Raspberry Kisses (The Bakery Romance Series Book 1) (7 page)

These questions buzzed in her mind like bees to honey. Her thoughts about Martin would not cease. She needed to pay attention to his sermon, and remember the real reason why she was attending this retreat.

Raven, she needed to focus on her sister. Raven was giving her a loan so that Rhea would not be homeless. Raven’s feelings for Martin may be genuine, and Rhea needed to respect that. She bowed her head, staring at the floor, still listening to Martin’s words about singleness. Raven needed to hear this. Had Martin shared snippets of his sermon with her sister? Raven struggled with her singleness, and perhaps, Martin’s sermon could help her.

Maybe Raven had fantasized about being married to Martin, just as Rhea had done moments ago.
Lord, I’m struggling, right now. I feel as if my thoughts about Martin are making me dishonest towards my sister. After the retreat, what’ll happen? Will Martin and Raven be dating? Should they? Raven’s always been leery of Christianity and religion – is she the right woman for Martin? Please, help me, Lord. Amen.

“I want to wrap this up by stating this: don’t focus on getting married. Focus on being active, happy, serving the Lord. If it’s the Lord’s will, then you will find a spouse.” He bowed his head, again praying for the needs of everyone attending the retreat. When Rhea opened her eyes, she spotted Martin still standing at the podium. “Let’s sing ‘Amazing Grace.’”

Martin’s deep voice started the hymn, and Rhea stood with the rest of the crowd, gripping the chair in front of her. That had been Stan’s favorite song and when Martin sang it, his deep voice praising the Lord, he reminded her so much of her deceased husband. Soon everybody joined in, but Rhea couldn’t move her lips, she was so focused on Martin. It was almost as if, she’d been traveling back in time, back to the wonderful days she’d been married to Stan. Although those days had been wonderful, they’d had their share of problems. Martin’s faith, his love for preaching, his caring nature, all of that appealed to her. Even if she never saw Martin after this retreat, she knew he was someone she’d never forget.

Finally the song wound down, Martin came over to her seat. While Mrs. Barnes stood at the podium, introducing their next speaker, Martin gestured toward the door. Rhea stood, followed him to the exit. Once they were outside, Rhea turned toward him. “I loved your sermon.”

He gave her a curt, short nod. “Thanks.”

Birds twittered from the sky and the golden sun shined on his brown arms. She stepped away from him. She really needed to ignore her attraction to Martin.

Her bakery. She needed to focus on her business. She swallowed, finally finding her voice. “You’d said that you could help me with my bakery.”

“I think I can. Let’s go to the meeting room that I reserved in the lobby. I think we can come up with a business plan.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets as they walked toward the main cabin. Glancing at his long, muscular legs and strong biceps, she figured she could ignore her attraction, as long as they stayed focused on her business.

Chapter Seven

Martin opened the door to the meeting room located in the lobby, gesturing for Rhea to enter first. The small space reminded him of the library study room he’d used while he’d been an undergrad. The only furniture was one rectangular table and six chairs. The long paneled windows provided a nice view of the front desk.

One of the female cleaning staff was leaving a coffee pot, creamer and sugar at the side counter, just as he’d requested when he’d reserved the room. “Thank you,” he said to the worker.

She shrugged. Did she speak English? He glanced at her nametag. Guadalupe. “
Gracias,
Guadalupe
.
” He gestured toward the coffee pot, smiling.

Guadalupe grinned. “
De nada
.” She pointed to an empty tray. “
Le gustaría algunas galletas más tarde?
”

Cookies? Later? Sounded like a great idea. He wasn’t sure how long their meeting would last and cookies would be a nice way to take a break. He nodded. “
S
í.
Gracias
.”

Guadalupe scanned the room, as if making sure everything was in place, before lifting the tray and leaving, closing the door behind her.

He pulled out a chair for Rhea. “Why don’t you sit down so we can get started?”

Rhea settled into the chair, resting her chin in her hand, staring at him. He made himself comfortable in the chair beside her, giving her a sideways glance. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.”

He shrugged. “Lots of people speak Spanish, it’s no big deal.”

“But, it sounds like you speak it fluently.”

He shrugged again. “Yeah, so?”

“How did you learn to speak it so well?”

“I went to a bi-lingual nursery school.”

“A bi-lingual nursery school?” She sounded like she didn’t believe him.

“Yes. My mom wanted me to learn to speak a foreign language. For some reason, it was important to her. I went to private schools after that, taking Spanish every year. We had a Hispanic cleaning lady for years and she only spoke Spanish to me, gave me a chance to practice the language.”

He took a deep breath. “Knowing Spanish has really helped me with my homeless ministry.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You have a homeless ministry?”

“Yes.” Apparently, they didn’t know very much about one another. He still had lots of questions about Rhea’s background, but, he wasn’t sure if she was ready to open up to him yet. Since she seemed intrigued, he decided to tell her more about his ministry. “A while back, I started a homeless ministry in my father’s church.”

“You mean like a soup kitchen?”

“No, not really. We don’t work in a building or anything like that. We get sandwiches and coffee from a fast food restaurant and serve them to the homeless.” He took a deep breath. “I noticed a lot of the homeless spoke Spanish, and being fluent in the language has enabled me to reach out to them, share the gospel while I share food.”

She touched his arm, her warm fingers causing sparks of delight to spread on his skin. “Martin, that is so amazing.” She pulled her hand away, shoving her hands beneath the table, as if ashamed about touching him. What was she thinking?

“If you want, the next time we go, you can come with us if you’re not busy working in your bakery.”

She nodded. “I’ll come if I can.” She sighed. “I just feel kind of bad.”

