Maybe she wouldn’t have to leave to find a place for herself.
She could find it with him.
twelve
Robin stood at the worktable in the bakery kitchen, finishing up the Adamses’ anniversary cake. After church this morning and grabbing a quick lunch with Sammy at the Trailside Bistro, they came back to the bakery. Everything was going according to her schedule. The cakes were baked on Friday with help from that gorgeous new oven, and she’d mixed the frosting and fondant yesterday. Today they only needed to do the decorating and delivery.
A spike of electricity lit her spine. Her cake needed to be perfect. She tried to absorb some of Sammy’s calm as he worked beside her.
She could get used to having a partner. A real partner—one who didn’t criticize her every choice or complicate her life.
She marveled at the ease of being with Sammy. He was nothing like Victor. Nothing like any of the guys she’d been around, really. In the food industry, guys were often prima donnas like Victor, and any woman with a little talent threatened them, or they were partyers, hitting the club scene after every shift.
She wanted neither of those things.
Sammy had taught her that men could be kind, generous, unthreatened by a strong woman, and still look hot in a basic pair of blue jeans and a Henley shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
In fact, she was finding it hard to concentrate when that same man—whose eyes were even more attractive than the corded muscles of his exposed forearms—was standing at the counter next to her.
“Yesterday with the kids was pretty great,” he said. “Who knew a bunch of teenagers would be into baking bread?”
They’d spent part of the day teaching a group of kids to bake mini bread loaves at the youth center. It had been fun to watch Sammy interact with the group, alternately joking with them and guiding them as they worked with the dough. During pauses in the baking process, she and Sammy had taken turns helping the teens with their homework and studying for tests.
She paused in the swirl motion she made on the cake and looked up at him. “I know, right? I think they are hungry—pardon the pun—for real things in their life. They’re tired of just interacting on screens all the time. You’re doing great things up at that youth center.” He’d pushed her out of her comfort zone, and she’d loved every minute.
A funny expression passed over Sammy’s face.
She put the pastry bag down on the table. “What is it?”
“Vivien asked me if I would consider being the director.” Sammy ran a hand across the back of his neck. “They’re looking to hire someone full time, to really give their whole attention to running that place.”
“What? Sammy, that’s awesome. You’d be great at that.” Robin’s heart twisted.
Sammy braced his hands on the counter behind him. “It would mean a commitment. Staying in Deep Haven.”
“So, no smoke jumping, then?” She didn’t know if she was happy about that or not. She picked up the pastry bag and started making more swirls. “Are you sure you’d want to give up that opportunity?”
“I’m not sure of anything right now. Not my job, not my future…not you.”
She met his eyes. A frisson of electricity spun down her spine.
A blob of frosting oozed out of the tip of the pastry bag.Focus, girl. This cake means everything right now.If she didn’t get it right, she wouldn’t get featured in the magazine. She quite literally couldn’t afford to screw this up.
“I know we need to have that conversation, but right now I really need to concentrate on this project.” She cleaned up the dripped spot of green frosting. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to lead you on.”
Sammy’s face softened. “I get it, Robin. No pressure here. I want this cake to be a success. We’ll talk when you’re ready.”
The tightness in her shoulders eased as she layered on another emerald swirl. The cake was three tiers, starting with a white fondant base with a modern emerald and sapphire pattern swirling around it. The second layer, which she’d just completed, was a solid emerald fondant dotted with gold frosting. And the third layer, which stood on pillars and would be put into place at the venue, featured a marbled agate effect using mainly emerald and sapphire accents with hints of gold throughout.
Sammy took a step closer to her. “Tell me about your favorite culinary school achievement.”
“That was, like, ten years ago.” She kept her eyes on the cake. If she looked up now, she’d be distracted for sure.
“Come on. I bet you have at least one story you still think about.”
“Okay,” she said. “Once we had a challenge to make a cake that looked like something real. We had to choose something non-cakey and then shape and paint a cake to look like that thing.”
“Sure, I’ve seen photos and videos of that kind of thing online. It’s all cake, right?”
