Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 23426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
My head is swirling with all of the tasks by the time Trish has completed one Danish.
“The Danishes are the easiest thing to make in the bakery, so you can start with them.”
My mouth drops. That’s the easiest thing to make in the bakery?! I’m so screwed.
“Got it?” Trish asks.
“Um, yeah. I think so.”
“Good. Make nineteen.”
“Nineteen?!” I nearly screech.
“Actually, make twenty,” she says as she puts hers into the oven. “I’m going to eat this one.”
Twenty. Twenty Danishes. I’m in way over my head.
I spot my tattoo and take a deep breath.
Be bold, Abby. Be bold.
“No problem, boss,” I say in a firm confident voice. “Coming right up.”
“I knew I liked you,” Trish says with a smile before hurrying over to an oven that’s beeping. She’s not going to like me so much when she sees the twenty sorry mangled Danishes that come out of the oven.
I look at all of the ingredients laid out in front of me and take a deep breath. Trish gave me a wrinkled-up paper with the recipe written on it. It’s all scribbled in runny black ink and I can barely read it.
I glance at Scott, hoping he can help me. He’s drawing stick figures with his finger into the flour poured on the counter.
I guess I’m on my own.
I shouldn’t have taken this job. I’ve never baked anything before that didn’t come out of a box and had max two other ingredients.
“Stop,” I whisper to myself, trying to stop myself from spiraling. “It’s a fucking blueberry Danish. You can do it.”
I roll up my sleeves and get to work.
Chapter Five
Julian
“Will you get away from the fucking window?” Colin grunts.
Aiden laughs as he looks over an old map of Bearskin Mountain. He’s always studying one map or another. The guy is obsessed with them.
Almost as obsessed as I am with the new girl in town.
I ignore them both and stare out the window at the bakery across the street. I’ve been waiting all morning to go in. I was going to head over there first thing, but Aiden said I should let her focus on working considering it was her first day on the job instead of going over there and distracting her.
It’s been torturous, but I haven’t gone over yet.
“You don’t understand,” I tell them as I watch a woman go into the bakery. “You didn’t witness the chemistry between us. It was magical.”
Aiden chuckles. “Magical? What did you do with our Julian?”
“It was magical,” I repeat as I glare at him. “Colin, you understand.”
He nods. He was in love with Molly since he was a kid. They dated for years and then she broke his heart when she left to study to be a vet in London. They got back together last year and they had a baby a few months ago.
“Aiden doesn’t know because he hasn’t met his soul mate yet,” Colin says as he leans down and scratches behind Charlie’s ear. The bloodhound drops onto his back with a happy groan.
“Soul mate,” Aiden says with a laugh as he traces his fingertip along a river. “What a ridiculous concept.”
Last week, I would have agreed with him. But I’ve met mine and now I know that they’re very real.
“Hello!” The door opens and Molly walks in with their baby Stacy. She’s six months old and absolutely adorable.
Colin rushes over and grabs his daughter. He kisses Molly on the lips and takes her bag.
“Sorry to barge in on you like this,” Molly says, looking a little flustered. “Tyler Becker from the Greene Mountain Stables called and he needs me to look at a horse. Do you mind taking Stacy for an hour or two?”
Colin is tossing Stacy up in the air and catching her. I can’t help but smile at her cute laugh despite the fact that my insides are all twisted up.
“Of course not,” Colin says as he blows a raspberry on Stacy’s stomach. She squeals in delight as she grabs Colin’s big bushy beard. “I’ll never say no to spending time with my little pumpkin.”
“Thank you,” Molly says as she pulls out a metal tin from her bag. “Sorry guys. Here’s some cookies for the trouble.”
She tosses them onto the table. Aiden leaps on it, but my stomach is in so many knots that I can’t even eat.
“What’s wrong with him?” Molly asks when she sees me staring out the window like a lost puppy.
“He’s in love,” Aiden says with a mouthful of cookie.
“With the new baker,” Colin adds.
“They’re ‘soul mates,’” Aiden says with those annoying little finger quotations.
I turn and glare at him. “We are.”
“When did this all happen?” Molly asks.
I tell her about the most amazing moment of my life. She’s got a big smile on her face, but it’s not a mocking one like Aiden and Colin were giving me when I told them. It’s real.