The Baker's Man (22 page)

“Hold on now, Mama,” Anna said, wiping her eyes. “There’s no need to get crazy.” And they both laughed.

˜˜˜˜

Against the firemen’s advice of staying away from the site for a day or two, Anna borrowed her daddy’s truck and drove to the bakery, to what was left of it. In the afternoon light, it looked like a scene from a disaster movie. The area was littered with twisted metal, burnt plastic that had bubbled and formed strange, ash-coated domes, shards of glass that shimmered in the sunshine, and a yawning hole full of mostly unrecognizable items. Anna’s former life was destroyed. She zipped the old work jacket she’d borrowed from her daddy because he said he didn’t care if she got it a little dirty. It was at least two sizes too big, but it was warm. Anna imagined it could keep out the chills brought on by kicking through rubble.

She slid her hands along the rope strung up by the emergency department and stared into the burned-out bakery. Her eyes settled on the freezer in the back. It stood alone without the comfort of the walls that once hemmed it in. Black streaks smeared across the stainless steel and looked like shadows of flames left behind during the blaze, but the freezer looked intact otherwise. Wearing a pair of yellow rain boots from her high school days, Anna carefully made her way over to the freezer because curiosity overcame her. The ground radiated warmth and reminded Anna of a solidified lava flow. She sidestepped her favorite set of mixing bowls that had melted into the shapes of nesting fortune cookies. Anna imagined cracking one open to read the message:
Your life is a wreck. Change directions
. She pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling while she looked at what remained of the lovely island her daddy had specially made for her. The slab of granite had crushed the lower wooden half, and the ceiling had fallen into the middle of the kitchen.

Anna cautiously touched her fingertips to the freezer’s handle. The metal was cold, so she wrenched it open. Debris scraped out of the way as the door swung ajar. The power was no longer working in the building, but the interior of the freezer was still quite chilly. Anna smiled in the sad sort of way that she’d seen people do on the news when a tornado had demolished their homes. They’d find a framed photo and they’d smile, but they were crying too. She pulled a tub of double dark chocolate chip cookie dough from the shelf and popped off the lid. Then she stepped out into the sunshine, closed the freezer door, and dug her finger into the dough. Anna chewed a mouthful and sighed. For a few seconds, the chocolate eased the ache in her chest. She could breathe around the sorrow without feeling as though she’d swallowed a macaron whole. On her next inhale, she smelled sugar and cinnamon.

“Afternoon snack?” a voice asked behind her.

Anna turned to see Eli walking up the alley beside the bakery. The soot from the night before was washed from his arms, and he wore a clean shirt advertising the local pizza joint. She offered the tub of cookie dough to him. “Want some? It’s only slightly gooey. Still edible. I eat when I’m emotional—it’s a terrible habit. I’m trying to break it, just not today.”

Eli smiled, and the sight nearly brought tears to Anna’s eyes. She wasn’t sure she’d ever see it again, not after the way he’d left her apartment. Anna looked up as if she could see where she’d once lived, but all she could see was the blue sky and fat, happy clouds forming shapes. Eli reached out his hand to her, and she took it. He maneuvered her over the debris and took the cookie dough tub from her. He stuck his finger into the dough and popped it into his mouth.

“How was Jakob’s place last night?” she asked.

“Not bad.” He hooked his thumb into the shirt and stretched it out. “He let me borrow his clothes, and, man, are these jeans tight. I’m afraid to bend over or squat because something might burst, and I don’t want the bursting to happen on my body.”

Anna chuckled. She looked at her car still parked behind the crumbled building. A large chunk of bricks had fallen on her car, crushing her hood like a cartoon anvil. Her front tires looked like someone had held a blowtorch to them. “Guess I won’t be driving anywhere today in my car. There goes my escape plan.” She heaved a loud sigh.

“Looks like someone swapped your tires for tar,” he said lightly and draped his arm around her shoulders. “All fixable though. What we couldn’t have fixed was losing you. Good thing that didn’t happen.”

Anna nodded, but her throat was closing and tears prickled in her eyes. She tried to blink as fast as possible and cleared her throat. “I’m really sorry about last night,” she said.
But not about the kiss
.

“Me too,” he said, pulling her closer.

“Do you hate me?”

