There for Her

There for Her
Paul and Serena were asleep in her bed when her phone began to ring just before four in the morning. Serena quickly shot up and answered.

Phone calls at this time were never good news.

"Hello?" She answered without bothering to see who was calling.

"I'm so sorry to call you last minute, Serena," Theresa, her head baker began. She sounded distraught. "Mom just called. Gran is in the hospital and," she whimpered. "Serena, they don't think she's going to make it," she began to cry. "They want all of us to go say our goodbyes."

"Oh, no. I'm so sorry to hear that, Theresa. " Serena said sympathetically. "Stay in New Orleans as long as you need to." She felt Paul shift behind her.

"But Eloise is on vacation this week," Theresa reminded her.

Eloise Chapman was the other baker on staff at the tea house. She and her fiance were taking a road trip across the United States in a camper they had just purchased, and she wasn't due back until the following week.

This wasn't good news for the tea house but that was her problem to deal with.

"For crying out loud, this isn't the time for you to worry about pastries, Theresa," Serena urged her baker while she imploded with worry. "You have recipes at the shop, I'll just follow those. Can't be too hard."

The two exchanged a few more words before the call was severed. Serena covered her mouth and sighed.

"Bad news?" Paul's voice broke through the darkness.

She stood, "I'm sorry I woke you," she used the light on her phone to illuminate the closet with a dull shine as she sorted out what to wear. "Go back to sleep," she urged.

Suddenly bright light blared all throughout the room. It took her eyes a moment to adjust.

"I'm already awake," he spoke behind her. "What was that call about?"

She turned to look at Paul briefly. He was fully dressed in the same clothes from yesterday, albeit they were just as disheveled as his hair.

Serena's attention went back to the closet. She reached in and pulled a wraparound dress out. She marched to the dresser for underclothes. "I'm moonlighting as a baker all week," she announced. "I'm just going to shower, get dressed and take a hands-on crash course in Baking 101. Go back to sleep."

He yawned, shaking his head. "I'm in the way here. I'll put my shoes on and go." He was up and out of the room before she had a chance to encourage him to stay.

They had been platonically sleeping in the same bed since Las Vegas. Paul's presence in the darkness was quickly becoming like a security blanket. She knew it would be best to put an end to that soon but she didn't want to.

Even if he was a world-renowned author and he could write anywhere in the world, she knew his stay in Apple Bay was temporary. Precisely because his time was winding down, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with him, even if it was doing nothing more than lying next to him as they each slept.

Serena rushed through the shower, brushed her teeth and ran back into her bedroom to dress.

Her stomach felt heavy with worry and doubt.

She knew she wasn't as fast as Theresa or Eloise because she relied heavily on reading the recipes but she was going to try.

She had to.

Once dressed, she put her wet hair up in a ponytail. She grabbed her cell phone and her purse and rushed to the car.

As soon as she arrived at the tea shop, she stationed her car right outside the door. Her eyes moved to the shop doors, and for the first time, she noticed a tall man wearing a black cap and hoodie leaning against the locked entrance.

Her nerves began to take over.

When the man noticed her, he made his way to her. He knocked on her window.

Serena gasped with fear.

"I'm here to help you," a familiar voice broke through. "I used to bake to make ends meet."

For the first time, Serena realized she was looking at Paul.