The room had the atmosphere of antique nostalgia mixed with modern gadgets. Adelaide had already seated herself at a long pine table that had a plate of muffins in the middle.
Jane took her cues from her mother and offered some coffee. Rob accepted, hoping to foster a friendly arrangement between them. While she fixed three cups, he made idle conversation with Addie about the history of the bed-and-breakfast. She remembered a lot about the past, talking about raising children in the same breath as running wild up and down the halls as a child herself. Rob listened to her intently, even when she repeated herself. He always had the time to be kind.
Before long, Jane doled out several cups of coffee and took the seat next to her mother. “So, what did you want to talk about? I’ve seen your store in town.”
Rob couldn’t tell by her tone if she approved of the store or not. “We bake fresh bread every day, and in many of the towns surrounding our locations, I like to make connections with local businesses. Bed-and-breakfasts often serve our products for their guests. I thought you might also like to serve fresh bread to your customers.”
Adelaide, who had started picking apart a chocolate chip muffin, nodded emphatically. “That’s a wonderful idea! You know, we pride ourselves in having a great breakfast here at Tides, but we don’t make our own bread, do we, Jane? What do you think?”
Despite her mother’s enthusiasm for the topic, Jane didn’t seem as convinced. “It’s not a bad idea.”
He took a sip of his coffee. When she didn’t continue, he raised one eyebrow, and said, “I sense a ‘but’ in that sentence.”
She grimaced. Turning in her seat, she murmured, “Mom, I don’t think Claire would like it very much if we started a business relationship with Bradford Breads.”
Addie’s forehead creased. “Claire? Who’s Claire?”
Frustration crossed Jane’s face for a second. Rob remembered that feeling. But then she shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and said very patiently, “Claire made that muffin, Mom. You remember, don’t you?”
Addie nodded, but it was that blank, empty nod that meant she didn’t truly understand. Rob recognized it well.
With a small sigh, Jane turned back to Rob and explained, “One of my best friends owns the bakery in town. To tell the truth, she’s a little put out by you moving in across the street.”
He’d judged as much by the stony look she gave him when he saw her across the street earlier. He sighed, pushing his mug a bit farther from him in preparation to leave. “I was afraid of that.”
But Jane didn’t seem ready to kick him out the door. She frowned, her eyebrows knitting together. “Afraid of it? Why do you say that?”
At least she wasn’t ready to leap into battle for her friend and kick him out. He settled back in his chair. His eyes caught on the tray of muffins, and Jane pushed them toward him, indicating for him to help himself to one. Maybe it would help his case to compliment the baker when they inevitably met. He took one, and Jane grabbed a plate from a sideboard and slid it in front of him.
Before he bit into it, he explained, “I’m not here to put people out of business. In fact, I always make sure when I move into a town that there isn’t currently a bakery specializing in bread. But even so, it always seems to happen that somebody is put out by my presence. I’m not a threat to your friend’s bakery, I promise.”
As he met her gaze, he saw something in her eyes. Conflict. Loyalty. Even if he couldn’t get a standing order of bread from Tides, Jane might be able to help him smooth out the bumps in his business plan.
He leaned over the table. “Maybe you could help me out.”
She seemed surprised, her blue eyes widening. “Me? I don’t know…”
“Not with the bread order, though I do hope you’ll change your mind. But if you’re best friends with the owner of the other bakery in town, you undoubtedly have some influence over her. I noticed the sign for her cupcake sale. I also noticed that it was a three-for-one and on the same day as mine.”
When he raised one eyebrow, Jane nodded. “She wants to establish a presence that day.”
Rob thought as much. “I would like to set things straight with your friend before this competition gets out of hand. I’m not here to hurt her. In fact, things would go a lot smoother if we could work together. What do you say, Jane? Will you help me?”
Jane nibbled on her lower lip. She should probably just tell Rob she wasn’t interested and send him on his way. But the thing was, she didn’t think he was a bad guy. Especially not with the way he’d treated her mother. Not once had he tried to avoid Addie or ignore her. Despite the way she butted into the conversation or entertained him with fragments of stories that only halfway made sense, Rob didn’t seem to mind. He treated her as kindly as he would his own mother. Jane appreciated that kindness more than she could express.
But if she took him up on his offer—either to approach Claire or to enter into a business arrangement with Bradford Breads, how would Claire feel? Claire had been Jane’s best friend since they were in elementary school. The last thing she wanted to do was create friction or add more stress when Claire seemed worried as it was. Even if Claire was being unreasonable.
Claire would come to her senses sooner or later. Maybe Jane could help her along.
Hesitantly, Jane asked, “You mentioned working together. In what way?”
Rob leaned back in his chair, chewing on a bite of the muffin as he thought. From the moment he had stepped into Tides, he’d had an easy, confident way of holding himself, a self-assurance that didn’t border on arrogance. He wasn’t one of those smooth businessmen who lied to get what they wanted. Jane knew it in her gut.
He swallowed and answered, “We don’t have to compete for customers. There’s room for them to visit both of us. All three of us, in fact. We could put on promotions together to get more people coming to Lobster Bay in the off-season. I know I’m doing my grand opening in the summer, but I did enough research to know that while this is the prime time for tourists, people do visit here year-round.”
Jane nodded. “You’re right. We get a few vacationers around Christmas but nothing compared to summertime. Promotions don’t sound like a bad idea.”
Rob’s eyes brightened, making him look even more handsome. Clearly, Claire hadn’t yet met the guy, or she wouldn’t be quite so prickly about him moving in across the street. Not that Rob held a candle to Jane’s late husband. She swallowed against the lump in her throat that grew smaller each year but never seemed to leave.