Eli turned Anna so she faced him. When she stared at the dancing pizza on his borrowed shirt, he fisted his hand beneath her chin and lifted her face. “I’m not capable of hating you,” he said. “Am I confused? Yes. Do I know what to do next? Not really. But what I do know is that right now you need me, and I plan on staying as long as you need help repairing what we lost.”

Anna nodded. “And afterward? You’ll leave?”

Eli lowered his hand and looked toward the shape-shifting clouds. He pointed skyward. “That one looks like a seagull.”

Anna looked up and agreed. It flew toward the ocean on fluffy wings.

“I think it’s best that I leave. I need to figure myself out,” he said.

Anna nodded because she was afraid to say anything, afraid she might beg Eli to stay with her. She wanted to tell him that she was home when they were together, but it sounded too pathetic, and she knew Eli deserved better. She put her hand on his chest. Her fingers tingled with his warmth, and the heat quickly spread up her arm and pooled in her chest until she was forced to exhale just to make room for all of it. Eli covered her hand with his. Then, he pulled her against him with one arm, holding the tub of cookie dough to the side.

She breathed in the scent of warm sugar cookies and nodded against his chest. “Send postcards,” she said, trying to pretend the idea of Eli leaving didn’t feel like a glass shard in her chest.

“Where should I send them?” he asked. “The Clarke House or Wildehaven Beach?”

“Good question.” She pulled away from him and looked up into his blue eyes. “Maybe fold them into paper airplanes and send them on the wind. I’m sure they’ll find me.”

Eli grinned. “I’ll always find you. No matter where you are, I will always be able to find you.”

Anna snorted a laugh. She poked him in the chest. “You sound like Daniel Day Lewis from
The Last of the Mohicans
.”

“Did that up my sex appeal?”

“Definitely,” Anna said and couldn’t help but grin at his silly smile. He was trying to cheer her up, and it was working. Standing on the edges of the destroyed bakery and apartment, Anna didn’t feel as devastated because she still had Eli, and he wasn’t leaving her yet. He was going to stay until she was back on her feet, until her life didn’t resemble a catastrophe. The sun shone down on them, warming their cheeks. Anna grabbed for the cookie tub and stuck her finger into the dough. Then she leaned her head against Eli’s arm and sighed. In that moment, she could almost believe everything was going to be okay.

˜˜˜˜

Anna and Eli spent the afternoon pushing through the debris in search of anything salvageable. At first, Anna found the job depressing, and every little burnt item made her feel weepy all over again, but she and Eli decided to make a game out of it. The person who found the most useable items won a free dinner. So far, Anna had a few metal mixing spoons shoved into her jacket pocket, one untouched bottle of chocolate liquor, and half a dozen cookie cutters. Eli rescued the largest item—a red stoneware baking dish—but Anna insisted size didn’t matter, only quantity. She had laughed when he raised the dish over his head in victory like a wrestling belt.

At dinnertime, when the sun started falling from its afternoon perch and threw horizontal rainbow streaks across the sky, Anna’s nose was red and her fingers were numb and sore, coated with grime and soot. She climbed over the scattered mess where the front of the bakery once stood, and she paused on the sidewalk. She held a cracked cake plate in her hand.

“Think anyone will notice that half of it is gone?” she asked, rotating the plate 360 degrees.

“Nah,” Eli said. “You can tell everyone it’s a dieter’s cake plate. Half the plate means half the calories.” He stomped his way over to her, leaving behind a trail of black clouds swirling after him. “Shall we call it a night? We can order pizza from this place,” he said, pulling out his shirt and reading the upside down logo, “and have them deliver it to the park.”

Anna smiled. “We’ll be sitting in the dark,” she said. “We could eat in Daddy’s truck and pretend we don’t know why it smells like pizza when I return it.”

Eli carried the salvaged items to the truck and piled them in the truck bed. Anna’s stack of reclaimed items was much larger than Eli’s. “Looks like I’m buying.” He pulled a cell phone out of his back pocket. “Lily gave me her phone,” he said as he dialed the number for the pizza place. After ordering, they leaned against the truck grill and looked over the pathways they’d left behind in the rubble.

Two cars pulled up and parked beside them. Mr. Silverstein climbed out of an old orange Camaro. The driver’s side door squeaked on its hinges. He gave it a good shove to close the door. The car beside the Camaro was newer and a model Anna didn’t recognize. The driver stayed inside with the engine running.

