The Baker's Man (2 page)

Anna tugged out a boarding pass. Baron’s name was printed in bold, capital letters on the round-trip ticket to California on a plane that left tomorrow afternoon. Foolishly, she glanced back at the sleeve for a second ticket that might be lingering behind.

Baron’s grin widened. “I got the job,” he said. He pointed to the ticket when she didn’t respond. “The firm is flying me out there for two weeks so I can acclimate myself to the way things are done. They’re going to want me to start within the month. I’ll probably go ahead and find an apartment while I’m there and take in the sights. I’ll need to put this place up for sale. So much to do. But isn’t this great? Two weeks in California. While I’m there, I’ll go on a tour of a few vineyards, maybe go to the beach.” When Anna still said nothing, Baron stopped smiling. “Aren’t you excited?”

Anna pressed her lips together and slipped the boarding pass into the sleeve before handing it back to him. She wished Lily hadn’t called her. Now she felt deflated when she should be excited for Baron. He’d had his heart set on this job, even if it was on the opposite side of the country from her. “It’s great,” she said, her voice as flat as naan. “It’s just what you wanted.”

Baron slid the boarding pass into his back pocket and reached out his hand. He twined his fingers with hers and tugged her out of her chair. “What’s wrong, Anna-Banana? I thought you’d be happier.”

“I was, I mean, I
am
. It’s great. Really. Really great. You’re leaving tomorrow?”

Baron brushed the auburn hairs from her face, and she closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, breathing in the heavy scents of garlic and baked cheese competing with the bitter smell of lingering ocean water. “Yeah. I’m going to pack and get everything together tonight, and I’ll drive to the airport in the morning. This is a big deal for me. You know that.”

Anna nodded. “It’s a great opportunity,” she said and tried to smile, but it felt broken on her face.

“It is,” he said. “I’m sorry I forgot it was our anniversary. I’ll make it up to you when I get back, I promise.” Baron reached for her hand again, and she let him take it. “You know I’m terrible at remembering stuff like that.” He pointed one finger to the side of his head and made circles in the air. “There’s all this stuff going on in there all the time.”

Anna swallowed. She stared down at the brown sugar trapped beneath her fingernails. She felt like a peppermint had lodged itself halfway down her throat. Baron rubbed his thumb across the top of her hand, and the movement distracted her, eased the tightness in her chest, but not enough. She took a step backward. “I’m really happy for you,” she said. “I know how much you wanted this. I guess I just thought that when it finally happened, there would be more
we
in your plan.”

“More what?” he asked and shoved his free hand through his damp hair.

“Us,” she answered, motioning to the space in between them. “There doesn’t seem to be any ‘us’ in your future in California. It’s always been about you there, and I…well, I don’t know how I fit in anymore. Every time we’ve talked about it, it’s literally only centered on you. And I couldn’t help but hope or think or want to be a part of it somehow. Then Lily called today and said you told Jakob about the job and you were bringing over a surprise. She assumed it was a ring—” Anna stopped.

Baron’s mouth fell open, and for a long, uncomfortable minute, he said nothing while Anna chewed on her bottom lip and thought about hiding beneath the brown leather couch cushions. She hadn’t meant to mention the ring.

“Wow,” he said and let go of her hand. He rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the table full of unfinished food and wine. “I thought you’d be excited about all of this. I didn’t know you thought I might ask you to…you love it here, don’t you? Don’t you love this town?”

“This is where I grew up. It’s a great town, but I don’t have to live here forever,” Anna said.

“You want to leave Mystic Water?”

Anna stared at her fork teetering on the edge of her plate. Hadn’t he ever listened to her when she’d told him how she wanted to open her own bakery somewhere else, how she wanted to start over somewhere new? She’d often felt trapped in her hometown because
someone
had to take over her grandmother’s bakery, and she’d had no other choice—not really. “You’d be in California. And I’d be…
here
. Did you never think about what would happen to us if or when you left?”

Anna might have laughed off the entire misunderstanding if Baron hadn’t looked so horrified at the idea of being engaged to her and so completely unaware of what his moving across the country would do to their relationship. She looked at him, feeling her insides splintering like peanut brittle.

