Bake Shop by Amy Clipston

Author:Amy Clipston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

15

Jeff rubbed the back of his neck as he stood at the entrance to the Bake Shop late that afternoon. A constant stream of customers had kept him busy all day long, and his hope for his booth had been renewed. The wallets were a success, and when a customer asked about personalized leather journal covers, a new product had been born in his mind. He planned to design a journal cover tonight.

But even with his new success, thoughts of Christiana had lingered at the back of his mind as he contemplated what Salina said.

He’d spent all day trying to work up the nerve to talk to Christiana, and now he stood watching her pack up her supplies.

Her back faced him as she loaded empty boxes and serving platters onto one of her baker’s racks.

When she faced him, she gasped, cupping her hand to her mouth.

“Jeff.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “I didn’t know you were standing there. How—how are you?”

She was so pretty that he couldn’t speak for a moment. He stared at her, his courage dissolving. Then he stood a little taller. He could do this. His father had faith in him. Lewis had faith in him. Salina even seemed to. Now he had to find faith in himself.

“I’m okay. You?”

“I’m okay.”

An awkward silence passed between them.

“Do you want something?” she finally asked. Her expression seemed more curious than annoyed.

“I have a lot to tell you. Could I please give you a ride home today?”

She paused and then nodded. “Okay. Just give me a few minutes to call my driver and cancel my ride.”

He was so shocked by her agreement that he felt off-balance for a moment.

“Why don’t you finish getting ready to go, and we’ll talk in your buggy,” she suggested.

“Ya, that’s perfect.”

Thirty minutes later, they were riding side by side as he guided his horse out of the parking lot toward the road. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Christiana sitting erect with her hands folded in her lap.

“What do you want to talk about?” she asked after giving him directions to her house.

“I want to apologize for my behavior yesterday,” he began as he kept his gaze fixed on the road ahead. “But first, I need to tell you that I have a difficult time trusting people.”

He interpreted her silence as an invitation to continue. “I was engaged a year ago,” he said.

He heard a small gasp escape her lips. “You were?”

“Ya.” He paused. “Her name is Ella, and we dated for a few years. We were going to be married, and I built her a haus on mei dat’s farm. She told me what she wanted, and I built it. It even has the wraparound porch she said she’d dreamt about since she was a little girl.”

He gripped the reins tighter. “We were going to build a life there. She talked about having a big family, and she even had names picked out for our future kinner. Life was going to be perfect, she insisted.

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