The Baker's Man Read online

  Anna shook her head. “I think it’s best if I go home. You can cut the lasagna into sections and freeze it. It reheats well.” Anna grabbed her half full glass of wine and downed the rest of it. Then she walked to the door. With her hand on the doorknob, she hesitated. A part of her had hoped he would argue, hoped he would refuse to let her leave so that they could sort out this sudden weirdness between them. But clearly he wasn’t going to fight for her. Clearly the idea of marrying her had horrified him so completely he had nothing else to say. Anna opened the door and rushed out.

  2

  Rum Cake

  Anna leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. She fought the tears, but they gathered in her chest until she felt as though she was choking on them. You win, she whispered to them, and they rolled down her cheeks. She grabbed her cell phone and texted Lily: Tonight was a bust.

  She reversed out of Baron’s driveway and drove home. Within a few minutes, her cell phone pinged. Lily responded: What happened?!? Anna texted that she’d talk to her tomorrow. She wasn’t in the mood for talking about the fact that Baron didn’t really want her in California—hadn’t even thought about her there. The only thing Anna was in the mood for was being alone and possibly eating cookie dough straight from the container.

  Anna unlocked the bakery and dragged herself inside. She shuffled through the dark until she reached the kitchen, and she flipped on the lights. She hefted a five-pound tub of double chocolate cookie dough from the cooler. With an ice cream scoop, she doled out a healthy portion and promptly shoved it into her mouth. Then she grabbed a pot from the rack and heavy cream from the cooler. She warmed the cream over medium heat, and while she waited for it to come to an almost boil, she dumped dark chocolate chunks into a glass bowl. As soon as the milk heated through, she poured it over the chocolate. Then she grabbed a fork and whipped the chocolate nearly to death, whipped it until the chocolate ganache clung to the tines and refused to let go.

  Anna grabbed a wooden spoon and dipped it into the ganache. She opened her mouth wide and crammed the spoon inside. Chocolate collected in the corners of her mouth. She licked her lips, and like a gingerbread cookie whose legs had been snapped off, she sagged to the kitchen floor, still holding the spoon in her hand.

  Two years. Two years she had spent loving Baron Barker, encouraging him, partaking in every spontaneous adventure, supporting his every whim, even his three-week desire to write a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Now Baron’s latest adventure would take him across the country to one of the most prestigious architecture firms in the country, and he had obviously made no plans for her to go with him this time. Just the idea that he hadn’t even thought of putting her into the equation made her squeeze her eyes shut, wrap her arms around her bent legs, and sob into her knees.

  ˜˜˜˜

  Half an hour later, Anna was still sitting on the floor when she heard someone walking down the stairs that led to her upstairs apartment. She felt a jolt as if she’d been injected with a shot of espresso. The dark, nutty scent of coffee filled the space. She lifted her head and looked at the clock.

  “Anna,” Lily called as she rushed down the stairs. “Where are you? Anna!”

  “In here,” she groaned, stretching her cramping legs out onto the cold tiles and letting her arms fall to her sides like limp noodles.

  “Where?” Lily asked as she walked straight past Anna toward the darkened front room. “I’ve been knocking on your apartment door. I finally gave up and used my key. What are you doing down here? Baking?” Lily paused at the archway. “What did Baron say? You didn’t answer any of my calls. What happened? Do you hate the ring? Where are you?”

  Lily rounded the island and stopped so quickly she pitched forward and her blonde curls spilled over her shoulders. “What in the world are you doing on the floor?”

  Anna blinked up at her, feeling the sting of more tears in her eyes.

  Lily rushed over and squatted beside her. “What’s wrong? Is the ring ugly? Did he give you his grandma’s hunk of junk? I’m sure we can convince him to get you something better.” Lily eyed the spoon in Anna’s hand and the half-empty bowl of solidified chocolate on the floor beside her. “Is it that bad?”

  “He didn’t ask me anything, Lily,” Anna said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “He’s leaving tomorrow for two weeks. Said he’s going to find a place to live. They want him there before Thanksgiving.”

  Lily’s brow furrowed. “Okay, so he didn’t ask you to marry him, but surely he’s going out there to find a nice place for y’all to live.”

