The Baker's Man (11 page)

I don’t think they’re gypsies. They look and sound like Italians to me. They’ve passed by my shop for the past four days. They always stop and stare, but they never come inside. I’ve tried to smile at them to show them that not everyone in town is afraid of their strangeness.

This morning, Mildred ran into the bakery during the afternoon lull and dropped a tin box on my counter. She begged me to open it. Her eyes were so wild I felt sure she’d caught an animal, and I hesitated. Would Mildred be crazy enough to put a snake in a box and bring it inside my bakery? I opened it to find sand—glowing, golden sand. She said the gypsies had given it to her. They told her it was mystical, that it could bring life to the lifeless.

I laughed, and Mildred grew angry. She said the gypsies told her the story of the men in their band. Not a one of them had been born naturally. They were all created using the mystical sand. I’d seen the gypsy men. They had eyes the color of licorice and raven hair that reflected the sun like obsidian. They were handsome in an exotic way, but they seemed no different from ordinary men.

I told Mildred they were obviously spinning tales, nothing more. She threw a tantrum that I was thankful no one else was around to witness. She said she wanted to create a man, said they’d given her a recipe as an example. I unfolded the recipe and laughed. “You can’t make a man,” I told her. Her anger turned to desperation, and she begged me to agree that we could at least try.

I only agreed to the ridiculous plan so she would leave because I knew the after-school children would be coming soon. Tonight, unless I can change her mind, we will make Mildred a man. In the morning, I’ll make her say I was right.

Anna refolded the letter.
Gypsies in Mystic Water
? When Anna thought of gypsies, she thought of Romania, of men, women, and children traveling in covered wagons, dancing around fires with their hoop earrings and bangles shining in the light. Her mind’s version of a gypsy was likely skewed by movies and books, and she wasn’t even sure that calling someone a gypsy was entirely proper anymore. Had they made Grandpa Joe that night? Or was he made after Mildred’s man? Anna grabbed for another letter, but her stomach growled.

After making herself a grilled cheese sandwich oozing with two American cheese slices on smashed flat, buttered white bread, she curled on the couch and wondered about Eli. What were he and Tessa talking about? Would she ask questions he couldn’t answer? Would she get him drunk on wine and find out he could kiss like a dream? Her stomach knotted, but she shoved the sandwich into her mouth. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed Lily’s number for the fourth time. It went straight to her voicemail. Anna didn’t leave another message, and she debated sending another text. Maybe Lily was busy or maybe she was upset with Anna for not taking fifteen minutes to hear her out.

Anna did what she always did when she was upset. She baked. As she stirred the batter for double fudge caramel brownies, she reread the contract for the bakery in Wildehaven Beach. When she was finished reading that contract, she flipped through the contract on the Clarke House. How could two dreams be so far apart? Anna poured the batter in a greased baking dish and slid the brownies into the oven. Then she sat at the table and used her finger to clean the remaining chocolate from the bowl.

When Anna had eaten three brownies, drank a can of Coca-Cola, and was bleary-eyed, she finally decided it was time to call it a night. Eli still hadn’t come home, and it was nearing ten o’clock. She was tempted to call Tessa to see how their evening was going, but what if Tessa answered out of breath and giggly like a teenager in the backseat of a car on Lover’s Pointe? She climbed into bed with a stomach ache and fell asleep listening for the sounds of Eli’s footfalls on the stairs.

9
Mirror Glaze

Anna awoke before her alarm clock went off and tiptoed to her bedroom door. Eli was asleep on the couch, one arm thrown over his head and both his legs dangling off the edge. He didn’t look comfortable at all. She decided she’d offer him her bed and she’d take the couch until they could figure out better living arrangements. Maybe she could buy the Clarke House, and Eli could have his own bedroom there. The second bedroom was roomy with a lot of light, and he could choose his own paint color. Instantly she wanted to throttle herself.
Are you seriously entertaining the thought of buying a house with Eli
?
It’s official
.
You’re losing your mind
.

Anna changed for work and glanced at her cell phone. Baron still hadn’t called. Was he so busy he couldn’t spare a single minute? She imagined him wandering through vineyards smiling in the sun. In Anna’s mind, a Californian woman meandered beside him, and they shared jokes about architecture and spontaneity. Anna felt as though she’d eaten a spoiled egg. She crept down the stairs and eased the door shut on the bakery. This time she would let Eli sleep in.

