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“Do you want me to talk to Avery first? I’ll do whatever you think is right, Jane. I’ll talk to your dad. I’ll talk to the fucking town council if I have to.”
Despite the situation, she laughed. “No, I’ll talk to my dad. I don’t know if it’ll be this Sunday, but I’ll find the right time.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A dreamy weekend ended with Finn dropping her home where she could change and go to her parents’ for Sunday lunch. To avoid any possibility of anyone dropping by randomly for cake, she took them out to Life’s A Beach. They were so excited about her thirty-seventh birthday that she didn’t find the right time to talk to her father.
But she did later in the week.
They took a break together on the bench outside the bakery. She drank coffee, and Bert drank his cranberry juice. They smiled and greeted the people that passed by. It was serene out here, yet the street was too busy for anyone to listen in on any conversation, and she thought this could be a good place to talk.
Bert looked back at the bakeshop then returned his gaze to the street. “Connie says she has someone who wants to interview for the baker position. If we like her, you’ll meet with her, too. Okay?”
“Sure.”
“I know you’ll do well with the bakery once we retire. I plan on taking your mother to Europe, see the world, you know,” he said, smiling cheekily at her.
“That would be wonderful for the both of you. You deserve it.” They had barely ever taken more than two or three days off in all the years that they had owned the bakery. “Dad, there’s something—”
“I’m so proud of you, Janey,” Bert cut in, putting the aluminum bottle next to him on the bench. Her mother made sure he’d finish one every day. “The exhibition, the paintings you sell, the cake line is going great, your food project.”
She pressed her lips together. That wasn’t a good opening for what she wanted to say. “Is there anything I could do that would make you disappointed in me, Dad?”
“Disappointed in you? Never. There’s nothing you could do that would disappoint me. Why? Are you planning on robbing something? A bank maybe?” He chuckled at his own joke.
She smiled. “No, not a bank.”
“Bert, the oven. It’s doing that thing again,” Connie called from behind them.
They turned. She was wiping her hands on the logoed apron.
“Can you take a look?”
“Sure. Sorry, Janey,” Bert said. He got up.
“I changed the ventilator already. I thought that was the problem,” he spoke to Connie as he followed her back into the shop, his voice fading.
A gust of ocean breeze raised the hem of Anne’s dress, reminding her that it was November, despite the sun.
That weekend, Finn had Max because Avery would have him the weekend after, which would be Thanksgiving. They knew they couldn’t meet that weekend but made plans to spend Thanksgiving together. Anne could think of a million ways to give thanks with Finn.
Since they knew they wouldn’t have the weekend, Finn showed up one afternoon when she wasn’t working. He had just finished practice in San Luis Obispo and wasn’t expected home before the evening. They made the best of the two hours they had.
“It became one of my favorite smells, you know?” she said, inhaling his skin. A whiff of chlorine was still there, making her visualize Finn’s straining body in the pool. She smiled into his neck. He had been straining under and over her just a few minutes before.
“My favorite smell is you,” he rasped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She met with Bella over the weekend.
“For the first time in years, I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving,” she said. “Although, I’m going to talk to my dad before, so I hope it won’t crap everything. I’d talk to them both, but we won’t have time to break it to everyone before the holiday, and if my mom knows and sits at her sister’s table for Thanksgiving, she won’t be able to enjoy it. I don’t want to ruin the holiday for her.”
“Your parents would want you to be happy. You have to tell them. And yeah, start with your dad. He’d know how and when to break it to the rest,” Bella advised when she finally confided in her.
They went for a walk on the beach on Saturday afternoon. Bella’s husband had arrived home two weeks before, and she needed some time away from the bustle.
It had taken Bella half an hour to get over the shock when Anne had told her soon after they had arrived at the beach.
