The Bachelor Baker Read online

  It was just in fun, Brian knew as he responded, holding her close. Just the thrill of the win. But she held on a bit longer than necessary and pulled back a bit slower, keeping her arms around his neck as he kept his around her waist. Her expression grew serious, her eyes luminous.

  Brian couldn’t look away and didn’t want to. Then everything around them—the park, the people—fell away and it was simply Melissa, him and this bright and shining moment. Expectation hummed between them and Brian felt himself drawing closer to her.

  Then Josh clapped him on the shoulder. “Congratulations, you guys. You two make a great team.”

  Brian blinked, then took a breath, feeling as if he had come up for air.

  “Yeah. Thanks,” he said, slanting Josh a quick glance, frustration vying with relief. He had come very close to kissing Melissa in front of most of the town of Bygones.

  “Good work, guys,” Lily said, running up to join them. “I thought you were going to fall for sure for a minute there, Melissa, but then Brian grabbed you and away you guys went.”

  “Yeah. It was fun,” Melissa agreed, lowering her hands from his shoulders, her hands shaking as she pressed them together.

  She looked down and was about to bend over to untie the scarf but Brian stopped her. “I’ll take care of that,” he said, disappointed at how husky his voice sounded.

  “So are you running any more races?” Lily asked.

  “No. I think we’ll end on a high note,” Melissa said.

  Brian worked at the knot and finally got it loose. He pulled the scarf off and as he straightened, he looked over at Melissa again, surprised to see her eyes on him.

  “Why don’t I take that scarf back?” Lily said, tugging it free from Brian’s grasp. “Brian, have you seen the community garden lately?”

  “Um, no.”

  “You should show him, Melissa. It’s coming along really well.”

  Melissa turned to Brian and he paused, uncertainty marring the moment. “Do you want to see it?”

  “Sure. Sounds good.”

  “Okay. Let’s go then.”

  Melissa gave him a quick smile, then started walking toward the garden and Brian followed along behind her. He glanced at her bare feet. “You forgot your sandals,” he said.

  She lifted her foot, wiggling it, then shrugged. “I don’t mind being barefoot,” she said. “Feels free. We can get my sandals after we see the garden. I don’t imagine I have to worry about them getting stolen,” she added.

  “Who knows? There have been a few incidents of theft going on in the town. Some vandalism.”

  “You’re right,” Melissa said, looking over her shoulder as if having second thoughts. She paused and for a moment Brian thought she was going back.

  And he didn’t want her to. He enjoyed being around her in this setting. Just the two of them.

  Then she shrugged. “I don’t think black zip-up sandals would be a big-ticket item for a thief.”

  “Not like power tools,” Brian returned with a sigh.

  “Have you heard anything more about them?” she asked, touching his arm in a gesture of sympathy.

  Brian shook his head. “Nope.” Then he looked down at her and decided he didn’t want to talk about power tools or Bygones or the bakery.

  Her hand slid down his arm. As it reached his hand, he gave one twist of his wrist and, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, caught her hand in his.

  And she let him.

  They walked in silence toward the garden following the shade of the trees lining the park, a gentle summer breeze easing the warmth of the afternoon sun. Their walk took a few twists and turns and soon the sound of the picnic was behind them and the garden was forgotten.

  “I’m glad we won the race,” Melissa finally said. “I didn’t want to get grass stains on my pants.”

  Brian chuckled, swinging her hand. “We worked as a team.”

  Melissa laughed and looked up at him. “We are a team. A good team. In a few other ways, too.”

  Brian stopped and faced her. “What do you mean?”

  “When you help me in the bakery, we work well together.”

  Brian’s only reply was a quick nod.

  She frowned at his response. “You don’t think we work well together?”

  They did but only when he did what she told him to do. “I don’t want to talk about the bakery,” he said quietly.

  “Why not?” Now it was her turn to frown.

  “Because right here, you’re just Melissa Sweeney and I’m just Brian Montclair.”

  Her frown deepened. “Isn’t that what we are in the bakery, too?”

  A stray breeze lifted a strand of her hair, dropping it across her face. He gave into an impulse and brushed it away, his touch gentle on her soft cheeks. “In the bakery, you’re the boss,” he said quietly. “I’m the employee, and I don’t like that situation so much.”

  “But you enjoy working in the bakery, right?”

  He lifted his shoulder in a shrug of resignation, his hand now resting on her shoulder. “I do enjoy it,” he said, realizing to his surprise that this was true. “I never thought I would.”

  “You were a most reluctant employee,” she said with a grin.

  “Not going to lie,” he admitted, “Wearing a pink-and-white-striped apron and baking bread was not what I saw as my future.”

  “And now?” Her eyes shone up at him with an expectant light, as if she hoped he shared her vision for the future.

  He weighed that thought a moment, not sure he wanted to tell her that he couldn’t hitch his wagon to her star. That he still had his own dreams of being in charge of his own life. Either by way of getting his job back at the factory, or starting up his mechanic shop again.

