The Baker's Man (19 page)

Festivalgoers ambled up the downtown streets on their way to their cars. Their cheerful voices and laughter traveled up toward Anna’s window. She watched their shadows disappear around corners, heard their engines turn over, not a soul knowing the devastation she felt. Anna sipped her tea, musing that it might possibly flow out of the giant hole she felt had been shot through the middle of her body. She rubbed her right temple, trying to ease the throbbing behind her eyes.

Keys jingled downstairs, and the bell on the bakery door rang.
Eli
. Anna stood abruptly, and hot tea sloshed over the rim of her mug. She winced and shook the wetness from her hand. Someone moved through the bakery and climbed the stairs. Anna held her breath and listened. Lily stepped through the doorway into her apartment, took one look at her, and Anna saw pity fill her eyes.

Lily jingled the keys. “Found these in the door. Are you okay?” she asked, hurrying over. Anna shook her head. Lily took the mug from Anna’s hands and put it on the coffee table. “I want to talk about what happened, but before you say anything, you should know that Tessa is downstairs. She found me after the fireworks and tried to explain everything. She’s confused and upset, and you might not want to talk to her, but enough is enough, Anna. She wants to check on Eli. This whole thing has spiraled out of control, and we need to fix this mess. We’re best friends—all of us.”

Anna dropped onto the couch and folded in half, pressing her forehead to her knees. “Everything is ruined. I screwed this one up.” Tears tried to swell in her red, swollen eyes, but she swallowed them down.

“You have to fix this.”

Anna sat up and wondered if she could take one more person’s disappointment. Would Tessa yell at her? Accuse her of stealing her boyfriend? But didn’t Tessa deserve to ask Anna what the hell she had been doing?
Get in line
. Lily must have seen the indecision on Anna’s face because she sat down beside her on the couch. Lily shrugged out of her coat and unwrapped her scarf.

“We can work this out,” Lily said. “But we’re going to have to talk about it. This isn’t worth ruining friendships.” She glanced around. “Where
is
Eli?”

“He left,” Anna said. “I’m not sure he’ll ever speak to me again.” She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Never speaking to him again left her feeling an ache too deep to rub away.

Lily shook her head. “He’ll come back. This whole thing is forgivable.”

“Is it?” Anna asked.

The room filled with the soothing scent of fresh brewing coffee. “Everything is,” Lily said. “You can talk to Tessa and sort things out with her.”

Anna made a “come on in” motion with her hand. “Let’s get this mess over with.” Then she remembered the scene between Lily, Jakob, and his parents. “Hey, what happened with you and Jakob?”

Lily glanced into the kitchen. “Do you have coffee up here?”

“I have decaf in the pantry,” Anna said.

“Decaf?” Lily said with a curled lip. “Why do they even
make
decaf? I need a jolt of something if I’m going to make it through this evening.”

Lily walked into the kitchen and opened the pantry. She pulled out a round tin of hot chocolate powder. She busied her hands while she talked. “Jakob’s mother is…difficult. She thinks we’ve ruined Jakob’s life. Completely melodramatic.”

“I have milk and heavy cream in the fridge.” Anna reached for her mug of tea. “What does Jakob think?”

“He’s trying to smooth things over with his parents, mostly his mother. His dad gave me a hug before his mother gave him the evil eye.” Lily shrugged, and put her mug in the microwave. “Jakob was more concerned with her than with my feelings, so I told him to call me when he’s done placating his mother. I mean, I’m
pregnant
for crying out loud.” She heaved a heavy sigh.

“He’ll call you,” Anna said.

The microwave dinged. Lily stirred the chocolate powder into the milk. “I know. It still makes me sad though. I wish his mother would be more reasonable and that Jakob wouldn’t have brushed off my feelings in favor of his mother’s opinion.” She blew across the top of the steaming cocoa before taking a sip. “Ready to start this party?”

Anna nodded. Lily called Tessa from the top of the stairs, and Anna listened to Tessa’s hurried footsteps. She stepped into the room with her hands clasped in front of her, and she hesitated. “Where’s Eli?” she asked.

“He’s gone,” Lily answered, so Anna didn’t have to.

“Gone where?” Tessa asked, her voice pitching high. She glanced quickly at Lily and then at Anna.

Anna shrugged. Tessa dropped into the chair. Tessa’s mouth was so dry Anna could hear her swallow. Disappointment highlighted her frown.