She started the coffee and turned on the ovens. Saturdays meant a hodgepodge of chocolate treats—chocolate peppermint cocoa, chocolate flavored coffees, éclairs, tarts, turtles, truffles, cookies, fudge, and mini cakes. Chocoholics came in on Saturdays just to indulge. Anna put on a small pot of French vanilla coffee especially for Eli. While she was whipping up a batch of fudge, Eli came down the steps.

“I’m late for work. Does this mean I’m fired?” Eli asked with a sleepy grin. He grabbed his apron from the wall and looped it over his neck.

“Possibly,” she said. She grabbed the small carafe and poured him a cup of coffee. “Good morning.”

Surprise flitted over Eli’s face, and then he smiled at her. Her chest expanded, and she sucked in a sweet, sugary breath. In these moments, Anna could pretend Eli was just a man who had walked into her bakery and not someone who’d stepped out of her oven in the middle of the night. He seemed so real—so real she wanted to run her hand down his arm to see if it still made her tingle. Did he make Tessa tingle too? She cleared her throat.

“How was last night?” Anna said, returning to the fudge on the stove. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I used my stealthy ninja skills,” he teased. “It was fun. Tessa’s a nice girl. She has terrible taste in color though.”

Anna’s shoulders relaxed.
Tessa’s a nice girl. Not a super sexy woman
. Guilt piggybacked on Anna’s relief. She had a boyfriend, which meant it was completely selfish for her to want Eli for herself too. She poured the fudge into a square ceramic dish. “Tell me she didn’t choose gray or beige.”

“Orange.” Eli gathered ingredients to make the turtles. “Gumdrop orange. I think it glows in the dark.”

Anna shook her head. “Weren’t you supposed to help her pick out a color?”

Eli held up his hands in surrender. “There’s only so much a man can do when a woman makes up her mind.”

“Does it look like the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?”

“Why yes, Linus, it does.” Eli drank from his mug.

Anna chuckled. It felt good to share easy conversation with Eli again. She tested the chocolate peppermint cocoa. The rich, dark liquid warmed her tongue and put a shine in her green eyes as she swallowed. She sighed with a smile on her lips. “I would live inside this if I could.”

“You and Willy Wonka,” he said.

Anna set her mug in the sink and gathered ingredients for the truffles. Today she thought she’d make a variety filled with dark chocolate, raspberry, peanut butter, or almond cream. “I wish he was real.”

“I bet you wish you had a golden ticket too,” Eli said. Anna looked over her shoulder and they shared a smile that made her insides feel hot and gooey like the center of a fresh cinnamon bun.

˜˜˜˜

Tessa called mid-morning and asked if Anna was free to have lunch with her mom and Lily. Anna had just enough time to whip up Mrs. Andrews’ favorite dessert, banana pudding. At a quarter until noon, Anna breathed in the scent of day-old coffee. She stepped out of the backroom to see Lily and Tessa talking to Eli. Tessa looked like she’d been riding the Ferris wheel at the fair, all rosy-cheeks and glossy eyes. In contrast, Lily had subtle shadows smudged beneath her lower lids, and her blonde curls spiraled out of control, barely contained behind a pink headband.

Anna joined them. “I’ll be back in an hour or two. Call me if you need anything,” she said to Eli.

Tessa touched Eli’s arm. “Anna, you have to swing by and see the office. Eli did the best painting job. He was such a great help.”

Lily didn’t say anything, and she wouldn’t meet Anna’s gaze. “He said you picked a nice, bright color.”

“October Orange,” Tessa said. “I think it’s actually called Tangerine, but October Orange sounds better.”

Lily made a strangled noise in her throat and said, “I’m going to get some air.”

While Tessa thanked Eli again, Anna followed Lily outside. “You okay?”

Lily shook her head. “I’ve been pukey all morning. No offense, but the smells in the bakery were making my stomach turn.”

“That’s not good. Why don’t you go home? Tessa and I can go to lunch.”

Lily saw her reflection in the bakery windows, and she tried unsuccessfully to pat down her hair. “It’ll pass.”

Tessa leaned on the door and slipped outside. “Eli is so great, Anna. He’s not like other guys.”

“I wonder why,” Lily said cryptically, and Anna narrowed her eyes, but Tessa seemed oblivious. They climbed into Tessa’s car and drove to the Andrews’ home.

