With Love

Chapter One

August 18th, 2021

Hello there!

Reminder: Updates will be every week on Wednesdays since this used to be my updating schedule for my last two books!

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My steps quickened along the sidewalk, the adrenaline running through my blood, forcing me to move faster. People were crowding the space, spread out, and walking at a leisurely pace. The delay set my blood boiling and the urge to trip someone and push them aside increased with each person. For so early in the morning, you would think they would be in a rush to get to their own jobs.

"No, please walk slower," I snapped, clicking my tongue loudly. The grandma looked behind her, eyebrows raised straight to her hairline. In response, I gave her the biggest fake smile I could muster before dropping it completely.

The destination stood barely a block away, and I risked walking on the road rather than deal with slow people any longer and gave them a subtle glare as I picked up my pace. The sign above the door rattled when I yanked the door open, causing a bell to sound my entrance.

"I'm here!" I yelled out, raising both hands in the air as I had just won a marathon.

Silence. No one acknowledged my entrance. They only continued stacking the bakery counter and shelves behind them with empty white cardboard boxes.

"Um, okay?" Mitchell, one of the teen employees, barely glanced in my direction before wiping down the small circular metal tables in the corner.

"Ana!" Gus, the owner of the bakery, exclaimed from the kitchen, wiping his hands on his apron before engulfing me in a bear hug, pressing that dirty apron into my black t-shirt. Fantastic.

My eyes darted to the clock hanging over the door leading to the kitchens and I pursed my lips in silent fury. "I'm sorry I'm late. There were some stragglers on the streets this morning," I informed him with an apologetic smile.

"Ana, you're barely two minutes late, you will live," Gus admonished me with a shake of his head and a comforting pat on the arm. Try telling that to my father.

"Where do you want me?" I asked, brushing past his shoulder, grabbing my name-tagged apron off the hook, and tying it around my waist.

Dawn, Gus' wife, wiped her hands on a dishtowel as she walked out of the backroom. "Help Marie with stocking the shelves, we open at six and we've still got a lot to do," she ordered, gently pushing Gus in the kitchen's direction and patted my arm softly, taking my bag with her to the back office where she spent most of her time running this place.

Dawn Bakers had been in business since before my birth and were one of the most popular places in the middle of nowhere, California to this day.

This little Italian bakery had been the first place I visited when I moved to Patterson three years ago. The town had a population of twenty-two thousand, which stood staggeringly low compared to where I grew up in Manhattan.

But for once in my life, I was happy. I was free.

For however long I could be.

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"Ana, your shift is over," Dawn announced from the office as I walked by holding a fresh batch of custard tarts.

I dropped off the tarts at the front counter and darted back to the office to grab my personal items.

"So, what are the plans for tonight?" Dawn asked, eyeing me over her glasses. "Are you seeing that boy again?" She asked slyly, raising one of her eyebrows.