Page 114 of When We Were Young

“You ready for this?”

“Yep. It’s gonna be great, Mom.”

We descend the stairs and hold hands as we walk to the double doors that lead from the kitchen into the shop portion of the bakery.

“You’re gonna have a ton of people here, Mom.”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t imagine too many people know it’s happening.”

“We’ll just have to see.” He’s got an adorable smirk on his face. “People know.”

“How do people know? What do you mean?”

We step through the double swinging doors that lead into the shop, and I flick on the lights. It’s six-thirty in the morning, so it’s still fairly dark outside, but as soon as the lights turn on, Simon giggles.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

He covers his mouth with his hands and shakes his head.

I glance around the shop, confused about what’s amusing my son so much, until I get to the door. I startle, but quickly realize that the person standing outside the bakery this early in the morning, making weird faces to cause my son to laugh, is Holden.

When he makes eye contact with me, he smiles and waves. I stroll to the door and unlock it, wondering why he didn’t just use his key and come in through the other entrance.

“What are you doing? You’re so early,” I ask when the door opens, and he steps over the threshold.

“I wanted to be your very first customer on your very first day. I want the first dollar you make to be mine.”

“Okay, you still didn’t have to come at six-thirty. You know we don’t open for another hour, right?”

“I know, but I figured you might need some help to set up. Even if you don’t, then I can hang out with this little guy—” he pauses and ruffles Simon’s hair, making him smile, “while you do whatever you need to do to finish.”

“Thank you. I think I’m mostly ready. I made a few things last night that I need to put in the oven, but other than that, the cookies in there are still fresh from last night. I’d say thanks to you and Simon for helping me with them, but I think you two ate more than you helped decorate.”

“Can’t help it, Mom. Those cookies are delicious.”

“He’s right there,” Holden agrees.

“How about this? I’ll throw a pot of coffee on, and you two can hang out in here while I put the pastries into the oven. Then we can have a morning drink and a cookie together.”

“Cookies for breakfast!” Simon cheers.

I chuckle when Holden and I both roll our eyes and shake our heads at the same time.

After I start the coffee, I head into the kitchen and retrieve the flaky French pastries from the refrigerator. I taught myself to make them years ago, and they were a fan favorite at my Elladine bakery.

When I was in high school, I first tasted one at a cafe that also served bakery items. I fell in love with them and taught myself from the internet and lots of practice.

It took me over a year to perfect the recipe, but it was worth it.

Once everything’s in the oven, I set some timers on my phone so nothing overcooks.

I look around the kitchen. I can’t believe it. This is really mine: the building and everything.

When I lived in Elladine and started my bakery, I thought it was fine to rent the building. Once I had saved enough money, I figured I could buy some property if I wanted. But that didn’t happen quickly enough, and when Landon found me there, I grew majorly stressed out because he knew where I was living. The cherry on top was finding out that he had purchased the building where I rented my bakery, all as another way of trying to control me. Trying to make me feel like I had to depend on him and justify his belief that he could come into my shop anytime he wanted.

That’s why I was extra careful this time. I purchased this building in the business’s name. On paper, Sugar and Spice LLC owns this property. Sure, if people dig deep enough, they’ll realize I’m the person behind the company, but at least it puts one more barrier between Landon and me.

I force the thoughts out of my head. Today is a good day. I refuse to let that egomaniac ruin this for us. This is a fresh start for Simon and me.