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Mindy supposed that he was nice enough, and when they actually got together, she had a good time, but she still couldn’t help but feel like maybe something was lacking. She thought back to her conversation with Valerie and Sarah earlier that day, and how she and Sarah had attempted to play matchmaker for the movie star.
On the one hand, she really liked Valerie, and she liked Clark. And Mindy thought that the two of them would be lovely together. But on the other hand, she couldn’t help but also want to save Valerie from feeling what it was like to be single in Snowy Pine Ridge.
Sure, the actress had no plans to stay in town for an extended period of time—not that Mindy knew of, anyway—but that didn’t stop her from thinking about what it felt like to be here and be single. She and Sarah hadn’t been lying. The town was absolutely full of eligible men. But so much of the town was coupled up, and they were all so madly in love that it almost hurt to see. Especially when you didn’t have it for yourself.
And when she looked at her friends, at people like Colette and Sarah, at the easy way they loved their partners and the way they balanced each other out, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.
Mindy was getting to the point where she couldn’t help but wonder if that was in the cards for her. She was trying her best to remain hopeful, and giving up on love wasn’t something that she took lightly. But at the same time, she wasn’t sure how much more blasé romantic encounters she could take.
“Get yourself together, Min,” she said out loud, not realizing that there were still customers at two of the tables.
One of them shot her a worried glance, and Mindy realized how crazy she must have looked muttering to herself behind the counter. She gave them what she hoped was an encouraging smile and a small, apologetic wave before she turned her back on them and faced the oven.
Her phone was still in her hands, and she stared down at it as an idea began to dance in her mind. Not giving herself time to rethink it, she scrolled through her contacts until she came to Sarah’s name, and then pressed call.
Holding the phone to her ear, Mindy walked toward her office in the back of the building, and Sarah answered the moment she walked through the office door.
“Hey, Min,” Sarah said happily. “What’s going on?”
“I was thinking of getting a start on decorating the bakery for the showcase,” she blurted, looking around the office at the decorations she had already purchased and that were lying about still in their bags. “Are you free this evening after closing?”
“I sure am. I’ll be over after I lock up at six.”
“You’re a lifesaver,” Mindy gushed before the two women hung up.
She stood in her office for a moment, looking at the supplies that were scattered throughout the space and imagining what it was all going to look like. Valerie had helped them a ton earlier that day, throwing out ideas that both of them were excited to incorporate in their menu.
Mindy took a deep, steadying breath, banishing all thoughts of Landon and of her disappointment to the back of her mind before she strode back out of the office and toward the front of the bakery.
The final few customers had filtered out, and it was less than an hour until it was time to close, so Mindy decided to busy herself with cleaning up and beginning her closing routine. She sang to herself while she did so, singing Taylor Swift at the top of her lungs while she scrubbed down the oven and the counters and swept and mopped the floors.
By the time she was on her final step, boxing up the leftovers in the display case to sell at a bulk discount tomorrow morning, the door was pulled open, and Sarah strode in.
“Didn’t you have plans with Landon tonight?” her friend asked in lieu of a greeting.
“Bailed,” Mindy answered, allowing Sarah to lock the door to the bakery and flip her sign to ‘CLOSED.’
“Again?” Sarah whirled to face her, exasperation written plainly on her face.
Mindy nodded. “Afraid so.”
“Isn’t that like the fourth time?” Sarah frowned, coming over to help Mindy with the last of the boxing up.
“Third time,” Mindy corrected.
“That’s even worse.”
They finished putting the leftover pastries into their respective boxes, storing them in the chiller for the night before Mindy nodded her head toward the back, indicating where the decorations were stored.
They made quick work of pulling the bags of decorations out of the office and bringing them to the front of the shop. Mindy pointed out a few of the things that she wanted to do, like placing the tree in the window and decorating it with the matching ornaments both she and Sarah had purchased the week before, and then the two women got to work.
They sang Christmas carols as they put together the tree, until Sarah’s voice faded off.
“I want better for you than what’s happening right now,” she said, causing Mindy to stop what she was doing and glance at her friend in question. Sarah gave her a sympathetic smile before clarifying, “With Landon.”
Mindy paused for a moment, giving herself a little bit of time to formulate a response. Finally, she blew out a hard breath.
“I know,” she said, her voice low.