  “No,” Anna said. “He didn’t ask me anything.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “He didn’t ask me to go with him. I think it’s over. He’s leaving for his dream job, and he didn’t even think about what that would mean for us. In fact, he didn’t think about us at all. When I mentioned that to him and that maybe I thought we would go together, he looked like I’d just asked him to let me suck his soul out. Honestly, he looked so flabbergasted I would have laughed if I hadn’t wanted to cry so badly. Plus, he forgot today is our anniversary. I made his favorite meal and those stupid little chocolate turtles he loves, but none of it matters.” Her bottom lip quivered.

  Lily sat down beside Anna and pressed her back against the bottom oven. “Well, this really sucks.”

  They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Lily said, “No, we’re not going to sit here and feel sorry for you. If Baron doesn’t know how awesome you are, then he’s a world-class idiot.” She stood and pulled Anna to her feet. “You clean this place up and go upstairs to take a bath. I’ll be back in less than an hour with pizza and drinks. I refuse to let you spend your anniversary alone and swimming in this pity pool.”

  Anna nodded, but she felt like a puppet whose strings had been severed. Lily walked out of the kitchen, but before she left, she turned and said, “I’m sorry, Anna. I have half a mind to call Baron myself and give him the business, but I won’t for your sake. Let him spend the next two weeks thinking about how much life sucks without you. I’ll be back soon.”

  ˜˜˜˜

  Anna’s apartment above the bakery was small, a one-bedroom, one-bathroom, cozy space that always smelled like fresh chocolate chip cookies and warm vanilla cake. Her queen-size bed was a marshmallow affair of soft blues and white with a riot of feather pillows of differing shapes and sizes. Cookbooks spilled from the bookshelves in her living room and found their way to the coffee table, beneath the table lamp next to the overstuffed couch, and to the bay window, where they leaned against the panes as though waiting for the moonrise. A vase of white daisies bloomed on the windowsill in the buttercream kitchen. Oatmeal cookies snuggled quietly beneath a glass-domed cake plate on the antiqued, petite table for two.

  She crawled out of her claw foot tub and wrapped a towel around her as she shuffled into her bedroom. After she pulled a comb through her wet hair, she tugged on a pair of pajama pants decorated with pink and aqua cupcakes and a matching aqua tank top. Then she sat on the edge of her bed and sunk into the down comforter. What would a life without Baron look like? He hadn’t exactly broken up with her, but it was clear their lives were moving in different directions. He hadn’t even incorporated her into his future plans. She had plugged him into every aspect of her life, and he had only fit her into the present, which was ever-changing with Baron. He smiled at her from a picture on her dresser, his blue eyes shining, and an evening breeze drifted through the open window, toying with her damp hair. Anna shivered. A knock sounded on the front door. “It’s open,” Anna yelled as she walked out of her bedroom.

  Lily waltzed in. “Your mama would kill you if she knew you left your door unlocked,” she said, resting a large pizza box on the kitchen counter. A paper bag and a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola were precariously wedged under one arm.

  Anna twisted her hair into a knot before jamming two chopsticks into it. The aromas of roasted hazelnuts and supreme pizza quickly filled the small space and gave Anna a shove of ene
rgy. “I knew you were coming over,” she said with a shrug. Her cell phone vibrated on the kitchen table, and she snatched it.

  “Is it Baron with an apology?” Lily asked.

  “It’s Tessa,” Anna said through a sigh. “She says, ‘What are you and Lily doing tonight? Let’s get together.’”

  Lily wrinkled her nose. “Not tonight,” she said. “I love Tessa, but it needs to be just us. Tell her you have plans.”

  “What if she’s lonely or needs somebody to talk to? Is her mama okay?” Anna asked.

  “You’re hanging by a thread right now. Her mama is fine, even better than after last week’s treatment. I just talked to Tessa today. She probably wants to whine about the pitiful date with Tommy Carpenter she had last night.”

  “Tommy the Taxidermist?” Anna shuddered. “Why did she give in? He’s an odd bird.”

  Lily grinned. She deposited the Coca-Cola and paper bag on the counter. “By odd bird, you really mean he’s a freak who likes to show girls his collection of dead animals. Tell her maybe tomorrow night,” Lily said, tearing off paper towels to use as napkins.