˜˜˜˜

Carolyn Andrews’ skin was pale and pulled too tightly over her thin frame, but her hazel eyes were alert and bright, and her smile was easy. They sat comfortably in the airy sunroom, which was filled with late October sunlight without the chill of the outdoors. The tropical plants flourished, and the gray, overweight housecat lounged beneath Carolyn’s chair.

“My three favorite girls,” she said with a genuine smile. “I’m so glad you were all free for lunch today. It’s been too long. I made chicken salad. Tessa, do you mind grabbing the lunch from the kitchen?” Carolyn adjusted herself in the chair. “Lily, you look peaky today.”

Lily cleared her throat and rubbed at her collarbone. “I’m okay. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Anna felt a twinge of guilt. She and Lily still hadn’t talked about whatever Lily wanted to share, and clearly something was wrong with her best friend.

“I heard Baron got the job in California,” Carolyn said.

Anna resisted the urge to sigh. Hearing his name made her want to rub away the ache that throbbed in her chest. “Yes ma’am.”

“I never thought the two of you were an exceptionally good match,” she said. “Nor were he and Tessa.”

Lily’s head popped up. “Tessa?” She glanced at Anna.

Carolyn smiled and stared out the window as though she was recalling a fond memory. Her dark hair was shot full of gray now, and it was impossible to miss the frailty in her movements. “He moved here about a year before you came back home,” she said, looking at Anna. “He was this handsome, adventurous boy so full of life and energy. He needed a place to live, so of course he stopped by our office. Tessa helped him find a place, and I knew from the first moment she saw him that she was crazy about him. She’d never smiled so much in her life.”

Anna’s throat felt tight. Tessa had never once mentioned she had wanted to be with Baron. “He loves that townhouse,” Anna said stupidly. Lily looked as shocked about the news as Anna felt.

“She pined over him for the better part of a year, and then
poof
you came home, and he could see nothing but you.” Carolyn smiled at Anna. “But that’s the way life is, full of unexpected entrances and exits. I know you’ll miss him.” She leaned over and patted Anna’s hand. “But he was much too flighty for you. I’m surprised you tolerated him for so long,” she added with flick of her wrist. “You need a different sort of man.”

Anna nodded, but she couldn’t swallow the jawbreaker-size knot in her throat. Tessa breezed in with the sandwiches and chips on a tray. When she returned with the lemonade, they ate, and no one mentioned Tessa’s year-long crush on Baron Barker.

˜˜˜˜

Eli ran the bakery with ease and looked relaxed when Anna returned from lunch. She’d barely stepped onto the black and white tiles when Tessa barreled in behind her, nearly smacking her with the door.

“Oh, sorry, Anna,” she said. “I think it’d be a great idea for all of us to go out tonight. Maybe Fred’s Diner? Lily said she and Jakob could go.”

Anna noticed that Tessa was only looking at Eli. He turned his blue eyes on Anna. “We don’t have any plans, do we? No cakes to make, no parties to prep for?”

“Are you including me?” Anna asked.

Tessa giggled—
giggled like a teenager
—and smacked Anna in the arm. “Of course I’m including you. Both of you.”

“I’m in,” Eli said, and Tessa’s grin stretched so wide Anna worried her face might split apart like a plastic Easter egg.

“Easy there,” she mumbled. Then she nodded and said, “Me too.”

“Great! Let’s meet at seven.” Tessa said and rushed out of the bakery.

“Did you feed her Pixie Sticks for lunch? She’s
really
excited about something,” Eli said.

About you.
“How did we do today? Did you win new customers?” Anna eyed the half-empty cases. “Maybe I should whip up a few more batches today.”

“The éclairs were a big hit,” he said. “People couldn’t quit bragging about how good they were.” He smirked at her.

“You made the éclairs.”

“I know.”

Anna rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen to get to work. She knew Eli followed her when she breathed in the scents of spicy chocolate and warm, sticky sugar. She watched him gather the tools they’d need. He looked real enough, solid, human, and her mama was right—he was too handsome. She
liked
him, and she didn’t want him to be anywhere else other than in the bakery with her.

Anna wasn’t stupid. She knew Tessa liked Eli because she hadn’t seen Tessa this giddy over a boy since David Newman moved to Mystic Water in the sixth grade. But wasn’t Eli hers? Didn’t she make him because Baron was a jerk? Baron, who hadn’t called in two days. Baron, who Tessa also had wanted to be hers. Anna was pulled from her thoughts when Eli mashed his pointer finger between her eyebrows.