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“She’s off today,” Mindy answered the older man, sounding chipper as she rang Rudolph up and began putting a bear claw in a pastry bag for him.
“Hm.” Rudolph harrumphed, his eyes still shooting daggers at Noah as he handed over his payment and took the bag that Mindy offered him.
The old man didn’t say anything else as he took his bear claw and headed out the door. Noah almost commented on it, but before he could break the strained silence between himself and Mindy, a steady stream of customers began to pour in. Mindy busied herself greeting and serving each person who approached the counter, and Noah tucked back into his pastries.
He watched as she worked, noting the way that her entire face transformed with joy as she tended to the people who came through the door. She bustled from the register to the display case to the kitchen in the back with an ease and confidence that he knew he shouldn’t find surprising, but he did. Mindy was in her element here.
Noah didn’t completely understand what she’d meant when she’d ranted at him earlier, or why she’d been so against the idea of opening a bakery somewhere like Boston. He’d meant what he’d said, that she would make a killing there even more than she clearly was here. A place like this, with this kind of atmosphere and her obvious talent, would have a line out the door every day. He couldn’t wrap his head around why someone would want to stay in a town like Snowy Pine Ridge when they could find even more success and prosperity in a big city.
But as he continued to watch Mindy work, he started to understand just how much joy this job brought her. And she definitely hadn’t been kidding when she’d said the town had welcomed her. Because the people that came into the bakery absolutely beamed at her, and she seemed to know every single person by name.
There was a moment, just as he was finishing with the final pastry on the serving tray, when Mindy’s deep brown eyes found his. Something stirred in his chest as she didn’t look away, holding his gaze as if daring him to say something else about how she’d be more successful in a bigger city. And Noah had to admit that maybe she’d had a point. Because he could clearly see how much she was thriving in this small town, and how much she seemed to fit in seamlessly.
He may not understand it now, but could he someday? At the end of the three weeks, would he be able to see the town as she did?
Noah blinked at the sudden, surprising thought, reminding himself that it didn’t matter. It was all well and good for Mindy to love her life in this small town, but that didn’t mean Noah had to embrace Snowy Pine Ridge the way she had. And it didn’t change the fact that he had come here to accomplish a task, regardless of his personal feelings. He needed to stay focused on that.
* * *
As the flow of morning customers continued, Mindy shot a glance in Noah’s direction, finding him looking down at his phone as his gaze scanned the screen. The words that he’d spoken to her earlier flashed through her mind again, and she found her heart rate spiking with another wave of irritation.
When she’d invited him to the bakery, it had been her hope that seeing how well she’d been able to carve out a space for herself in the community would make him realize just how open-hearted and welcoming the town was. But somehow, he’d only ended up focusing on how she could be even more successful somewhere else.
It wasn’t as though Mindy was unaware of that fact. She knew that her food was good, which was why she’d been so confident coming into such a tight-knit town and trying to make a name for herself. And she wasn’t entirely surprised that Noah’s first thought was that she could do and achieve more. He’d always been that way, constantly looking forward to the next big challenge, the next success. Never really stopping to appreciate how far he had come and the work that had gotten him there along the way.
But Mindy had definitely been disappointed that it had been his first thought, just because it showed how much work she still had to do to convince him that Snowy Pine Ridge was perfect exactly the way that it was—small-town charm and all.
Someone at the register cleared their throat, snapping Mindy out of her spiraling thoughts as she wrenched her gaze away from Noah and turned toward the source of the sound. Shelley and Colette stood in front of her, both of them wearing matching smug smiles as their eyes flicked from Noah to Mindy.
“Oh, hey, guys,” she said, plastering a smile on her face that she knew they would see right through. “What can I get for you?”
“You can get us some details,” Shelley muttered under her breath, quietly enough that Noah wouldn’t hear.
Colette snorted and elbowed Shelley in the side before rattling off an order for the both of them. Mindy rang them up and took their payment, readying herself to get everything packed up when Noah stood and caught her attention.
“Can I help?” he asked, and she noticed that he was shifting from foot to foot, looking almost nervous.
She couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping open in surprise as she blinked at him slowly.
“You want to… help behind the counter?” she asked, completely unable to keep the astonishment from leaking into her voice.
Noah nodded. “You’re running back and forth, and it’s the least I can do.”
He shrugged one shoulder, as if the offer itself wasn’t the most out of character thing she’d ever heard him do.
Not that Noah wasn’t helpful. He always had been. But his particular brand of help had usually included hiring someone to do the things that they’d needed done around the house, rather than actually doing them himself. He was more of a corporate suit kind of guy than a hands-on guy. But maybe that had changed?
“Sure,” Mindy said hesitantly, pointing toward the wall of aprons on hooks. “Grab any apron you want, and you can help me pack things up.”
She glanced at her friends, noticing that the two of them were sharing a pointed look as Noah did as he was instructed before coming to stand at her side, looking a bit lost.
“They ordered a blueberry crumble muffin,” she explained, “a chocolate croissant, and a couple lattes. I’ll get the drinks if you pack up the food?”
“That works.” He gave a nod before turning toward the display case.
Noah looked so out of place, the turquoise and white polka dotted apron looking comically garish against the freshly ironed button-up shirt and pressed black trousers he was wearing. And as Mindy glanced down, she had to stifle a laugh as she caught sight of his perfectly polished dress shoes.
Those will be absolutely covered in flour in less than five minutes,she thought to herself, firing up the espresso machine as she began to make Shelley and Colette’s lattes. She kept glancing over her shoulder, telling Noah which shelf the correct pastries were on and which bags to put them in when she found him just staring at the displaycase looking lost.
