Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“I am not into gossip,” I lied.
With a roll of her eyes, Katherine said, “Whatever. Jayme was cheating on Kian with his best friend!”
“Oh, wow,” I said, cutting the sandwich and placing it onto a chip plate.
Katherine reached for the sandwich. “I’ll take this out while you get his drink. I am dying to see what is happening out there right now.”
Before I could remind her she was off work, and Kian didn’t want to eat out there, she dashed out of the kitchen. I sighed, washed my hands, and headed back out front to get Kian’s coffee and water.
Kian was still standing at the front with Jayme talking a mile a minute as he wore a pained expression.
“I’ve got your sandwich!” Katherine called out.
Kian quickly moved around Jayme. “Wonderful! Thank you, Katherine. I’ll just take this and head on back to Opal’s office.”
The disappointment on all three women’s faces nearly had me laughing. As he walked by, he looked at me and motioned toward the back. I nodded and followed him with his drinks.
Kian slid onto a stool and ate at one of the tables on the pastry side of the kitchen; well out of eyeshot if anyone were to look back into the kitchen.
I set the drinks down. “One black coffee and water for you.”
He smiled. “Thanks.”
“Didn’t want to catch up with your friends?”
He had been about to take a bite of his sandwich and paused. Then he laughed. “They’re hardly friends. The one who came up to me was my old girlfriend. We dated through almost all of high school. I had this whole plan about how we would go to college, and before I went to law school, I was going to ask her to marry me.”
“What happened?” I asked, wanting to hear it from him rather than Katherine.
“Found out she was cheating on me with my best friend.”
“I’m so sorry. That must have been hard.”
He chewed and nodded his head.
“Are you still friends with the guy?”
“Nah,” he said as he wiped his mouth. “I don’t even know where he is. His family moved from Moose Village not long after we graduated high school.”
“I’m sorry you lost a friend.”
Lifting his head, our eyes met. “I’m not. As far as I’m concerned, he wasn’t a friend.”
“Fair enough.”
I let out a breath. “Well, I should get back up front. Katherine isn’t even supposed to be working. I think she wanted some gossip when I told her who I was making the sandwich for and who was left in the bakery.”
I winked and Kian gifted me with a beautiful smile. “Thanks for the sandwich and the drinks.”
“Sure thing.”
Turning to walk back out front, he called out, “What was your name again?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I replied, “Cadie. With a C.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Cadie, with a C.”
“Same to you, Kian.”
When I spun around and headed back to the front, I reminded myself that no matter how handsome Kian Carter was, I had no business falling for anyone.
Kian
I watched as Cadie, with a C, walked out of the kitchen and tried to ignore the way my heart seemed to beat a bit faster since she first looked at me with those eyes of hers. They were brown, but I swore they had turned golden when the sun came through the front windows.
Picking up the sandwich, I took another bite. I hadn’t bargained on seeing Jayme here. It was only the second time I’d seen her since we had broken up. The anger I once felt for her was completely gone. The only emotion I felt for her was sorrow. She had thrown herself at Billy, my once-upon-a-time best friend, and he had used her and then dumped her.
Katherine strolled back into the kitchen and took off the apron. “Well, that wasn’t at all what I expected.”
I let out a laugh. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Kath. How have you been?”
She shrugged. “Plugging along.”
“I thought you were going to school to be a veterinarian.”
Katherine let out a long sigh. “That sucked. I quit school and came back to Moose Village. Thank goodness for Opal; she gave me a much-needed job. She’s been trying to get me to learn how to bake.”
I sat back and wiped my mouth. “I mean, you do work in a bakery, it would make sense that you should know how to bake.”
She shook her head. “I want to do something in the back end of it. I’ve been taking night classes in accounting. Opal does everything here, and I thought if I could learn how to do the books and maybe some other things, it would help ease her load a bit. I’m never going to be a baker; I know that much. I love working in the front and interacting with all the customers too.”
“Does Opal know what you’re doing?”