The Baker's Man (5 page)

Anna bagged four muffins and handed them over to Mr. Jones. “Will that be all?” she asked. She reached out to grab Eli, but he slipped away and headed straight for the coffee urns in the corner behind the counter.

“Better keep an eye on him,” Mr. Jones said to her when he handed her exact change.

Anna watched Eli carry the first urn to the backroom, and he made sure to smile at her when he passed. “I’m sorry, what’s that?” she asked.

Mr. Jones leaned toward her, and his readers slipped down his nose. “I said you better watch that one,” he repeated, pointing toward the backroom with an arthritic finger. “If he can charm old lady Dotson, then he’ll be charming all the ladies in town by the end of the week. That includes you,” Mr. Jones said with a playful smile.

“Me?” Why did her voice sound like she was doing an impersonation of Minnie Mouse? “I have a boyfriend, Mr. Jones. You remember Baron.”

Mr. Jones waved a dismissive hand and grabbed his bag. “Just the same. That one has his eyes on you.”

The bakery door opened and brought in the smell of burning logs and charcoal on a grill. Anna’s eyes fell on Thomas Harper, the local college’s biology professor. He smiled at her before falling into the back of the line. Normally, Anna would have been pleased to see his familiar face, but today wasn’t one of those days. Thomas, Baron, and Jakob were all good friends, and Anna enjoyed their morning conversations, but Eli added a whole new dimension to everything. She could hear Eli moving around in the backroom. She hoped she could get through the rest of the customers before he reentered the shop. However, just as Thomas stepped up to the counter, Eli walked out carrying a coffee urn.

“Good morning,” Anna said. “Want your usual bear claw and regular Italian brew?”

A deep line creased between Thomas’ dark brows. “Who’s that?”

“Hmm?” Anna asked, but she felt a wave of heat roll over her as Eli passed by behind her. She tried to hold her smile steady for Thomas. “New employee.”

“I didn’t even know you were looking for help,” Thomas said, toying with the gold band on his left hand. “What happened to the young girl from the college? Josie, wasn’t it?”

“Oh, she’s great. Took a few weeks off for midterms and then fall break. Your usual?” she asked again. Thomas’ smile was tight, and his eyes followed Eli’s movements. Was Thomas being overprotective of her? He obviously hadn’t heard the news that Baron was ditching her for the Pacific Ocean and picturesque, rolling hills covered in vineyards.

“So, who’s he?” Thomas asked, watching the movement over Anna’s right shoulder.

Before Anna could answer, she felt Eli’s hand on her back. Her mind fogged over, and her heart pumped thick, hot blood down to her toes. She couldn’t focus on anything except the feel of his hand against her. Her bottom lip drooped open.

Eli held out his other hand to Thomas. “Eli,” he said.

“Thomas Harper. One of Anna’s usual customers. Every day actually.”

“Dedicated. I like that. How are you? Italian brew, right?” Eli asked, handing over a travel coffee cup with a lid. He removed his hand from Anna’s back.

Thomas took the offered cup and thanked him, but Anna blinked and immediately saw confusion in Thomas’ dark eyes. The air was rimmed with the smell of burning leaves, and she coughed. As quickly as she could, she grabbed a bear claw from the display case and wrapped it.

“One bear claw to go,” she said, struggling to inhale a full breath.

“I think I’ll sit awhile,” Thomas said, and he thanked Anna for the pastry.

“Sure. Great. Sit for as long as you like. I’ll just be here…baking or something,” she babbled.
No, go away, Thomas. Go away. Can’t you see I’m losing my marbles here
?

Since no one else was in line, Anna scurried to the backroom to fill a glass with ice water and to splash at least half of it on her face. She blindly reached for a paper towel to dry off and then she chugged some of the water.

“He’s territorial,” Eli said much too close to Anna’s ear. She yelped, tossing the rest of her water straight into the air. It rained all over the countertop, and she and Eli danced out of its path. Eli’s hand was on her arm, and she wiggled away from him.

“Stop doing that,” Anna said, pressing her back against the wall. Eli grinned, and the sight of his smile tugged something deep in her stomach.

“Doing what? I thought we were having a conversation,” he said.

“Stop
touching
me,” she said, waving her hands in front of her. “I can’t think when you do that.”

Eli’s grin widened, and he took a step closer. Her hands fell to her sides, and her too-wide green eyes watched him.

