AllFreeNovel
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Neither of us moves, let alone speaks, for the rest of the ride. When the car stops in front of Rizzo’s Bakery, I’m surprised the locals outside aren’t snapping pictures. This isn’t the kind of neighborhood that sees many fancy cars.
I slide along the bench toward the door. “Thanks for the ride, snob.”
“You’re welcome, brat.”
When I open the door to Rizzo’s Bakery, I find Mrs. Rizzo in the front of the store boxing cookies for a customer. She glances up when she sees me and gives me a soft smile.
“Hey, Mrs. R.” I wave to the older woman who owns the bakery.
“Hello, dear. Do you mind helping Shannon in the back?”
“Of course.” I say hello to the customer and then slip behind the counter and head into the back of the store.
“Hey, Shan,” I say to Shannon Brady.
She sways her hips back and forth as she kneads the dough in her hands, rocking out to the classic rock music cranking through the speaker on her phone. At first, she doesn’t hear me. Not until I wave a hand in front of her face does she look up at me.
“Oh, hey,” Shannon says. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I just got here.” I stuff my bag in between Shannon’s things on the shelf beneath the counter dusted with white powder to keep it from getting covered in flour. “What do you need me to do? Mrs. R said to come back and help you.”
“Grab some dough.” She tips her head at the giant silver bowl on the table between us.
“Can I use the stand mixer or do you want me to do it by hand?”
“Go ahead.” She points at the mixer on the table to my right. “I only do it by hand because it relaxes me. Plus, I feel like there’s so much more love added to the food when it’s done by hand. There’s just something more personal about it, you know.”
Not really, but I bob my head in answer and take a handful of dough. We work for a while, with nothing more than the songs flowing from her phone to fill the void.
After we have enough dough to make a dozen loaves of bread, Shannon says, “I heard you won a date with Julian Rivers. Jamie said Julian went home after the auction and was acting all weird when the guys mentioned it.”
I cock an eyebrow at her. “Julian was talking about me to his friends?”
She nods. “Yeah, they were riding his ass pretty hard about it. They think he rigged the auction, so you would have to go on a date with him. I told Jamie that’s ridiculous.
He could have just asked you out if he wanted to date you again. Right?”
“Well, actually, no.”
She looks confused. “Really? I thought you were in love with him.”
“I was years ago. Not anymore.”
“Oh,” she mutters. “I thought you still liked him. That’s what I told Jamie. Sorry, I hope he didn’t say anything to Julian.”
“That might explain why he showed up at my work today.”
“Crap.” She covers her mouth with her hand, speaking between her fingers. “My bad, girl. I didn’t realize he would start pursuing you again. I thought you still liked him.”
“Because I avoid him?”
“Yeah, I guess. You seem to go out of your way not to be around him, and usually, when people do stuff like that, it’s because they like them.”
“I could never date Julian again. Last time almost killed me.”
That’s not too far from the truth. I was so upset after our breakup, doubting everything and everyone in my life. It almost ruined my friendship with Sadie. I was lucky that she was able to ride the wave of insanity with me. She went to all of my appointments with Dr. Saxon, who talked me through the hard times.
“You took it pretty hard, huh?”
