachelor Baker

by Carolyne Aarsen

  Brian wasn’t sure, but he thought he caught an expression of relief on the man’s face.

  Brian shifted his weight, trying to think what to do, when his arm brushed Melissa’s. He started, the contact sending a jolt through him, but he forced himself to not turn to her.

  He wanted to leave, to get away, and he was about to when Mrs. Morgan marched back up the aisle and up to the podium. She grabbed the microphone, her eyes glittering as she shot a glance over the gathering. “Sorry to have to say this, but I do believe we will not be having a wedding ceremony today. Thank you.” Then without another word of explanation, she marched down the stairs and down the aisle, her cheeks a bright red, her head held high.

  Brian heard the collective gasps of the audience reflecting his own astonishment. Now what?

  People began moving and a few started down the aisle to leave. Obviously it was time to go.

  Brian kept himself turned away from Melissa, but Lexi and her husband were trying to explain to their children what was going on. The only way he could get out was to turn around.

  As he did, he heard a faint sniff.

  Curious, he glanced Melissa’s way. Her head was still lowered, her hair falling around her delicate features in thick, rich waves. Then he saw her hand come up and swipe at her cheeks. He caught a glimmer of moisture in her eyes.

  Was she crying about the canceled wedding?

  He watched her as she clutched the pew in front of her, her head still bent. Dale Eversleigh moved out into the aisle, but Melissa still stood there.

  Brian stayed where he was.

  Finally she glanced over at him and he saw her eyes rimmed with red, a smear of mascara on her cheek.

  “Are you okay?” When he spoke the words, he realized how lame they sounded. Of course she wasn’t okay. She was crying. Melissa had never struck him as the crying sort.

  “Are you sad about the wedding? Sad for Gracie?”

  “Yes, but that’s not why I’m crying.”

  He moved closer, concern mingling with curiosity blending with his own need to connect with this woman who had occupied a huge portion of his thoughts the past few weeks.

  “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  She drew in a quivering breath, then caught his gaze. “Not here,” she whispered.

  “Okay. Let’s go for a walk.” He stilled the heavy, expectant beating of his heart. He had prayed that Melissa might hear what he had to say and here, hopefully, was his opportunity.

  Don’t mess up, he thought as they followed a few stragglers out of church. Don’t mess up.

  Thankfully no one waylaid either of them on their way out, and a few minutes later they were walking past the Bronson Homestead toward the park. The same place they had shared their first kiss.

  A cool wind wafted across the park as they meandered their way over. When they got to the grass, Melissa bent over and took off her shoes, letting them dangle from her hand. She drew in a long breath, then eased it out as if preparing herself.

  But still she said nothing. After a few minutes of silence, Brian grew uncomfortable. He didn’t want to talk about the aborted wedding they had just attended, but he wasn’t sure what would be a safe topic.

  “So, what do you think you’re going to do with all the leftover food?” He might as well start with the obvious.

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about all the waste. All the work I put into everything.”

  “I saw you leaving Saturday for the church.” And had to stop himself from jumping into the van to help her.

  “It was a busy day.”

  “Sorry I wasn’t there to help.”

  “You had other things on your mind. Doesn’t matter now anyway, now that Gracie’s wedding is off.”

  Brian shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants. Wow. This conversation was going well. He blew out his breath and then decided that enough was enough. He might as well do what everyone always accused him of. Go straight for the obvious.

  “So why were you crying in church? You said it wasn’t because of Gracie.”

  Melissa stopped at a picnic table in the far recesses of the park, hidden from the road by a large clump of ash trees. She ran her hands down her black skirt, then looked over at him. “No. Like I said, I felt bad for her, but I have been trying not to cry ever since you...” Her sentence faded away, the air thick with her unspoken words.

  “Since I sat down beside you?” he ventured, hope growing in him.

  Her only reply was a tight nod.

  “Sorry about that,” he murmured. “I just went where Max brought me.

  “You wouldn’t have sat there otherwise.” She stated this as a simple fact.

  “It was too hard to sit with you...beside you,” he corrected.

  “So both of us were in a tough spot,” she said.

  “I still am.” The confession spilled out of him before he could stop it.

  Her eyes flew to his and the emotions he saw in their shining depths gave strength to his fragile hope. Then she gave him a tremulous smile. “Things aren’t the same at the bakery without you.”

  “I thought you didn’t need me.”

  Melissa looked down at her hands again, weaving her fingers together. “I was wrong.”

  He sat down on the picnic bench behind him and, taking a chance, caught her hand and gently tugged. She took the hint and sat down beside him.

  She looked over at him, her eyes still red from her tears. He pulled out a hanky and, instead of handing it to her, gently wiped an errant tear from her cheek. She sniffed, then released a shaky laugh. “I must look a fright.”

  “You look as amazing as always.”

  Melissa laughed again, then she sucked in a long, slow breath, as if preparing herself. “I don’t feel so amazing.”

  “Why not?”

  She sighed and gave him a shy look. “Like I said, I missed you.”