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” he said, and his voice was thick like caramel.

Anna’s heart pounded hard, and she pressed her hands to her chest in case it burst out. Eli took another step toward her, and she made the mistake of looking up at his face. His blue eyes undid her, so she darted away from him, putting the island in between them.

“No!” she said. “You stay on your side.”

Eli leaned his head back and laughed loudly. It echoed through the backroom and out into the bakery, and Anna’s heart leapt at the sound of it. The front door opened, and the bell jingled. A briny breeze blew through the shop, ruffling Anna’s haphazard ponytail. Tiny piles of powdered sugar tornadoed across the island. A man’s voice said hello to Thomas.

“Baron,” she whispered and scrunched her face up. “Someone stick a fork in me. I’m done.”

“I’ll help him,” Eli said, moving toward the archway.

Anna jumped in front of him like a ninja and held her hands up, ready to karate chop him if she needed to. “No way, José,” she argued. “You stay here.
Please
.”

Eli held his hands up in surrender. “I’ll stay put, but only because you said please.”

Anna exhaled and stepped through the archway. Baron stood at the counter, staring at the pastries in the display case. “Hey,” she said. A jar full of jumping jelly beans ricocheted around in her stomach.

He looked up at her with sleepy eyes. She couldn’t read his expression, and she fought the urge to jump over the counter and wrap her arms around him.

“Donuts look good,” he said.

“Want a few for the road?”

Anna was already sliding the glass door open when Baron reached across the counter and grabbed her hand. He gave it a squeeze, and she squeezed back. “About yesterday,” he began, “I still don’t know what to say really. I had no idea you wanted to…”

“Wanted to what?” she asked, unwilling to help ease the awkwardness she heard in his words. She needed to hear him say it, to hear him say again that he hadn’t thought of her, of
them
.

He released her hand. “That you wanted to go with me, that you wanted to get
married
,” he said too loudly. “You’ve never even mentioned wanting to get married.”

Anna frowned, and her face reddened. She could see Thomas’ attention was locked on them. “That’s what normal people do, Baron,” she said in a voice only loud enough for Baron to hear. “We’ve been together two years.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“And you want to get married?” he asked.

Anna wished his voice didn’t sound so strained, so tight. “Yes. Maybe.
I don’t know
. I know I love you. I wanted to be with you.”

Baron grabbed her hand again and twined his fingers with hers. “I love you, Anna-Banana. Wait, what do you mean,
wanted
to be with me? That’s past tense.”

Anna sighed and closed her eyes. She inhaled the faint smell of the ocean; it seemed a thousand miles away. “You’re leaving, and I’m staying, and you didn’t even once think that I might want to go with you.”

“For this two-week trip? I didn’t even know they were sending me a ticket,” he said, throwing his hands up.

“No, not
this
trip, Baron,” Anna argued in a whisper. “Just in general. You’re leaving me. That will make us past tense—” The anger pushed the tears aside.

“Hey, Eli,” Thomas called from a table for two near the windows, “could I get a refill?”

Like the surprise crouched in a jack-in-the-box, Eli sprung through the archway and strode toward Thomas’ lifted cup. Baron turned his entire body to watch Eli walk across the room.

“Who the hell is that?” Baron asked without lowering his voice.

Eli walked behind the counter and filled Thomas’ cup. “Hey, man,” he said to Baron with an easy smile. “I’m Eli, a college friend of Anna’s. I’m helping out around here for a while, and she’s letting me crash at her place.” He motioned with his head toward the upstairs apartment. He carried the coffee to Thomas and returned to Anna’s side.

Baron said nothing, and Anna wished so hard for a black hole to appear beneath her feet and swallow her. A vein throbbed in the center of her forehead. Baron looked at Anna, asking her questions with his eyes, but her mind was full of nothing but the wind, blowing straight through her ears.

“Is that a joke?” Baron asked Eli when Anna blinked at him in silence.

“Which part?” Eli asked, leaning casually against the back of the display case.

Baron’s eyes narrowed. The bakery door opened, and a bone-cold wind flooded the room and blew the loose hair from Anna’s face. Thomas walked out whistling the theme song from
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
.

“Anna, what the hell is going on? I’ve never even heard of this guy, yet he’s
staying
with you? You live in a one-bedroom apartment—”

“It’s a good size bedroom. Plenty of room,” Eli said.

