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“You should call that number. It might change your life,” Mary Jane Sweet added with an aura of calmness before hooking her arm with Tanner’s and continuing down the hallway.
How would Mrs. Sweet know the importance of that card?
It was most likely the ramblings of a woman shifting between the past and present, but the baker wasn’t wrong. The card had the potential to change everything for her.
“Ladies,” Schuman said and gestured to the sliding doors.
Once they were outside, he turned to Penny, Charlotte, and Libby. “Thank you again for helping us find Mary Jane. Would you mind if I had a moment with Harper?”
“Not at all,” Charlotte answered.
“We’re glad your wife’s safe,” Libby added as the trio walked toward a cluster of benches down the path.
Schuman smoothed his handlebar mustache. “Thank you for what you did in there and for finding MJ. They let her help in the kitchen. It calms her. But she slipped out when nobody was looking.”
She waved him off. “It was nothing.”
The man’s gaze sharpened. “No, it meant everything. It hasn’t been easy for Mary Jane. It’s not safe for her to live in our home. She can’t sing with her friends anymore, and she can’t work in the bakery. We’ve had many changes over the last several months. I needed help caring for her, and I couldn’t run the business without her. That’s why I joined the Cupid Bakery franchise. Tanner comes to town to help, but his life is in the mountains. We have no children of our own and wanted to make sure the bakery was able to thrive in Baxter Park.”
The guy had it rough.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Sweet.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m not. This is where we are. And while some days are difficult, I treasure them. And I still get to hear her sing your little songs.”
Her songs.
And then Mr. Sweet’s strong reaction to the first challenge made sense.
“Mr. Sweet, did your wife start the Singing Grannies Choral group?”
He nodded.
Now the man’s teary response made sense.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why did she call it the singing grannies?”
Mr. Sweet’s handlebar mustache twitched as the ghost of a grin graced his lips. “MJ thought the singing grannies sounded better than a bunch of old broads shrieking in an auditorium.”
She chuckled, but the man’s expression grew serious.
“The real reason is that, while we don’t have any children or grandchildren, Mary Jane always thought of herself as a grandmother to the children who came into the shop.” Mr. Sweet glanced away and cleared his throat. “She was particularly fond of you. She said you were a real scrapper. She didn’t think there was much life could throw at you that you couldn’t conquer.”
Wow.
“I had no idea she believed in me like that.”
Believed.
There was that word, but it didn’t hurt to hear it.
Schuman looked toward her friends. “I think there are many people who believe in you.”
She took in her bestie ninja brigade, and the whole world brightened.
The man was right.
“Thank you for what you did for my wife.”