“Bad? About what?”

“Well, I’ve been working in my bakery for two years and never thought to reach out to feed the homeless. Do you know how much food I throw away each year?”

“Rhea, that’s the way America is. We throw away food every day, yet we have people on the streets with nothing to eat.”

“That’s true.”

He cleared his throat. “I’d like to tell you more about my church and my ministry, but, if it’s okay with you, we need to get started talking about your bakery.”

She sat up straighter in her chair, looking directly at him. “Yes, I’m interested in hearing what you have to say.”

“Remember I told you that I used to work in a bakery?”

She nodded. “Yes?”

“Well, I didn’t tell you everything. I owned a successful bakery. Have you ever heard of The Sugar Train? It was featured on the Food Channel once.”

Rhea’s mouth dropped open, and her eyes sparkled. She slammed her hand against the table and stood. “That’s where I’ve seen you before!”

“Huh?”

“Since Raven showed me your picture, it’s been bugging me because you looked so familiar. Now I know where I’ve seen you.”

She settled back into her seat. “Stan was still alive when I’d seen your episode on TV. I remember your episode because your bakery featured unique desserts. So, you’re the owner of The Sugar Train?”

“Former owner,” he quickly corrected. “I’m in grad school full-time right now.”

She leaned toward him. “You’re in grad school,
and
you’re a pastor?”

He paused. “I’m the assistant pastor of my church. I’m in divinity school, too.” He didn’t want to talk about his pastoral duties right now. She obviously had issues with his profession. They’d talk about that later. Right now, they needed to focus on saving her business. “I loved working in my own bakery.”

“What was your favorite dessert to make?”

He smiled, leaning back into his chair, getting comfortable. “I loved preparing my mocha chocolate cake with rum sauce.” He paused, his mouth watering, reminiscing about the luscious treat. “Those moist layers of chocolate cake, layered with that creamy rum sauce….” Smiling, he gazed into Rhea’s pretty eyes. “I used to make it at Christmas, and we always sold out. It was my own recipe that I developed myself, and I was proud of it.”

Rhea raised her eyebrows, crossed her legs. “That sounds impressive.”

“What’s your favorite dessert?”

“Actually, my favorite dessert is one that I’m experimenting with now. I’m trying to come up with a nice, decadent cupcake recipe. I’m creating raspberry cream cupcakes. I use raspberry jam in the filling and vanilla cream icing.” Her smile faded.

“What’s the matter?”

She sighed. “I wonder if they’ll sell. You never hear anybody say that they wish they had a raspberry cupcake.” She shrugged. “But, I’m trying. Hopefully I can create such fantastic recipes that those grocery store customers will come running back to my bakery.”

She paused. “I’ve been watching the industry and have noticed that cupcakes are really becoming popular for bakeries. I’ve heard when people purchase a whole dozen cupcakes, they seem to stick to vanilla or chocolate—the fancy types didn’t seem to appeal on a mass level.” She shrugged. “The people in Maple Grove are pretty simple. I’m wondering if my bakery were in a big city, like New York or Chicago, if the fancier flavors would be more appealing. People in cities seem to have more of an eclectic taste.” She sighed. “So, what happened to your business?”

“I sold it.”

“Why?”

He shook his head. “It’s a long, complicated story and I don’t feel like going into that right now. The main reason I wanted to see you this afternoon was so I could help you with your bakery.”

“What kind of help are you suggesting?”

“Well, when we were talking last night, you said your sales were falling and that if you didn’t do something to increase your sales soon, you’d lose your business.”

“Yes...”

“I wanted to tell you something.”

“What?”

“After returning from my errand this morning, I looked up your bakery on the internet.”

“You researched my bakery? You’d come up empty.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “That’s part of your problem! I didn’t see a website for your business.” He held up the business card she’d given him during lunch. “Your business card looks nice, but there’s no website or e-mail address here. How can you run a business without those?”

“A website sounds expensive.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“But my business is local and I live in a small town. Maple Grove is not very big, so I didn’t see the need.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if you live in a small town.” He touched her arm. “You’ve got to have an online presence. Also, have you thought about mail orders?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“I used to send desserts using overnight delivery. People would receive them the following day, and they were fresh and delicious. I did international orders sometimes.”

“This is so much information. I feel like it’ll take a lot of work to save my bakery.”

“Of course it will.”

“But, I wonder if you’re helping me because I’m Raven’s twin sister.”

“No, that’s not why. I’ve done this before.”

“You have?”

He nodded. “Once. A friend of mine in Baltimore opened a restaurant and it was not doing well. I spent a month advising him, and afterwards, his business turned around. He mentioned if I hadn’t stepped in, he probably would’ve had to close his restaurant within a year.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You did this for free? It sounds like your advice takes a lot of time and effort.”

“Of course not. When my friend’s restaurant started making more money, he paid me. We’d worked out a deal beforehand. I think it’s only fair to be paid if I’m spending a lot of my free time helping somebody with their business.” He grinned, showing his twin dimples. “But, I’d give you a discount since I know you.”

Rhea sighed.

What was going through her mind? Why did she seem upset? “So, will you do it?”

“I’m not sure if I want to agree to pay for your services,” she said with a small smile.

He chuckled. “Sounds like you’re teasing me. But, I’m not really talking about agreeing to use my services. I’ll simply tell you what I think you need to do to save your bakery.”

“Okay. Sounds like a good idea.” She glanced away from him, scratched the back of her neck.

He tapped her shoulder. “Hey, you should be excited. My helping you won’t be that bad.” He grinned, and she finally faced him again, her lips set in a tense line.