“I’m sorry,” he said, but he didn’t sound apologetic. He sounded like a man woken from a deep sleep. “I don’t even know what it’s going to be like out there. Life is going to change for me. You know I love you, and I
need
you, but I’ve been focused on getting the job. And when that happened, I started thinking about the next steps to take to settle into the changes. I didn’t think about what that would do to us.”

“You didn’t think,” she repeated. When Baron continued to stare at the table, she added, “I’m gonna go home.” Tears tightened her throat and pricked at her eyes. She needed to get out of there before she made a complete fool of herself and sobbed into the lasagna.

Baron reached for her. “Don’t go,” he said. “Stay. Let’s finish our dinner. You worked hard on it.”

Anna shook her head. “I think it’s best if I go home. You can cut the lasagna into sections and freeze it. It reheats well.” Anna grabbed her half full glass of wine and downed the rest of it. Then she walked to the door. With her hand on the doorknob, she hesitated. A part of her had hoped he would argue, hoped he would refuse to let her leave so that they could sort out this sudden weirdness between them. But clearly he wasn’t going to fight for her. Clearly the idea of marrying her had horrified him so completely he had nothing else to say. Anna opened the door and rushed out.

2
Rum Cake

Anna leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. She fought the tears, but they gathered in her chest until she felt as though she was choking on them.
You win
, she whispered to them, and they rolled down her cheeks. She grabbed her cell phone and texted Lily:
Tonight was a bust
.

She reversed out of Baron’s driveway and drove home. Within a few minutes, her cell phone pinged. Lily responded:
What happened?!?
Anna texted that she’d talk to her tomorrow. She wasn’t in the mood for talking about the fact that Baron didn’t really want her in California—hadn’t even thought about her there. The only thing Anna was in the mood for was being alone and possibly eating cookie dough straight from the container.

Anna unlocked the bakery and dragged herself inside. She shuffled through the dark until she reached the kitchen, and she flipped on the lights. She hefted a five-pound tub of double chocolate cookie dough from the cooler. With an ice cream scoop, she doled out a healthy portion and promptly shoved it into her mouth. Then she grabbed a pot from the rack and heavy cream from the cooler. She warmed the cream over medium heat, and while she waited for it to come to an almost boil, she dumped dark chocolate chunks into a glass bowl. As soon as the milk heated through, she poured it over the chocolate. Then she grabbed a fork and whipped the chocolate nearly to death, whipped it until the chocolate ganache clung to the tines and refused to let go.

Anna grabbed a wooden spoon and dipped it into the ganache. She opened her mouth wide and crammed the spoon inside. Chocolate collected in the corners of her mouth. She licked her lips, and like a gingerbread cookie whose legs had been snapped off, she sagged to the kitchen floor, still holding the spoon in her hand.

Two years
. Two years she had spent loving Baron Barker, encouraging him, partaking in every spontaneous adventure, supporting his every whim, even his three-week desire to write a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Now Baron’s latest adventure would take him across the country to one of the most prestigious architecture firms in the country, and he had obviously made no plans for her to go with him this time. Just the idea that he hadn’t even thought of putting her into the equation made her squeeze her eyes shut, wrap her arms around her bent legs, and sob into her knees.

˜˜˜˜

Half an hour later, Anna was still sitting on the floor when she heard someone walking down the stairs that led to her upstairs apartment. She felt a jolt as if she’d been injected with a shot of espresso. The dark, nutty scent of coffee filled the space. She lifted her head and looked at the clock.

“Anna,” Lily called as she rushed down the stairs. “Where are you? Anna!”

“In here,” she groaned, stretching her cramping legs out onto the cold tiles and letting her arms fall to her sides like limp noodles.

“Where?” Lily asked as she walked straight past Anna toward the darkened front room. “I’ve been knocking on your apartment door. I finally gave up and used my key. What are you doing down here? Baking?” Lily paused at the archway. “What did Baron say? You didn’t answer any of my calls. What happened? Do you hate the ring? Where
are
you?”

Lily rounded the island and stopped so quickly she pitched forward and her blonde curls spilled over her shoulders. “What in the world are you doing on the floor?”

Anna blinked up at her, feeling the sting of more tears in her eyes.