Eli nudged Anna with his elbow as though they were sharing an inside joke. She gawked at him. Baron squared his shoulders, and the air in the room sizzled like an electrical storm full of heat lightning and silence.

The bell jingled again. Tessa Andrews stepped into the bakery with one hand clamped onto her drab green purse straps and one hand lifted into a low wave.

“Good morning,” she said and smiled. Her short, light brown hair was tucked behind her ears, curling around her lobes. Her brown peacoat was buttoned all the way to the top, and she’d wrapped a beige scarf around her neck and shoved it down between the lapels of her jacket.

“Welcome to the circus,” Anna whispered.

“Hey, Baron, I wasn’t expecting to see you here. My mom ran into your mom at the hospital, and she said you were leaving for California,” Tessa said with a sweet smile. She touched Baron’s arm, and only then did he turn and look at her. “Congratulations on your new job. You must be so excited. And you, too, Anna,” she said, looking at her friend.

“Thanks, Tessa,” Baron mumbled.

Then, her eyes slid to Eli. Her brow furrowed, and she lowered her hand from Baron’s arm. “I didn’t know you were hiring a new employee,” she said to Anna. “Hi, I’m Tessa.”

“Eli. Nice to meet you, Tessa,” he said.

“Oh, he just blew in from out of town last night to Anna’s place,” Baron said. “Is that why you left early?”

Anna’s mouth fell open in indignation. “You
know
why I left early.”

Tessa adjusted her purse straps and looked at Anna. “I thought you didn’t feel like doing anything last night. You didn’t say you had out-of-town company.” Tessa’s mouth turned into a disappointed frown.

Anna shook her head. “Eli wasn’t here last night,” she said to Baron. “Lily was at my house. You can ask her.”

“He said he’s crashing at your place. I assumed the slumber party had already started,” Baron sniped.

“Slumber party,” Eli said with a wide grin. “I like the image that conjures.”

Baron’s jaw clenched.

“You and Lily hung out last night?” Tessa asked. “Why didn’t you call me? You know I wanted to do something.”

Anna’s head throbbed. “I didn’t feel well.”

“But Lily was there,” Tessa said.

“Listen, Tessa, it was a bad night,” Anna snapped. She pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled. “I’m sorry. I’ll call you later today, okay?”

Tessa looked at Eli and Baron one last time, and then she skittered out of the door, letting in a smoky wind on her way out.

“Don’t you have a plane to catch?” Eli asked, pushing away from the display case and stepping so close to Anna their arms touched.

Baron snapped his arm out across the counter toward Eli so quickly that Anna gasped, but she managed to shove him away with one hand. “Baron, no!” She slapped her other hand to Eli’s chest and shouted, “Get in the back now!” When he didn’t budge, she glared at him. “
Now
!”

Eli pressed his hand over the top of hers for a few seconds, and her vision blurred. Then he turned and disappeared into the backroom. She exhaled loudly and turned to Baron.

“What the hell is going on, Anna?” Baron demanded.

“Nothing. He’s just…passing through,” she answered, using Eli’s lie because what else could she say?
Oh, he’s no one special. I made him last night. He’s actually made of flour and sugar and fairy dust my grandma hid in a box. I baked him, and
voilà
, he’s a real boy!

“Passing through,” Baron repeated flatly. “And apparently staying in your apartment. When were you going to tell me about him?”

“He just showed up today, first thing this morning actually,” she said quickly. “He’s harmless.” Her stomach tightened. Was he? “And I was going to tell you.”
Eventually
.

Baron shoved his hand through his hair. “I’m leaving the state, and a stranger is staying with my girlfriend. This is fantastic news,” he said sarcastically. “I don’t like him.”

Anna walked around the counter and touched Baron’s arm. He visibly relaxed. “He’s a friend,” she said even though
friend
didn’t quite seem like the correct word to describe Eli. “You’re going to miss your flight if you don’t get going.”

“What about us in the past tense?” he asked, reaching out to smooth his hand down her messy ponytail.

Anna’s chest tightened, and she pressed her lips together. “This trip will give you some time to think about us.”

Baron nodded. Then his eyes drifted to the archway. “What about him? How long is Frankenstein going to be staying with you?”

“Frankenstein?” Anna’s stomach rolled, making her feel like she’d eaten too much raw cookie dough. She glanced over her shoulder, but Eli wasn’t standing there.