Guilt expanded in Anna’s chest, and she exhaled to release the building tensions. “I’m sorry, Tessa,” she said. “I really didn’t want to hurt you.”

Tessa wrung her hands together in her lap. “Why would you kiss Eli?” she asked, and her voice wavered slightly. “You
knew
how I felt about him.”

Lily pulled a mug from the cabinet and felt the side of the kettle. She dug a tea bag out of the pantry and dropped it into the mug. Then she poured the hot water from the kettle. She carried the mug into the living room and handed it to Tessa.

Anna exhaled. “Because I have feelings for him too.”

Tessa squeezed the mug between both hands and held it close. “I thought you had feelings for him because you made him.” Anger pinched her voice. She stared into the tinting water. “You don’t kiss someone your friend is dating, and you don’t kiss other men when you have a boyfriend.”

Anna nodded. She leaned forward, propped her elbows on her knees, and covered her face with her hands for a few moments. She massaged her fingertips across her forehead. “You’re right.”

“Tessa, Anna is well aware that she upset you and Baron, but she wasn’t trying to intentionally hurt anyone. And you need to remember that we made Eli for
Anna
,” Lily said, defending her best friend.

Tessa looked at Anna. “You should have told me you had feelings for him,” she said. Then she stared at the floor while she added, “But you should know I have no intentions of giving up my feelings. I think Eli cares about me, and we have something.” She inhaled and tried to straighten her shoulders. “I think you should back off.”

Anna’s eyes widened. She’d never heard Tessa be so forceful about anything. Could she give Eli up to Tessa? Would she even have an option now that he was gone?

Tessa sipped her tea and cleared her throat. “I wasn’t trying to make the situation worse by telling Eli the truth.” She sat her mug down and unbuttoned her coat. She slid her scarf from her neck and gripped it in her lap. “But I think he deserved to know the truth. He needed to understand why his feelings for you were confusing. I know you made Eli for you, but he and I were spending time together. He made that decision, right?” She reached for her mug.

“He wasn’t a puppet,” Anna said. She sighed and leaned back onto the couch cushions. “He spent time with you because he wanted to.”
Because he was choosing Tessa
.
Then why did he kiss me like that, like he never wanted to stop
? A tiny flame smoldered low in her stomach.

Tessa tried to hide a small, relieved smile behind the mug. She sipped her tea. “What you did isn’t okay,” she said. “I can see why you care about him, but my feelings for Eli are real, and I believe he wants to see where a relationship with me will go. I think it’s only right and fair that you let him go.”

Eli’s words as he was leaving echoed in Anna’s mind.
Do us both a favor, and let me go
. She closed her eyes and nodded. “Okay,” she said.
You win
.

The three friends sat in silence for a minute. Lily folded her legs beneath her on the couch beside Anna. She drank from her mug, then asked, “What did you tell Baron?”

“The truth,” Anna said. She finished her tea and pushed her hair behind her shoulders as she stared across the room at the brownies hiding beneath the glass cake dome. She explained what happened on the street corner with Baron.

The loss of Baron had become a dull ache. In her heart, pieces of him had been leaving for days. Only now with Eli gone did Anna realize how much she’d been using Eli as a crutch to ease the loneliness. With both of the men gone, she felt as hollow as a chocolate Easter bunny.

“It’s over then?” Lily asked. Anna nodded. Lily reached over and grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Tessa said.

When Anna looked over at Tessa, she could tell Tessa’s feelings were genuine. A small smile passed between them. The tin box on the coffee table caught Tessa’s eye. She leaned forward and tapped her finger against the lid.

“Is this the box?” Tessa asked. “With the sand?” Anna nodded. Tessa reached for the box and flipped open the lid. It sparkled and lit her face with dancing pinpricks of light. “It’s beautiful.” She smiled at the sand before closing the lid. “What are you going to do with it?”

Anna shook her head. “I dunno. I thought of burying it. It’s caused enough trouble. I certainly wouldn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.” She looked at Lily. “Do you think it would hurt the earth to bury it?”

“Do you mean would the earthworms grow to gargantuan size and try to kill us like they did in
Tremors
?” Lily grinned at Anna’s shocked face. “I’m kidding. Although it would be an adventure, especially since I know how to kill them after watching the movie.”

Tessa returned the box to the coffee table. “I don’t think you should bury it just yet. Think about it for a while, and then decide.”

Lily yawned and stretched her legs onto the coffee table. “The hot chocolate didn’t give me the jolt I needed. I should probably go home, but I’m so comfortable right here.”

