Chapter 111

“Hello Mr Smith. It has been a surprisingly good day,” I agreed. “This must be Katie. Hello,” I said and waved at the girl. She gave me a shy smile and waved back.

“Katie, this is Hana. She used to work for me,” he told his daughter.

“Hello,” the girl said.

“I told Katie she deserved a treat so we stopped by. Is there anything you recommend?” he asked me.

“If I remember correctly, someone likes mint chocolate chips. I don’t have any cupcakes with that flavour, but I have cookies,” I told them. Katies eyes lit up.

“Can I have some, dad?” she asked, looking up at her father. I smiled down at her.

“Of course you can. We’ll take four cookies,” he then told me. I nodded and put four of the cookies into a small paper bag. When Mr Smith took out his wallet, I shook my head.

“No, this is a small thank you for all your help. Would you like a balloon as well, Katie?” I asked to keep him from objecting.

“Can I, dad?” she asked. He chuckled.

“Yes, squirt, you can have a balloon as well.” I had already taken a pink balloon and was now handing it over the counter to Katie.

“It’s pink!” she squealed. “It’s my favourite colour. How did you know?” I smiled at her, she was dressed head to toe in pink.

“I don’t know, I love pink too, I think I just recognised a fellow pink lover,” I told her. Her father laughed.

“Say ‘thank you’ to Hana so we can get out of her hair and let her deal with the next customer,” he told her.

“Thank you so much, miss Hana.”

“You are more than welcome,” I told her. She waved as they walked out as well as she could while holding her father’s hand and a balloon in her other hand.

“I will take over the register for a while. You have some visitors I think you want to say ‘hi’ to,” Wictor said as he gently pushed me to the side.

“Who?” I asked and looked out over the people in the bakery. Outside the windows, I saw the silhouette of three men that were hard not to recognise. Jason, Chef and Hunter. I smiled, gave Wictor a kiss on the cheek and made my way around the counter to greet them.

“Hello, and thank you for coming,” I said as I got closer. All three men turned around. Jason was stuffing his mouth with mini cupcakes, Hunter was smiling at me and Chef was looking uncomfortable.

“Of course we came. Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Hunter told me.

“Hef rifth,” Jason agreed with his mouth full. Both Hunter and Chef glared at him. I just giggled. Hunter elbowed Chef.

“We brought a small gift,” Chef said, took a step forward and handed me a gift bag.

“Thank you. You didn’t have to. This is so sweet of you.”

“You don’t even know what it is. It could be a really shitty gift. It’s not, because I made sure of it. But if I had left it to these two idiots, it would have been,” Chef told me. I opened the gift bag and peered inside.

“Oh my god! You didn’t!” I exclaimed as I saw the set of piping nozzles from the top of the line manufacturer.

“And you said we should get her flowers,” Chef scoffed. The other two men glared at him.

“Thank you! This is one of the best gifts ever,” I told them. “Come on, you have to see the inside.” I showed them around and they all complimented the place. When I took them back to the kitchen, Chef told the other two that they needed to keep their hands to themselves, it was a professional kitchen. “It’s okay. All the baking is done for today,” I said as I put the bag on a counter.

“This place is amazing,” Hunter said.

“It has come a long way since I was here and installed the security system,” Jason told me.

“This kitchen has a nice flow to it,” Chef offered. I beamed at all of them.

“It’s all perfect,” I agreed. “Since Jason was nice enough to warn me you were stopping by, I have prepared something.” I walked into the refrigerator and got the three boxes I had readied earlier. “It’s a small thank you from me for everything you have done for me,” I told them.

“Is it cupcakes?” Jason asked.

“You didn’t need to,” Hunter said. Chef had walked over to the boxes and lifted the lid on the top one.

“Nice. Thank you,” he said.

“You are welcome. It’s a mixed box, it's one of our specialties you can order from the bakery. It has cookies, cupcakes, doughnuts and pop cakes,” I told Jason and Hunter.

“You are my favourite person,” Jason said. Hunter just smiled at me.

“Okay, we have taken enough of your time. Take your boxes and let’s go,” Chef proclaimed. “I like your place, it’s very you. I can already tell it’s going to be a success. I will miss having you in my kitchen, but we’ll talk,” he then told me, gave me the world shortest hug that seemed to embarrass him. Then he took his box and headed for the door.

“I will stop by when I have finished this off and can’t live without a treat any longer. But from now on I will insist on paying,” Jason told me and gave me a longer hug than Chef.

“This has been lovely. You can be proud of this place,” Hunter told me when we were alone.

“Thank you. I am. And thank you for coming, it meant a lot having you here,” I said.

“Of course. I really liked the name of the place,” he told me as he gave me a long, warm hug. I felt myself blush.

“It felt like the perfect name for my perfect bakery,” I confessed.

“I agree. Now I’m going home to lie on the couch and eat my weight in sugar. Thank you, sweetness,” he said. Gave me a kiss on my hair and walked out. I needed a moment to stop my heart from beating out of my chest. Hunter still had a physical effect on me. When I had pulled myself together, I walked back out into the bakery to continue the grand opening.

Later that evening, Wictor, Anthony and I sat down on the chairs in the bakery to breathe. We had just finished cleaning the place and getting it ready for Monday morning. The day had been a success and I hoped it would mean my business would get off the ground. Maybe a little bit calmer than today, for my sanity’s sake.

“I’m pooped,” I sighed and leaned my head against the table. Wictor laughed and leaned back in his chair.

“No coffee and tired? Sounds like someone is preggo,” Anthony said. I raised my head, looked at Wictor and then we both burst out laughing.

“I’m going to blame long days and stress, but thank you for the laugh,” I told him as I wiped tears from my eyes.

“Preggo, Hana?” Wictor asked as he laughed. “You have the best humour, my darling,” he told Anthony. Anthony just shook his head and sighed. The two of them had taken Wictor’s car and drove me to the bank to drop the cash off in the drop box and then took me to drop off the few loaves of bread I hadn’t sold at the shelter. “You should get a car, babe. I don’t like the idea of you walking around with cash. Especially if things continue as today,” Wictor said.

“Yeah, I should. Maybe something small and cheap?”

“I know a guy,” Anthony said. Both Wictor and I both looked at him.

“You know a guy?” we said as one. He chuckled at us.

“The two of you are adorable. Yes, I know a guy. I’m allowed to know people. One of the people I know happens to sell cars,” he told us.

“And how do you know this man?” Wictor asked and I found it cute how jealous he sounded.

“He, and this will be a shock to you, sold me my car. Relax, Wic, I wouldn’t take you to one of my exes,” Anthony chuckled.

“So there have been exes?” Wictor asked.

“SOS, SOS, reverse, reverse, thin ice ahead,” I told him. Both men laughed