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The wine was making him feel a little bolder than he had before, and he continued on.
“It would mean giving up almost everything that I’ve worked for. But I don’t think I would mind that as much as I used to think I would.”
Mindy gave him a soft smile, one that warmed him even more than the wine did.
“Honestly, it doesn’t seem like it would be much of a sacrifice to me,” she said simply. “Not if it’s what you really want. It may not be the big job in the big city that you’ve always dreamed of. But I think there’s more to life than that.”
She looked pointedly around her bakery, and Noah thought that for the very first time since arriving here, he finally understood what she meant.
“I’ll get someone to come out and look at the glass tomorrow,” he told her, nodding toward the covered up window across the room.
Mindy shook her head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know.” He reached out to squeeze her hand. “But I’m still going to.”
She gave him a soft, appreciative smile, not arguing with him about it any further but accepting his offer. They both gazed at the window, listening as the wind raced by outside of it.
“Let’s go to dinner,” he blurted, and Mindy turned to face him again.
“Right now?”
She looked so startled that Noah had to chuckle as he shook his head.
“Not now. Tomorrow. After you close up the bakery.”
Mindy paused before giving him a small nod. “All right, I guess it’s important for you to see some of the restaurants in town too. We could build that into the tour and—”
“No,” Noah interrupted, his heart beating a little harder. “Not as a part of the tour. I want to take you out to dinner for no other purpose than to enjoy each other’s company.” He swallowed, and then, just to be totally clear, he added, “I want to take you on a date.”
A flicker of surprise darted across her lovely features, but it was slowly replaced by a soft, hopeful smile.
“A date?” she asked. When Noah nodded his confirmation, her brown eyes shone. “All right. A date it is then.”
And at those five simple words, Noah felt like he might float right off the floor with the happiness that coursed through him.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
“I can’t believe he showed up at Baking Fiend,” Shelley said from where she sat on the floor of Mindy’s bedroom, playing with Gus.
“I can’t believe he had the window fixed in less than a day and is refusing to let you pay for it,” Lacy chimed in as she sat cross legged beside Shelley.
“Can you two focus?” Colette chided. She picked up the sweater that Mindy had just discarded and tossed it at them, and Mindy couldn’t help but laugh as the other two women ducked and giggled. “We’re here to help our friend pick out an outfit for her date.”
“And I can’t believe I’m going on a date,” Mindy herself piped up from inside her walk-in closet, grinning when she caught sight of the look that Colette threw her way.
Her words were true though, she couldn’t believe it. For the past twenty-four hours, she had been trying to wrap her head around the fact that not only was she going out on a date, but it was a date withNoah Henderson.
After he had asked her out the night before, they had re-corked the bottle of wine, cleaned up the last little bit of debris and then gone their separate ways. She had immediately texted the group chat with her girlfriends, filling them in on everything that had happened. Which, of course, had led to a flurry of questions and an insistence that some of them come over to help her get ready.
Then, just as he had promised, Noah had shown up around midday at the bakery with a contractor. And much to Mindy’s surprise, they had ended up replacing the window that day. Now the fresh glass was just waiting for the new signage to be painted on it, which she’d talked to Zach about earlier that day. Zach had agreed to design a custom window paint mural for her that she was incredibly excited about.
She turned back to the items in her closet, her gaze roving over her options before landing on a wine-red sweater dress. Feeling inspired, she grabbed it from the hanger and tugged it on over her head before stepping out into her room.
“You look amazing!” Shelley gushed, and the other women chimed in withoohsandahhsas Mindy searched for a pair of tights.
Because Mindy never felt like an outfit was complete without a little pizazz, she grabbed a pair of boots that had small Christmas trees stitched on the sides, accompanied by tiny jingle bells on the top.
She took a step back, eyeing herself in the mirror and finding that she was more than satisfied with the look she’d pulled off.