  Anna texted Tessa. Then she asked Lily, “What’s in the bag?”

  Lily opened the bag and revealed a half-empty bottle of rum. “Drinks are on me!”

  Anna groaned. “You can’t be serious. I have to be up at five a.m. tomorrow to start baking. I haven’t had rum since that horrific incident in twelfth grade when I yakked on Becky Johnson. She still hasn’t forgiven me. She calls me Anna O’Barf to this day.”

  Lily looped her arm through Anna’s and laughed. “Man, that was awful. Why was it so green? Anyway, that’s not all I brought,” she said. She dug through her shoulder bag and pulled out a DVD.

  “Pet Sematary? No way, José. You know I hate horror movies. I’d rather burn a batch of cookies and sell them to children.”

  Lily rolled her eyes as she pulled two fat tumblers down from the cabinet. “First of all, it’s impossible for you to ruin a batch of cookies. Second of all, you spend all your time holed up in the bakery or chasing Baron wherever he goes. It’s time you let your hair down,” she said and plucked the chopsticks from Anna’s hair, “and let loose for a night. Besides, I highly doubt you’ll do anything as stupid as barfing on the homecoming queen after a few glasses of rum and Coke. Humor me tonight. I haven’t felt good all day, and I need a breather.”

  Lily dropped ice cubes into the tumblers, and she poured in the rum until the ice cubes rose to the tip top before splashing in the soda like a garnish. She grabbed two colored straws from Anna’s stash on the counter and gave the drinks a quick stir. “To a night of reckless fun and no yakking,” Lily said, clinking her glass against Anna’s.

  “I have to work in the morning,” Anna whined. She raked her fingers through her wet hair.

  “Work schmork. Drink up,” Lily said and flipped open the pizza box. “I say we eat on the couch so we can watch the movie while we dine on Pizza Hut’s finest.”

  “I’m not watching this,” Anna argued. She took a tentative sip of her cocktail and scrunched up her face. “Holy guacamole, Batman, this is strong.”

  Lily took a healthy bite of pizza. Mozzarella cheese stretched from the slice to her lips. “It was either this or Sleepless in Seattle—”

  “I love that movie.”

  “Yeah, I know, but we’re not watching a sappy romance tonight,” Lily said. She made a fish face and sucked her cocktail up through a bright yellow straw.

  Anna carried the pizza box into the living room and placed it on the coffee table before sagging onto the couch. She sighed. “You’re right.” Watching a romantic comedy was probably a rotten idea. Her cell phone vibrated next to the pizza box, and she leaned over to grab it. “It’s a text from Baron.”

  Lily squatted in front of the DVD player. She shoved her blonde curls out of her face so she could look back at Anna over her shoulder. “What’d he say?”

  “‘Will stop by tomorrow on way to airport.’ And that’s it.” Anna pressed her lips together. A salty wind blew through the open kitchen window and slammed shut the top of the pizza box. Anna rubbed her hands up her arms.

  “Nice, Baron, real nice. And so eloquent. He’s an idiot, Anna. He’ll come around. He knows you’re one of a kind.”

  Baron was her best friend aside from Lily and Tessa; how was it possible that she felt this great divide between them now? Anna felt like she was trying to swallow two Pirouettes whole, and they were logjammed in her throat. She walked to the kitchen. Grabbing the open half of the window, she stood on her tiptoes and slid it closed. While Lily started the movie, Anna rejoined her on the couch and, ignoring the straw, tilted back her glass of rum and Coke and drained half of it.

  ˜˜˜˜

  After the movie, Anna insisted on turning on all the lights, and when she glanced at the door that led to the staircase going down into the bakery, she thought of turning on the shop’s lights too. No need to let something undead creep around the bakery without warning.

  Anna finished her third glass of rum and Coke and rubbed her temples. She blinked a few times to see if the room would come into better focus.

  Lily leaned over and poked her in the arm with a giggle. “Who would you bring back from the dead?” She shoved an oatmeal cookie into her mouth.

  “Are you insane? No one. Didn’t you see what happened to the little boy? What about the freaky little cat?”

  Lily wagged her finger at Anna. “Come on, Anna, loosen up and play along. Would you bring back Elvis? Maybe Tom Sawyer?”