  Her admission hit him square in the chest and he caught her hands in his. “I missed you, too. So much. I wanted to come to the bakery so many times.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  Her quiet question dove into his soul, then he released a tight laugh. “You told me you didn’t need me.”

  Melissa sighed lightly then turned his hand over, tracing the scars across the back of them. “I was wrong.”

  Her words hung between them, then she looked up at him, her eyes shining with new tears.

  “I do need you,” she said. “In so many ways.”

  “Not just to bake your bread and tote around your flour bags,” he said lightly.

  “No. I need you beside me. I missed you.”

  Her admission eased the pain that had lodged in his chest ever since he walked out of the bakery. Ever since he thought they couldn’t be together anymore.

  Then he brushed her hair back from her damp cheeks, his fingers lingering a moment. “I need you, too. These past few days have been horrible.”

  “I’m glad.”

  He smiled at her admission, then took a chance, bent his face to hers and brushed a gentle kiss over her warm lips. She caught the back of his neck and kissed him back.

  Brian felt as if his world had compressed down to this moment with Melissa. As if everything else was simply peripheral to this moment between the two of them.

  “You mean more to me than anyone ever has,” he whispered, tucking her head against his shoulder, thankful for this moment, thankful they were back together. For the first time since he walked away from the bakery he felt as if things were right in his world.

  And for the first time in months he felt as if he was right where he was supposed to be.

  “I don’t want us to fight again,” he said.

  Melissa sighed, her breath warm against his neck. “I
don’t either, but I think it will happen again.”

  “Probably,” he admitted, pulling back and fingering a strand of hair out of her face. “You’re a feisty one,” Brian said with a chuckle. “Just like my grandmother.”

  “I didn’t used to be,” Melissa said, her hand resting on his chest. “There was a time in my life when I...I did what I was told. No questions asked.”

  “What do you mean?” Brian felt as if time slowed, sensing she was about to divulge something important. “Tell me,” he urged.

  Melissa pulled in a breath and gave her head a light shake. “It doesn’t matter.”

  Brian leaned back, placed a finger under her chin and tipped her face up to his. “I think it does. Tell me about you. How you got to where you are now.”

  Melissa looked into his eyes, as if she wasn’t sure he was serious. Then he squeezed her hand to encourage her.

  “I want you to know why the bakery is important to me,” she said, turning away from him. She took a deep breath, her eyes taking on an inward look. “My father was a dreamer. The kind of guy who, my mom used to say, threw horseshoes at the moon. He was always planning some amazing scheme and he dragged me and my mother around until I was about five. My parents fought all the time. Finally my father left to pursue some dream about having his own fishing boat. We never heard from him again. After that my mother kind of fell apart. As a result she did the same thing to me my father did to us. We moved all over the place while she tried to figure out what she wanted, tried to figure out where she fit. The only stable place I lived during that time was with my grandmother.”

  “She was the one who took you to church?”

  Melissa nodded, her hand clinging to Brian’s as if anchoring herself.

  “She introduced me to faith and I thought we had found a stable place, and then my mother finally heard from my father and we met up again. Of course, it was a disaster and off me and my mom went again. I moved out the first chance I had. I went to business school, took some baking classes on the side and then I met Jason. He chased me and pursued me and I gave in. I thought I had found someone who wanted what I wanted, but I discovered I had fallen for someone who was just like my father. Only I didn’t see it right away. Jason started making plans. We were going to go into business together. I had some money and so did he. We put up a down payment on a business, a bakery, in St. Louis. We moved and then Jason took off on me. He took my money and he...” She stopped there, shaking her head. “It’s so humiliating to even admit I was such a huge fool.”

  “Not a huge fool. Never that,” Brian said, tightening his grip on hers, finally getting a glimpse of why Melissa was the way she was.

  She gave him a grateful smile. “A bit of a fool then,” she said with a light laugh. “Anyhow, I stayed in St. Louis and got a job working at a hotel.”

  “Jason was an idiot,” he said. And though her relationship with Jason had been years ago he couldn’t stop a sliver of jealousy. “I’m sorry he broke your heart.”

  Melissa released a cynical laugh. “Don’t be sorry. I don’t know if I was truly in love with him or just in love with the idea of being in love.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth, looking down at her hands still twined in his. “I promised myself I wouldn’t let any man determine the course of my life. That I would follow my own dreams—not someone else’s.” She heaved a heavy sigh, then looked at him, a wry smile tugging at her lips. “Then I got this chance through the SOS Committee to start up my own bakery. I didn’t think I had the slightest chance, but when it came, I took it as an affirmation of what I wanted. Of part of my future.”

  “Only part?”

  “Yeah. Part. Someday I want a family.” She looked away, a flush staining her cheeks.

  Her last words snagged his attention. “A family?”

  Melissa nodded. “I don’t know exactly when that will happen and all that, but yeah.” Then she looked up at him again, her eyes holding his, an uncertain expression shifting over her face. “I want kids and a home and...well, a family. I want the kind of community and values Bygones has to offer. I want what your mom and dad had.”

