Chapter 31—Nat

When Nat heard Andi’s alarm going off in the other room, all she could do was groan. Hadn’t they literally just gone to sleep? “What time is it?” she yelled from the couch. Her voice was muffled by the pillow her face was smashed into.

“4:30,” Andi chirped as she popped into the doorway. “Go lay in the bed. I’m up,” she said.

“It’s entirely too early for anyone to be up.”

“I know,” Andi said. “But there’s so much to do. Tess got Jackson out just a few minutes ago. He’s going to pick up coffee and new supplies near Ft. Charles, so it’s going to take him a while. I want his surprise ready by the time he gets back. Or, at least most of it.”

“If the man with the coffee isn’t here, how are we supposed to wake up to save the coffee shop?” Nat asked.

“We’ll have to live with drip coffee until he gets back. But I’ll make you a creamer for yours. The delivery is going to be here in fifteen minutes. I need to get downstairs.” Andi pulled her braids back into a ponytail while she talked, then crossed the room to grab her sweatshirt off the couch.

“Go,” Andi said. “Get in bed and sleep a bit more. I’ll be downstairs.” Andi headed for the door.

“Wait,” Nat called. “I know you’re helping Jackson and keeping yourself busy, and that’s great. But, what about your parents?” Nat scrunched up her face and rubbed her eyes while she waited for a reply.

“I don’t know,” Andi said. “I don’t have time to think about it right now. They’re leaving this morning. I’ll just have to talk to them later.” With that, Andi left the apartment and headed downstairs.

Nat sat up once Andi left. Sleep wasn’t happening. Andi was so busy working to help someone else that she was neglecting her own situation. She couldn’t let Andi’s parents go back without things being cleared up. Andi might have thought she didn’t need the closure, but Nat knew her friend. She didn’t want to leave things like this, and Nat wouldn’t let her.

She grabbed her phone off the coffee table and found Patricia’s number. Andi’s mom answered on the second ring. “Hi. It’s Nat. I know you’re angry. You have a right to be... but I really need to talk to you before you go. Can I come to your hotel?”

***

By 5:15, Nat was still bleary-eyed, and sipping the coffee Patricia made her from the hotel’s offerings. Nat had to admit that for hotel coffee, it wasn’t bad. But that was probably the early hour speaking more than it was the coffee.

“Now, Natalie,” Patricia said after Nat had taken a few sips of hot coffee. “If you’ve come here to tell me that it was all a misunderstanding or some nonsense like that—”

“No,” Nat interrupted the woman. “That’s not it at all. I just couldn’t let you leave without at least trying to help Andi.”

“Okay,” Patricia said. She gave Nat a skeptical eye before sitting down across from her at the small table. “But why isn’t Andi here herself?”

“Your daughter is currently trying to salvage a disaster that happened at Jackson’s shop last night.”

“A disaster? Is that why he took off? Is everyone okay?”

“Yes, and yes,” Nat replied. “There wasn’t an actual fire, thankfully. It looks like someone or something set off the fire suppression system. So, we were all up all night working to clean it back up. And this morning, Andi is trying to remake all the baked goods that were destroyed by the system spray.

“Oh no,” Patricia said, holding a hand to her mouth. “Oh, Andi. She can’t do all that by herself in one day. What is she thinking?”

“She has some help,” Nat assured her. “But, if I can be very honest with you, she’s trying to stop Jackson from losing his dream like she’s lost hers.”

“I thought Tim said she broke up with him?” Patricia’s brown eyes were furrowed in confusion.

“Tim wasn’t Andi’s dream,” Nat said. “My brother was more like a nightmare, to be honest. Andi was smart to break it off. He wasn’t good for her.”

“Then I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“You know all of the baking you’ve seen Andi doing this past week?” Nat asked.

“Yes. She’s quite the little baker, isn’t she? I always knew she could bake, but she’s gotten really good. Those cinnamon rolls—” Patricia shook her head like she was marveling at the imaginary pastries.

“She’s amazing,” Nat said with pride. “And that’s her dream. She was going to use the inheritance money to start her own bakery.”

“A bakery?” Patricia asked. “Why didn’t she ever talk to us about it? Her father and I are business people. I don’t understand why she wouldn’t come to us with this.”

Nat shrugged. “I wish I knew. But for some reason, she thinks she’s a disappointment to you. When she caught Tim cheating on her, I think she just got desperate. And then he pulled that stunt—telling you guys to come early. He was trying to force her hand. To make her take him back. I know that she lied to you, and that’s not okay...but I really do think she was just scrambling to save some part of the life she wanted. And now, she feels like it’s all gone. And while I’m not sure that it’s the worst thing in the world, to her, right now, it feels like it is.”

“What do you mean?” Patricia asked. “Why don’t you think it is?”

“I think she could find other ways to build the life she wants without opening an entire shop right now. I think she could continue her chocolate business for a while. I think she could work as a baker somewhere. I think there are lots of ways to do things that make us happy. And I think Andi is just stubbornly stuck on doing this all on her own because she thinks she has to. I think if she took a little time, and tried a different way, she would see that she doesn’t have to go it alone. Not in business. Not in life.”

“You’re a pretty smart young woman,” Patricia said. “Thank you for coming to see me. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“The Festival is still on for tonight. It starts this afternoon, actually.,” Nat said. “Please come. Maybe you and Andi can clear the air before you go back.”

“I’m going to think about it,” Patricia said. “I promise. But you said yourself how stubborn she is. Do you really think she’ll even speak to me?”

“She will,” Nat said, feeling the certainty of her words. “She hated lying to you. I know she wants the chance to apologize.”

“I guess that makes two of us,” Patricia said.

It was a better response than Nat had been expecting. So, she thanked the woman—who surprised Nat with a hug—and Nat headed back to The Cozy Cup, hoping she’d just done a good thing.