  “Tom Sawyer isn’t even a real person.”

  “I bet he was cute though,” Lily giggled.

  “You’re toasted. I’m going to call Jakob to come pick you up.” Anna closed the pizza box and carried it to the kitchen. “You can’t bring people back to life.”

  “You’re right. Pretty gross business. Too bad you can’t bring back the perfect man for yourself. Better yet, too bad you can’t make one.”

  “I thought Baron was the right guy for me,” Anna said with a heavy sigh. She tried three times to fold the pizza box in half and shove it into the trashcan. She finally gave up and left it on the counter.

  Lily propped her legs up on the coffee table. “Just think, with your baking skills, you could make someone even better than Baron. Someone just the way you wanted him to be.”

  Anna shook her head and laughed weakly. “I wish.” But she wrinkled her forehead in thought as she sat on the couch and curled her legs beneath her. “Grandma Bea used to tell me she made my grandpa out of dough.”

  Lily snickered. “Are you serious? Sounds like something she’d say. She could make anything. Like you.”

  “I loved when she’d tell me the story of how she made him,” she said, leaning her head back on the cushions and closing her eyes. “When I inherited all her cookbooks, I found his recipe in the back of one of them.”

  “His recipe?”

  Anna rolled her head to the side to look at Lily and immediately regretted it. Her brain sloshed around like hot cane syrup inside her skull. She put both hands on the sides of her head to steady the swaying room. “The recipe with the ingredients for how she made Grandpa. How much flour, sugar, that sort of thing. And the secret ingredient, too,” she said.

  Lily snorted into her fourth rum and Coke. “And what was the secret ingredient?”

  Anna shrugged. “No idea. She kept it in a locked box and refused to ever let me touch it. Every time I asked about it, she would change the subject.”

  Lily sat up and put her glass on the coffee table. “You’re serious? What was in the locked box?”

  “I never opened it.”

  “Where is it now?”

  The scent of spicy, freshly brewed coffee wafting through the room caused Anna’s eyes to water. “Under my bed.”

  Lily’s brown eyes widened. “And you never opened it? Not even after the funeral?” When Anna shook her head, Lily jumped up from the couch, swayed on her feet, and clutched
her stomach. “Whoa, bad idea.” She blinked rapidly, and once she regained her balance, Lily reached for Anna and dragged her to the bedroom. “Let’s break it open.”

  Anna stood beside her bed and rubbed her right temple. “I have the key.”

  “How could you not have opened it?” Lily asked, tucking her loose curls behind her ears.

  “I dunno. She said to never open it, so I just didn’t.” Anna knelt down beside her bed. “Geez, when I say it out loud, it sounds even lamer. Why didn’t I ever open it?”

  Lily bounced onto the bed. “You are unbelievable. Have you ever stepped out of line, even once?”

  “Yakking episode, twelfth grade. Real low point in my life.”

  Lily laughed. “Open it! Open it!”

  Anna opened the drawer on her nightstand and retrieved the key hanging from a blueberry-colored ribbon. She reached beneath her bed and pulled out the unassuming tin box. Rust speckled the box like splatter paint and left burnt orange smudges on her fingers. On the second attempt, the slender key slipped into the rusted lock. Dense energy pulsed from the box, through the key, and into her fingers, vibrating the bones in her hand. Her heart pounded in fierce, rapid beats, and she wished she hadn’t drunk a third glass of rum and Coke. Her head felt full of cotton candy.

  When she flipped open the lid, there were yellowed letters tied together with kitchen twine sitting atop sand that sparkled like grains of golden sugar caught in the sunlight.

  “Wow,” Anna breathed. She removed the letters and reached her hand out to touch the glittering substance, but Lily slapped her hand away.

  “Don’t touch it.”

  Anna pushed her drying hair from her face. “Why not?”

  Lily slid off the bed and knelt beside her. “What the hell is that stuff? My heart feels funny. Why is it all sparkly like that?”

  “Like it’s lit up from the inside? I dunno. It’s probably just some kind of special sugar.”

  The golden dust sparkled and beckoned to Anna. She could feel a prickle down her spine, and the dust whispered to her. Use me. Take me. She stuck her fingertips into the sand and felt a rush of warmth rocket up her arm. She quickly jerked her hand back.