  He cut that thought off. His tools were still gone. The only other “or” was driving a truck in Junction City. He wasn’t that far. Not yet. He still was clinging to the hope that Mr. Randall would reopen the factory and his life would return to the normal he so craved.

  When that happened, he felt he could be on a better footing with Melissa.

  Then he looked down at her, his heart giving a slow thump as she smiled up at him. As he looked into her eyes, anticipation lingered. Then in spite of his own trepidation he did what seemed the most normal thing in the world at the moment.

  He bent his head, touched his lips to hers and kissed her.

  She released a gentle sigh, then kissed him back, twining her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, pulling her close.

  This was right, he thought, feeling her heart beating against his chest, stifling his own misgivings.

  Chapter Ten

  Melissa sat on her bed and leaned back against the wall, the screen of her phone glowing in the dark of her room.

  She should go to bed, she kept telling herself, but after Brian had brought her back to her apartment and had kissed her good-night, she fairly floated through the door.

  She had gotten ready for bed, smiling at her flushed cheeks, her mind ticking over the surprising events of the day.

  Then, as she walked into her bedroom, her phone dinged and when she checked it, she saw Lily had sent her some pictures from the picnic. So Melissa had dropped onto her bed, her finger flicking over the screen of her phone as she scrolled through the pictures. She and Brian getting ready to run, the two of them starting out, stumbling. Another one of Melissa almost falling. Then the last one, at the finish line.

  Her favorite one.

  In the photo her hair was a tangle of copper and her face was flushed as she looked up at Brian, who was looking down at her. His arm was still around her waist, his hair also mussed, falling over his forehead and glinting in the sun.

  But what caught her attention wa
s the grin on his face. Genuine, full of life and joy. And he was smiling down at her.

  Her heart gave another thump as she enlarged the picture so she could see only his face. Tiny shivers chased each other up her spine as she thought of his kiss later on, how he had held her close, how easily they fit together.

  They belonged together.

  No sooner had that thought formed than she felt the usual resistance. The usual caution. Did she dare take this further?

  It’s different, a contrary voice said. He’s different.

  And he was, she thought, tracing his face with her index finger. He was the first guy she had spent any time with, or been attracted to, who had a strong solid faith. Who had a solid grounding in family and community.

  That created a strong attraction, but it also made her afraid.

  He could be the one.

  She lowered the phone, dropping her head against the wall behind her as she looked around the tiny apartment. It was a bachelor suite, utilitarian and plain. It had come furnished, so she hadn’t put too many of her own touches here. A few pictures she had brought with her from her furnished apartment in St. Louis and a couple of knick-knacks she had gathered in her wanderings with her mother.

  Only the few things she could toss into a suitcase.

  This place, however, would be her home for longer than the six months her mother had ever stayed in one place. Longer than the year and a half she had spent in St. Louis after Jason left her hanging. The same amount of time she had spent going to school and even then she still moved every year as roommates came and went.

  Here, Melissa had a two-year commitment to her business and no intention of leaving after that.

  Bygones was her new home.

  And Brian?

  She tested the thought, as she sunk back into her pillow, her hand coming up to touch her lips.

  Brian was becoming intertwined in her life here in Bygones. In spite of their rocky start, or maybe because of it, he was becoming more important to her with every day.

  Her old fears and insecurities returned. Did she dare open herself up to him? Make herself vulnerable again?

  Her questions grew jumbled and scattered as sleep slowly beckoned.

  As she drifted off, the memories of Brian’s kiss lingered and teased.

  * * *

  “Did you truly make this?” Coraline held up a loaf of bread and glanced toward Brian.

  “I did,” he said, leaning on the bakery’s counter by the cash register. “Made that raisin bread, too.”

  Coraline gave him a smile full of satisfaction. “So, you’re settling in here then.”

  “I like the work,” he admitted. Then he added a self-conscious grin. “Plus me and Grandpa get all the bread and pastries we want for free.”

  And I spend every day with Melissa.

  That thought reverberated, bringing with it the usual confusion. Being with Melissa every day was probably the best, and at the same time the most distracting, part of this job.

  “I have to admit, it was a long shot putting your name on the list of people to work here,” Coraline said as she picked out another loaf of whole wheat bread. “But I’m glad to see my instincts about you were correct.”

  “What instincts were those?” Brian asked, puzzled.

  “That you can rise to any occasion given you.”

  Brian glanced behind him to where Melissa was working, humming while she put together another batch of pound cakes for the farmer’s market on Saturday.

  She looked up and smiled at him, and as it had every day since Sunday, awareness arced between them. He quickly turned away, hoping Miss Coraline didn’t see the flush working up his neck.

  “Almost any occasion, Miss Coraline,” he said wryly as he rang in her purchases.

  Miss Coraline frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

  Brian just shrugged, not sure how to articulate the mixture of emotions Melissa created in him. He was not sure he wanted to bring everything out in the open and examine it yet.

  For now, it seemed he and Melissa were moving somewhere. He just wasn’t sure where it would all end up. “At any rate, you and Melissa seem to be getting along. You two seemed cozy on Sunday,” Coraline pressed, pulling his attention back to her.

