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Chapter 15

Fifteen

                “Mom, I said I could handle it. I know how to mix batter with a spoon,” I huffed, annoyed that my mother was, as usual, trying to do everything herself. I was pretty sure the doctor didn’t mean for her to take on the same amount of work—if not more with Karen’s absence—this early after her heart attack.

                “Roxanna, I’d rather do it myself. Would you go check on the orders up front?”

                I sighed, knowing there was no way my mom would back down in the kitchen. I did as she asked and remained up front with a teenage employee who was on her phone almost the entire time. By this point, I’d rather be ignored than pestered by my mother.

                Fortunately, the bakery was closing at one o’clock today. Due to the some important town hall meeting, my mother decided to close the bakery much earlier than usual so she could attend. And she certainly didn’t trust me running the bakery by myself, without Ethan’s help.

                I sighed quietly to myself. Here I was, yet again thinking about Ethan. I’ve successfully avoided him for the past couple of days, though for some reason it felt like I’ve been avoiding him for months. Luckily he must have been busy with the bar, since I haven’t seen him around town at all.

                Just as I looked up and out the front window, I saw the exact person I was just thinking about. The person I’ve been trying real hard to avoid seeing in this small town.

                “Damn, I’m not here, got it?” I told the teenager at the front counter. She gave me a weird look as I quickly launched myself into the storage closet that was nearby. I listened through the door as Ethan entered the shop.

                “Hey, is Roxanna here?” he asked. I closed my eyes and prayed the girl would do as I said.

                “No, she’s not here today,” she answered. I immediately let out a breath of relief as Ethan thanked her and left. I wanted to make sure he was far from the shop before getting out though.

                “He’s gone, you know,” the girl said after a couple minutes. I slowly opened the door, making sure that I really was in the clear.

                “Did you have a one night stand with that guy or something?” she asked lazily, barely looking up from her phone.

                I stared over at her in disbelief for a moment. She was way too young to be thinking or talking about one night stands. “No. I just didn’t want to talk to him today.”

                “Sure,” she replied sarcastically before typing away on her phone. I shook my head and returned to the kitchen to help my mom start cleaning up. It was almost time to close the bakery for the meeting. And for once I was excited for a town hall meeting. Not to go to it, of course, but because I was going to spend time with Lucy and Jenny on my extra time off. They were the only people who made me feel a little better when I thought about not talking to Ethan anymore.

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                “So Connor is going to be coming home soon,” Lucy announced, taking a sip of her glass of wine.

                “That’s great, Lucy!” Jenny said happily. She took a drink from her beverage, which was non-alcoholic, of course.

                “Yeah, I’m glad he’s doing well in rehab,” I added.

                Lucy nodded. “We’ve been going to couple’s counseling sessions at the rehabilitation center too. I think we’re both going to be much happier together when he’s back home.”