Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
My bakery was closed on Tuesdays. I wasn’t sure why I had picked Tuesdays, but that was the day I decided I needed off. Not a Friday or a Saturday, a Tuesday. Lauryn had sworn up and down I had picked Tuesdays because I wanted to play bingo at the senior center on Monday night and would need to sleep in the next day. Part of that was true, but I hadn’t even known about bingo night when I had opened my bakery in Boston and decided if the Lord took a day of rest, I was too.
“You should do it. Being open seven days a week is stressful if you are the one working all seven.”
She waved her hand to brush me off. “Oh, I take time off here and there. You see that.”
I laughed. “What? Like the hour you took off to run to the bank? Or when you hung out with friends the other day? Or the time you left two hours earlier and returned anyway when it was closing time?”
It was dark, but I was positive she had a blush.
Opal heaved a breath, saying, “I worked so hard to get that bakery to where it is. I don’t want to ever take it for granted. I guess my fear is if I take time off, something could go wrong.”
Turning in my chair, I set the mug on the small table. “Do you want to know what I think?”
“Yes, I do.”
“I think the bakery is your identity. You’ve worked for years to make it what it is, and you’re afraid you’ll lose a part of yourself if you step back.”
Opal took a drink, set her cup down beside mine, and looked at me. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve experienced this feeling before?”
“Because I have. Opal, I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
“No!” she said with a sarcastic laugh.
I tried to smile. “I owned my own bakery.”
“I knew it!” Opal said, standing and nearly knocking the small table over. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. The way you decorated that Tigger cake and your baking skills, I knew you didn’t learn all that from your grandmother or from working at a bakery here and there!”
I raised my brows.
“No offense to your grandmother.”
“She would take offense.”
Opal chuckled.
“The hardest thing I ever had to do was sell it. But I had to, for reasons I don’t want to share. But the fear of being without my bakery is something I still feel to this day. You have no idea how thankful I was when I saw your help-wanted sign. I was only driving through Moose Village. I did not intend to stay, but I am glad I saw that sign.”
Reaching for my hands, Opal pulled me up and into a hug. “Oh, Cadie, my darling, so am I. So. Am. I.”
Kian
Opal had helped me convince Cadie that staying at my parents’ house was a much better idea than the inn or a blow-up mattress in the cabin for three weeks. I had given Cadie the address to the house last night before we left Opal’s, and I dropped her back off at the cabin. I followed her back into town and to the motel, ensuring she got into her room safely. Not that I was truly worried; Moose Village was a safe town, but you never knew. After living in New York City, I didn’t trust anyone.
“You’re going to wear out that part of the floor if you don’t stop pacing.”
Sally had entered the room without me hearing her. I wasn’t sure why I was so damn nervous. It wasn’t like Cadie and I would be roommates or anything. She was staying at my parents’ place for a few weeks while I was at the guest house, but it was no big deal. Of course, I didn’t know much about Cadie, but something told me she could be trusted. Yet, I knew she was trying to start a new life, and so was I. Was it a good idea to have her here?
“Once one person finds out she is here…the gossip mill will explode.”
Setting a cup of hot tea on the coffee table, Sally motioned for me to sit. “I think the gossip mill started the day you walked into Batter Up, and Ashtyn and Jayme saw you. I ran into Betty Lou yesterday, who informed me that you were seen with, and I quote, ‘That mysterious woman who works for Opal’ twice now.”
“Twice?” I asked, confused, taking a small sip of the tea.
Sally shrugged, but I knew she was holding back. Betty Lou was the town gossip, and in some strange way, she knew everything that happened with everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew we went into Lake Placid and what kind of furniture Cadie bought. And when it would be delivered.