  “The picnic was fun.” The thought of the kiss he and Melissa had shared still created a quick lift of his heart. “We did well on the three-legged race.”

  “You two make a good team,” Miss Coraline said, handing him the correct amount for her bread purchase.

  Brian started. What Miss Coraline said echoed, almost verbatim, what Josh had said.

  A team? Hardly.

  “Thanks for coming to Sweet Dreams,” he said, handing her the bag. “Hope to see you again.”

  Coraline took the bag, her expression growing suddenly serious. “Melissa seems a lot happier than when she first came here,” she said, lowering her voice as she stepped closer to the counter, her expression softening. “I just want you to be careful with her. She’s a lot different from the girls I’ve seen you dating.” Miss Coraline’s voice took on a peculiar tone.

  “Are you warning me?” he asked, beating back a sharp tick of disappointment.

  Coraline shrugged. “Maybe. A little bit. You’ve always been drawn to a more traditional girl. Not the kind of girl who would choose a career.”

  Brian wasn’t sure what to make of her comment, but at the same time Miss Coraline’s words created a barb of unease that resurrected his own suppressed concerns. It was true that Melissa was far more independent than anyone he’d ever been attracted to. This bakery was important to her and she poured time and energy into it.

  Just then another thought occurred. Would this bakery be more important to her than anything else in her life?

  He shot a glance over his shoulder just as Melissa looked up from the batter she was pouring into the cake pans. They shared a smile and in spite of his concerns, Brian again felt that peculiar connection he had never shared with anyone else.

  He turned back to Coraline and gave her a noncommittal smile. “We’ll have to see how things develop, won’t we?”

  “Of course you will.” She held her bag close. “I’ll be thinking of you two and praying for you.”

  “Thank you,” he said, truly appreciative of the support.

  The door opened and Joe Sheridan came into the bakery, wearing his uniform, his radio squawking on his shoulder. He tipped his hat to Miss Coraline, then held the door open for her as he muttered a response into the radio’s mike.

  As the door closed behind her, Joe finished his conversation, then strode over to the counter.

  The solemn look on Joe’s face didn’t create confidence.

  “I’m guessing you haven’t found the tools,” Brian said.

  Joe shook his head. “Nor any lead on who could have taken them. But I finally have a police report ready so you can make a claim with the insurance company.”

  “That’s a start.”

  “Mr. Sheridan, how are you today?” Melissa came to the front of the bakery, wiping her hands on a towel.

  “Busier than a termite in a sawmill,” he said, tugging at his hat. “Seems to be a spate of vandalizing going on.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Melissa said.

  “Bygones is still a safe place,” Joe said, holding up a hand as if to reassure her. “We’ll get to the bottom of this—don’t you worry.”

  “I’m sure you will,” Melissa replied.

  “In the meantime my wife sent me here with a list of things I need to pick up for some party she’s having on Friday.” Joe pulled a paper out of his pocket and glanced at it, then frowned. “Nope, not that one.”

  While he looked for the list, Melissa laid a hand on Brian’s arm. “I
’m going home to sleep for an hour or so. When Amanda comes, get her to mix up another batch of gingersnap cookies and put in that order I pulled together.”

  Brian glanced down at her, the sight of her drawn face creating a surprising upswing of protectiveness. “You go. Get some rest,” he said giving her a careful smile. “I’ll keep an eye on the loaves.”

  She frowned a moment. “Do you think I made too many? Are you sure this will work?”

  “What will work?” Joe asked, holding up a bedraggled and wrinkled piece of paper Brian suspected was the stray grocery list.

  “We’re putting up a table at the Concordia Farmer’s Market this Saturday,” Brian told him.

  “I hear that’s a good market. Very well attended.” Joe grinned at Melissa. “And your baked goods are the best I’ve ever eaten.” He shot a quick glance around, then leaned forward, holding his hand up by his mouth as if shielding what he had to say. “Don’t let my wife know I said that.”

  The sound of Melissa’s laughter brought a smile to Brian’s face. “I won’t tell a soul.” The she turned her smile on him. “I’ll see you later,” she said, then left.

  Brian watched her go, but as he took care of Joe’s order, Miss Coraline’s words niggled back into his mind.

  You’ve always been drawn to a more traditional girl.

  That was true enough, but how much different was Melissa? Surely someday she would want to have children. To be home with them while her husband went off to work, right?

  He tried to put a brake on his thoughts. He was running ahead of himself and his own warnings to take things as they came with Melissa.

  Yet as he helped Joe with his order he couldn’t help but wonder what Melissa would choose if the time came. Her bakery or a family.

  * * *

  “Best banana loaf you’ll ever taste.” Brian presented the cellophane-packaged loaf as one would a bottle of fine wine to the young woman standing in front of the table Melissa and Brian had set up at the farmer’s market.

  “I want one of those, Mommy,” the little girl with her curly hair barely peeking over the table said and pointed a chubby hand at the cake pops Melissa had displayed beside a bouquet of white lilies and pink gerberas.