Mr. Silverstein walked over to them and surveyed the damage before speaking. “Such a shame,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it when my wife told me what everyone was saying. We drove by this afternoon and saw the two of y’all working.” He turned to face them. “We did some talking about it, and we figured you’d need a little help from anyone willing to offer it. I noticed your car has seen better days.” He jerked his head toward the rear of the bakery. Then he held out his fisted hand to her. “Take this. We don’t need it, and we don’t drive it. It’s just an extra thing sitting at the house.”

Mr. Silverstein dropped a set of keys into Anna’s hand. “You’re giving me a
car
?” she asked. “I can’t accept this. Thank you, but I’ll get mine fixed.” Anna glanced at Eli, who seemed just as surprised by the offer.

Mr. Silverstein shook his head. “I won’t accept no for an answer. It’s yours.” Then he stepped away before Anna could argue, so she hurried over to him and threw her arms around his neck and thanked him.

Even in the disappearing light, she could see he blushed. Anna waved as he rode away with his wife. An easterly wind blew and Anna breathed in the smells of autumn, reminding her of running through fallen leaves, sitting under blankets roasting s’mores, and carving pumpkins with goofy faces. She tilted her head back and looked up at the stars twinkling in the darkening blue of the sky. Hope floated on the wind and tangled itself in Anna’s hair. She reached up and pulled her fingers through the strands, feeling her hand warm.

˜˜˜˜

After finishing most of the pizza, Anna leaned her head against the window and exhaled loudly. “The last slice did me in,” she said. “From here on out, three is my limit. No less—definitely no more.”

Eli finished off the sixth slice of pizza and wiped his mouth. “If I eat one more, these pants will become a moving hazard. The button could burst off at any moment, ricochet around the cab, and knock us out. Then we’d freeze to death overnight, and they would find us here in the morning, reeking of pizza and me without my pants buttoned.”

Anna chuckled. “You’ve given that way too much thought,” she teased. But she closed the pizza box to prevent him from reaching for another slice. “Precautionary measures,” she said as she slid the pizza box onto the dashboard.

She stared down at the keys resting on the middle of the seat in between them. Picking them up, she closed her fingers around them and inhaled slowly. On the exhale, she reached her hand over toward Eli. “Here,” she said. She dropped the keys into Eli’s hand, and he looked over at her with his blue eyes in a way that made her want to throw her arms around him. The cab filled with the aroma of summertime, all fresh cut grass and riding with the windows down—freedom.

“Why are you giving me these?” he asked, turning toward her in the seat.

“You’ll need a trusty steed to take you on your journey, cowboy,” she said, willing her throat not to close up. She rubbed her fingers across her collarbone.

Eli nodded and stared out the window. For a few long minutes, they sat in silence. Then Eli stretched his open hand, palm up, across the seat, and Anna placed her hand in his. He twined their fingers together. Energy zinged between their bound hands, and Eli squeezed his fingers against hers as if to show her he felt it too.

“Thank you,” he said, leaning his head against the back window and looking at her. He pressed his other hand to his heart. “No matter where I go, you’ll always be in here. Always with me.”

Anna turned away so that Eli wouldn’t see how she struggled not to cry, but she didn’t let go of his hand, and they stayed like that sitting in her daddy’s truck until the moon was high in the sky and the crickets in Mystic Water sang everyone to sleep.

17
Ooey Gooey Butter Cake

After spending the next few days kicking through the bakery debris, finding a couple dozen more salvageable items, and spending time on the phone with the insurance company, Anna was finally able to sit down and have lunch with Tessa and Lily. She hadn’t been avoiding them exactly, but she hadn’t been quite ready to talk about what happened. Her emotions were still too close to the surface, and she wanted to stay focused on rebuilding.

Anna walked into the deli on Main Street. She waved to Mr. and Mrs. Cavelli. Anna scanned the day’s specials written in looping script on the chalkboard and pulled a sheet of folded paper from her pocket. She’d written down the choices for Lily and Tessa, and Lily’s choice was the special. Mrs. Cavelli came from behind the counter and hugged Anna.

“So sorry to hear about the bakery,” she said. “You’re going to rebuild, aren’t you? It wouldn’t be the same without you around the corner.”