Tessa stood and asked, “Do you mind if I make more tea?”

Anna stood and stretched her arms over her head. “There’s an assortment of tea flavors in the pantry. I think I’m going to take a bath if no one cares. Feel free to stay as long as y’all like.”

Tessa pulled Anna into a quick but tight hug. “You’re not mad at me, are you?” Tessa asked.

Anger wasn’t the emotion Anna felt blooming inside her. The emotion was darker and bleaker. There didn’t seem to be an easy way to describe how she felt, so she simply said, “No.” Then she added, “I understand if you’re mad at me for a while, but I hope you’ll forgive me.”

Tessa smiled. “It’s already passing,” she said, looking down at the tin box on the coffee table. “Such a small thing to cause so much chaos, but I think we can fix what’s happened.”

When Anna turned on the taps for the bathtub, she sat on the edge and wiggled her fingers through the steaming water. She thought of Eli on foot somewhere in town. Would he have walked far? Would he ever return? She sunk into the water, draped her hair over the side, and closed her eyes. Even if he did return, she’d agreed to let Tessa have him. That was reason enough for her to defy everyone and move to Wildehaven Beach. Losing Baron was going to be nothing compared to watching Tessa and Eli fall deeper in love every day. She shuddered in the tub.

15
Firecracker Bundt Cake

Anna jerked awake, startled to find herself reclining in cool water. After a few seconds of disorientation, she realized she’d dozed off while taking a bath. She shivered and climbed out of the tub, wrapping herself in a towel. The room smelled like baking bread, a mixture of rosemary, Italian seasoning, and maybe a sprinkling of mozzarella. She tugged on her clothes and opened the bathroom door.

Anna found Lily sleeping on the couch, her head leaning against the back cushions and her legs still stretched on the coffee table that was empty of everything. The living room felt too humid and sticky. The odor of a hot oven hung in the air like low-lying storm clouds. Someone had put the mugs in the kitchen sink. Tessa appeared to have gone home. When Anna turned from the sink, she noticed the door to the staircase leading to the bakery was open. She stepped to the door to close it, but the lights in the bakery’s kitchen were on. That’s when Anna heard someone moving around downstairs.

Her breath caught in her throat. Had Eli returned? She rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping over her bare feet as she stumbled down the last few steps. Who Anna found in the kitchen stopped her immediately. She gripped the railing on the staircase. Tessa was wiping flour dust from the island and looked up at Anna like a startled mouse. Grandma Bea’s tin box rested on the island; its lid was flipped open, and the sand glittered in the lights. Anna’s eyes drifted toward the ovens behind Tessa. The red light on the top oven was lit, indicating it was in use.

“What are you doing?” Anna asked. She let go of the railing and stepped farther into the kitchen. When Tessa didn’t answer, Anna pointed to the tin box. “What are you doing with that, Tess?”

Tessa tucked her hair behind her ears. “Don’t be mad, okay?” she said. “
Promise
you won’t be mad.” Tessa reached over and flipped the lid closed. “I had an idea.”

Anna began shaking her head. “Tell me you didn’t use the sand,” Anna said in a strangled voice. She could tell from Tessa’s expression that it was too late. She stared at the oven and felt a shiver run from her toes to her head, where it made her hair prickle and lift from her scalp.

“I did this for you,” Tessa said, and Anna was surprised to see such excitement in Tessa’s eyes because Anna felt an emotion akin to terror traveling over her skin. “I thought since you made Eli—and he’s for me—that I could make
you
someone to love.”

Anna covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. She stared at Tessa with wide eyes before a realization struck her. She lowered her hand. “What recipe did you use?”

Tessa frowned. “I didn’t have your recipe,” she said. “I used my mother’s recipe for Italian bread from memory. Then I tossed in a few extra things.” She glanced over her shoulder at the oven. “It smells wonderful, doesn’t it?” Tessa’s eyes were alive with anticipation.

No recipe
. The stench of burning cheese, bubbling and charring beneath the intense heat, began to saturate the kitchen. “This isn’t a joke, Tess. You can’t just make a recipe using whatever ingredients you want. How did you know how much of the sand to add?” Anna asked, moving slowly around the island toward the oven. She couldn’t stop the feeling growing inside her like an invasive vine. It wrapped around her stomach, then her lungs, then her heart. She tried to make her breaths deep and even, but her heart raced.