Lily rushed over and squatted beside her. “What’s wrong? Is the ring ugly? Did he give you his grandma’s hunk of junk? I’m sure we can convince him to get you something better.” Lily eyed the spoon in Anna’s hand and the half-empty bowl of solidified chocolate on the floor beside her. “Is it that bad?”

“He didn’t ask me anything, Lily,” Anna said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “He’s leaving tomorrow for two weeks. Said he’s going to find a place to live. They want him there before Thanksgiving.”

Lily’s brow furrowed. “Okay, so he didn’t ask you to marry him, but surely he’s going out there to find a nice place for y’all to live.”

“No,” Anna said. “He didn’t ask me
anything
.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “He didn’t ask me to go with him. I think it’s over. He’s leaving for his dream job, and he didn’t even think about what that would mean for us. In fact, he didn’t think about us at all. When I mentioned that to him and that maybe I thought we would go together, he looked like I’d just asked him to let me suck his soul out. Honestly, he looked so flabbergasted I would have laughed if I hadn’t wanted to cry so badly. Plus, he forgot today is our anniversary. I made his favorite meal and those stupid little chocolate turtles he loves, but none of it matters.” Her bottom lip quivered.

Lily sat down beside Anna and pressed her back against the bottom oven. “Well, this really sucks.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Lily said, “No, we’re not going to sit here and feel sorry for you. If Baron doesn’t know how awesome you are, then he’s a world-class idiot.” She stood and pulled Anna to her feet. “You clean this place up and go upstairs to take a bath. I’ll be back in less than an hour with pizza and drinks. I refuse to let you spend your anniversary alone and swimming in this pity pool.”

Anna nodded, but she felt like a puppet whose strings had been severed. Lily walked out of the kitchen, but before she left, she turned and said, “I’m sorry, Anna. I have half a mind to call Baron myself and give him the business, but I won’t for your sake. Let him spend the next two weeks thinking about how much life sucks without you. I’ll be back soon.”

˜˜˜˜

Anna’s apartment above the bakery was small, a one-bedroom, one-bathroom, cozy space that always smelled like fresh chocolate chip cookies and warm vanilla cake. Her queen-size bed was a marshmallow affair of soft blues and white with a riot of feather pillows of differing shapes and sizes. Cookbooks spilled from the bookshelves in her living room and found their way to the coffee table, beneath the table lamp next to the overstuffed couch, and to the bay window, where they leaned against the panes as though waiting for the moonrise. A vase of white daisies bloomed on the windowsill in the buttercream kitchen. Oatmeal cookies snuggled quietly beneath a glass-domed cake plate on the antiqued, petite table for two.

She crawled out of her claw foot tub and wrapped a towel around her as she shuffled into her bedroom. After she pulled a comb through her wet hair, she tugged on a pair of pajama pants decorated with pink and aqua cupcakes and a matching aqua tank top. Then she sat on the edge of her bed and sunk into the down comforter. What would a life without Baron look like? He hadn’t exactly
broken up
with her, but it was clear their lives were moving in different directions. He hadn’t even incorporated her into his future plans. She had plugged him into every aspect of her life, and he had only fit her into the present, which was ever-changing with Baron. He smiled at her from a picture on her dresser, his blue eyes shining, and an evening breeze drifted through the open window, toying with her damp hair. Anna shivered. A knock sounded on the front door. “It’s open,” Anna yelled as she walked out of her bedroom.

Lily waltzed in. “Your mama would kill you if she knew you left your door unlocked,” she said, resting a large pizza box on the kitchen counter. A paper bag and a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola were precariously wedged under one arm.

Anna twisted her hair into a knot before jamming two chopsticks into it. The aromas of roasted hazelnuts and supreme pizza quickly filled the small space and gave Anna a shove of energy. “I knew you were coming over,” she said with a shrug. Her cell phone vibrated on the kitchen table, and she snatched it.

“Is it Baron with an apology?” Lily asked.

“It’s Tessa,” Anna said through a sigh. “She says, ‘What are you and Lily doing tonight? Let’s get together.’”

Lily wrinkled her nose. “Not tonight,” she said. “I love Tessa, but it needs to be just us. Tell her you have plans.”