They nodded. “Sam teaches high school. I’ve got seventh graders and coach baseball,” said Jason.
“Very cool. Man, I bet some of those old teachers of ours about fell out when you two became teachers. You were the class clown, Jason!”
“I know, right?” Jason picked up a cupcake from the table. “Believe me. I get my share of payback from the kids. Some are worse than we were.”
“I bet.”
“Do you remember Ted? He’s a lawyer. And goody-two-shoes Mike Larkin? He went to jail.”
“Jail? For what?” Andrew could hardly believe it.
“Embezzlement. He had this high-paying job with some company up in northern Virginia and he got caught stealing, like, hundreds of thousands of dollars over a two-year period. It was crazy.”
“Wow, I always thought he seemed too goody-two-shoes to be for real.”
Sam said, “You didn’t like him because he asked Kelly to the prom.”
“You’re right.” A smile ruffled his mouth. “That’s true. Everyone knew the two of us were going together. Who did he think he was, asking my girl?” He glanced over in her direction, but she was busy with the desserts.
“It was a wild promposal. And that was before promposals were even a thing. Balloons. Confetti.”
“A doggone tiara,” he added, but he’d be lying if he didn’t admit he’d been pretty jealous of the guy’s efforts at the time.
“It was kind of a spectacle,” Sam agreed, “but he definitely gave it his best effort.”
“He probably lifted that tiara from his mom. His first embezzlement.”
“Maybe.” Sam leaned against Jason, laughing. “Kelly never seemed the tiara type.”
“No. She wasn’t. She didn’t need props to look pretty or get attention.” He’d never met anyone else like her. “She didn’t seem too happy to see me.” Had he said that out loud? For years now he’d shut Dawn up every time she’d tried to tell him about Kelly, but now…being back in Bailey’s Fork…he wanted to know.
“She’s pretty focused on her career,” Jason said. “Just like you. She never married.”
Sam punched Andrew in the arm. “You broke her heart, man.”
They’d been so good together, but he’d burned that bridge. He could have handled that so much better, but he’d been young and his head had been filled with the allure of European cuisine. He may have gotten a little big for his britches with Aunt Claire pumping his head full of ideas and using him to basically cater a string of events under the guise of him building a reputation. Not that he’d minded. He loved cooking in her huge kitchen. Plus, he didn’t have a room full of other young chefs vying for attention or screwing up his hard work with a messy plating or garnish gone wrong.
“She opened her bakery the summer after you left,” Sam said. “Then she expanded. She does online sales of her cakes now too, and she employs, like, sixty to a hundred people depending on the season.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No. We were playing the Azalea Festival and the headliner had stopped in her shop and made a comment on stage about her. Then he posted something on social media and it went viral, man. She had shifts working 24/7 for weeks trying catch up on orders. She’s been big business ever since.”
“She always made the best cakes.”
Jason crossed one foot over the other. “Her company does a lot more than cakes now. Cakes, cookies, pastries. She’s won a couple of awards for her recipes. I can’t remember what all the hubbub was about, but it was on the front page of the paper and all.”
Of course it was. Everything was front-page news in Bailey’s Fork. A string of woulda-coulda-shouldas paraded through his brain. He could only imagine what they might have built together. “I can’t believe she’s doing all that from right here in Bailey’s Fork.” A whole factory. It was mind-blowing. Although, she was the most enterprising woman he’d ever known. He shouldn’t be surprised that she was living out the dream they’d made together.
He’d built quite a reputation for himself, but he was still working for other people and mostly cooking their dishes or their spin on his dish. It was hard to compete with the men he’d learned from. He was loyal to a fault, or was he just losing his competitive edge? Could he have been as successful as Kelly if he’d stayed in Bailey’s Fork seven years ago?
“Things are growing around here,” Sam rambled on. “The Y is new. There’s a big industrial park on the east side of town. Old Mr. Blackwell finally sold off his farmland, and the county took the opportunity to lure a few big companies to town with tax credits and all. It’s done wonders for the property values, and there’s plenty of work.”
“It’s been way too long.” Sam man-hugged him. “You can’t stay away so long.”
“Never hurts to relive the past,” Jason said. “I don’t care what folks say. Old times are good times.”
“Yeah. It’s good,” Andrew agreed.
“Do you have a sexy French maiden hidden away back in Paris?” Jason asked.
“No. I’m too busy working to let anything get serious.”
“Living the dream, huh? Dream job and no nagging wife.” Sam shook his head. “Must be nice.”
The pretty brunette came over, and Andrew finally made the connection. She was Jenny Marshall. She and Sam had dated all through high school. “He doesn’t mean that, Andrew.” She kissed Sam on the cheek. “He loves being married as much as I do. Did he tell you we have three-year-old twin boys?”
“No.” He hugged Jenny. “Congratulations.”
“Sharing your life with someone is the best. I can’t imagine my life without Sam,” she said. “Don’t knock it.”
“I’m glad you two are so happy. As for me? We’ll see.” He wasn’t in a hurry to go running down the wedding path again. Especially since he hadn’t made it past the engagement stage the first time.
For the next hour it was as if he was in a do-si-do, swinging between old friends and family across the barn. It was a good thing there wasn’t