  “So you do want kids.” He knew he was repeating himself, but he had to affirm what she was saying.

  “Of course I do.” Her look of surprise was a surprise to him. Then her expression grew serious. “But I want my bakery, too. I think I can have both.”

  Brian felt as if the ground beneath him shifted. Melissa wanted a family. Now he was the one who felt like a fool. He had made wrong assumptions about Melissa. But as he gained his footing, he felt a surge of joy and relief.

  “I know I can’t be the kind of woman you think I should be,” Melissa said, pulling away from him. “But—”

  “Stop,” Brian said, touching her lips with his finger. “I don’t want you to be anyone but who you are. I want you to know that your plans and dreams are important to me. I know the bakery is part of who you are and now I have a better idea of why it’s important to you.” He traced the curve of her eyebrow, then her lips. “I don’t want you to be anyone else. I love you the way you are.”

  Melissa blew out a sigh that seemed to contain all the stress and concern of the past few days. “Really?” she asked, her trembling fingers threading through his unkempt hair. “You really love me?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Brian admitted. “These past few days have been miserable for me, but I’ve had time to think. I’ve made some of my own plans.”

  Melissa tilted her head, a curious glint in her eyes. “Tell me about your plans.”

  Brian ran his hand down her arm and caught her hands in his. “While I was working in the factory I set money aside in the hopes I could start a mechanic shop. I was turned down by the bank and when I heard about the SOS Committee I applied to them and got turned down by them, too. When my tools got stolen, I kind of figured that was the end of that dream.”

  “I was so sad for you when that happened,” Melissa said.

  “Well, you can stop being sad,” Brian said. “Saturday, after me and Grandpa came back from working in the community garden, I went to put the shovels away and the tools were back, piled up in the middle of the shop.”

  “Why would someone steal your tools and then bring them back?”

  Brian shrugged. “Not sure. I’ll leave that up to Joe to solve. Whoever took them must have felt guilty. Thank goodness—because that means I don’t have to replace them.”

  Melissa smiled up at him. “That’s great,” she said enthusiastically. “You can keep doing mechanic work.”

  “It is kind of great and I’ll probably keep doing some on the side, but things have changed for me. I’ve learned how to bake bread, make flaky pie crust, bake muffins and fool around with recipes. I’ve discovered something I didn’t think I’d ever enjoy doing.”

  Melissa’s light frown showed him she wasn’t sure where he was going.

  He pressed his fingertip to the wrinkle between her eyebrows, easing it away. “I like working in the bakery and I like working with you. But I don’t like being just an employee. I want to pull my own weight. To be the kind of provider you deserve. So I’m taking the money I had set aside to start my mechanic shop and, if you’re willing, I want to invest it in the bakery.”

  Melissa’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “Really?” she said, disbelief and surprise mingling in her expression. “You want to be my partner? You want to be a part of my bakery?”

  “Yeah. I do.”

  She covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head as if trying to absorb it.

  “You’re serious?”

  “Yeah, and I know you won’t take my money and run because you have to stick around a couple more years,” he said.

  “I won’t do that because there’s nowhere else I’d rather be and there’s no one else I’d rather be with,” she said, t
hrowing her arms around his neck, hugging him so tightly he thought she would do serious damage. Then she pulled back again. “What about your job in Concordia?”

  “Obviously I’m not going to have enough time for that if I’m partner in the bakery,” Brian said. “Tomorrow I’m calling the company and telling them I got a better job offer.”

  “This is amazing.”

  “And I have some other ideas of how to expand the business,” Brian said, her enthusiasm spilling over and creating excitement in him, too. “I’ve seen some bakeries selling stuff online. I think we could do the same. We’d have to figure out what kind of products we want to sell and, of course, get someone to do a website for us. I think the cake pops would be a hit as well as—”

  Melissa stopped his words with a kiss.

  “I get the idea,” she said quietly, her eyes shining brightly. “You are an amazing guy, Brian Montclair.”

  “And you’re an amazing woman, Melissa City Slicker Sweeney.”

  “City Slicker no more,” she warned. “I’m a Bygones girl now.”

  “You’re my girl now,” Brian promised, holding her close to him. “And you’re my partner.”

  “Partners,” Melissa echoed. “In this together.”

  “Together,” Bran echoed. “I’m liking the sound of that.”

  Then Brian sealed their promise with another kiss.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Healing Hearts by Margaret Daley.

  Dear Reader,

  Brian had his own dreams and plans but he had to see them fade away while other things happened in his life—like working in a bakery, something that he never saw in his future. Yet he managed to find the positive in it, to realize that though this wasn’t what he would have chosen, he ended up enjoying it. I’m sure some of you have been in situations you didn’t choose, but, Lord willing, you managed to find your way through it and find the positive in it. Sometimes, blessings come in the places we least expect them.

  P.S. I love to hear from my readers. You can write me at caarsen@xplornet.com or check out my website at www.carolyneaarsen.com.