Every Beginning

6

I found myself standing in front of the small building, which was tucked in between a surf shop and a clothing boutique. The entirety of the storefront was made up of windows, which allowed me to see into it before actually walking in. 

I had spent a lot of my childhood wondering about this place and it wasn't how I pictured it. The floors were black and white tiles and there were multiple metal tables scattered pushed against the walls. At the back of the store there was a large display case full of various pastries and cakes. A chalkboard sign hung above the cash register and someone had hand-written the menu on it. 

The door into the bakery was propped open and the sign above it swayed gently in the breeze. Written in cursive, it read 'Sweet Treats Bakery'. 

Earlier that morning, I woke up still feeling exhausted. My muscles screamed at me as I walked down the stairs, still painful from my horrible attempt at surfing the night before. I wasn't sure what time Dylan and I had finally gotten home, but I knew it must've been late.

The house was silent as I poured myself a bowl of cereal. My dad's office door had been shut when I passed it and I knew he'd be locked up in there all day. Dylan had baseball practice and Julie was already at work. Natalie was nowhere to be found, although considering she was supposed to be grounded, it couldn't be anywhere good.

So far I'd been in Surfer Point for a week and I had only seen the inside of my dad's house and the beach that was behind it. Knowing this, I decided I should probably spend the day exploring the town that I would call home for the next three months.

During my brief visits over the past years, my dad had never brought me to see Julie's bakery. I hadn't been thinking about it, but when I reached the Main Street area I found myself making a beeline towards it.

My dad had grown up in North Carolina, only about a two hour drive from Surfer Point. He used to tell me stories about coming here as a child and staying with his family for two weeks out of the summer. When I was younger, before the divorce, he would promise to take me and my mom there one day.

After the divorce, my dad moved out and I wasn't surprised when I found out he'd been staying in a hotel here. It was at the bakery that he met Julie. 

She lived a few towns over and the bakery was still a fairly new business. My dad had spared me the details of their romantic first encounter, but I knew it had been there. 

It was Julie's job that made them stay in North Carolina and pushed him far away from me.

When they got married shortly after, my dad bought her the house they lived in now, right on the water and an easy seven minute walking commute to the bakery.

My mom had mocked Julie when she first found out what she did for a living. "Of course he's marrying a woman who makes a living out of baking," she had rolled her eyes, "How typical of a man."

I had to push the door open a bit more so I could fit through and as I did, the bell above it chimed. There were only two tables occupied. At one, a man dressed in a crisp suit sat with a laptop in front of him. He was finishing a black coffee. Next to the window, two girls who couldn't have been much younger then me sat sipping on iced coffees. The sound of the bell caught their attention momentarily and they stared at me, wondering if they knew me from school. When they realized I was a stranger, they went back to gossiping.

I noticed Noah before he saw me.

He was leaned over a table near the back, wiping down the metal surface with a damp rag. He was dressed in the employee uniform, a light pink t-shirt with 'Sweet Treats' stitched onto the pocket and a big white cupcake on the back.