If Mom hadn’t been standing right there, Andrew would’ve rewound that tape to listen to that message again. Dad sounded genuinely happy to see him. He was astonished at how much satisfaction that gave him.
“See? We both love you,” she said, as if reading his mind
“Thanks. That was really nice to hear.” He was suddenly buoyed with energy. “I might go for a drive and try to unwind. Do you mind?”
“Not at all, but I don’t know where you’ll go. It’s after midnight. There’s nothing open around here.”
He knew that good and well. “Just a quiet drive.”
“Watch out for deer.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“Happy thoughts and sweet dreams when you do turn in. I’m going to bed right now.” She went down the hall and closed her bedroom door behind her.
He stood there for a minute, then headed outside to his rental car and eased out of the driveway. The roads back to town were dark. There were no streetlights; only the occasional yard light near someone’s house shone through the darkness.
Pressing the button to open the convertible top, he found the night sounds soothing. At the stop sign, the territorial hoots of owls, probably nesting high in the huge pin oak trees here, echoed through the leafless winter woods. It was an eerie, solemn sound that made him suddenly feel very alone.
On Main Street, at least the road was amply lit with the new decorative street lamps, even though everything was closed. You’d think by now someone would have opened a restaurant or pub that stayed open late.
He pulled along the curb in front of the Main Street Cafe. He’d cut his teeth on the basics of cooking here. It was here he’d fallen in love with the creativity of cooking, and found the drive to want to not only cook, but also build menus and define his own tastes and recipes through hours and hours together with Kelly. Mr. McIntyre had given him a chance when he’d been barely old enough to bus tables. There were times when he’d felt closer to the McIntyre family than his own.
Andrew’s rental car was the only one on the block. He shut down the engine and got out.
He walked over to the big front window of the diner and peered inside. Cupping his hands beside his eyes, he could see the tables were still set up in the same way they always had been. Even the old cash register with the NC GROWN sticker on the side of it, and the red-and-white checkered tablecloths were the same. A glass domed cake plate sat at the edge of the counter. A couple of slices of a seven-layer cake were all that was left. Kelly had probably baked it. When they’d worked here together, for her parents, she’d baked all of the desserts early each morning, and waited tables every night.
After closing, they’d clean up, close out the till, and then share a snack and wind down for the night. It wasn’t often that she’d make a seven-layer chocolate cake that there’d be a piece left, but if there ever was, he’d bargain anything for it. He could almost taste it now.
They had the same work ethic. Aside from how beautiful she was, it had been one of the first things that had attracted him to her.
Back then, the night air hadn’t been filled with the smell of fresh-baked goods though. The whir of equipment carried into the night.
He meandered over toward The Cake Factory. The cafe might look like time had stood still, but this building was a whole other story. It had been a crumbling, dirty brick building when he’d lived here. Grandpa had worked in the ribbon factory, and a Christmas didn’t go by that Mom didn’t repeat the stories about how she used to be able to buy a whole spool of wide ribbon for just a quarter to make Christmas bows. He didn’t even really know how good a deal that was, but Mom had spoken of it like it was the best memory ever.
Lights shone through the second-floor windows of the building now. Kelly had mentioned that she ran two shifts.
The pillars that flanked the front door were welcoming, so much so that he couldn’t stop himself from walking over. A whimsical sign hung in the front window. CLOSED in curly black letters with hot-pink polka dots.
Through the window facing Main, he could see inside.
He could imagine Kelly working there. All the pink. It was her favorite color, and the stripes and polka dots were a weird combination but it worked. It looked like a fun place to bring your kids to pick out a treat. The window that faced the side street held a display of cakes. He went around the corner to get a better look.
A five-tier wedding cake in shimmery ice blue flaunting white details rose from the center of the display. Every single scroll and dot was precise, and it was frosted, not fondant. Not an easy cake to perfect, but this was just that…perfection. Next to it, a shiny Tiffany blue box with a glossy white ribbon looked so real you might expect to find a place setting of china from your wedding registry inside. On the other side, a superhero cake in primary colors had Spider-Man rappelling down one side of a tower and Superman soaring above. Clever.
He stared at the display, impressed by all she’d accomplished. I knew her when this was just a dream.
Suddenly, every light in the bakery illuminated and he was standing there in a stream of light, like he was on center stage. He hesitated one second too long. Before he could move, the door straight across from where he stood opened and Kelly walked through it.
Chapter Eight
Andrew didn’t move a muscle, hoping to not draw attention. He stood there in front of her store window in that stream of light,
