TWENTY-ONE
Hartley
“Yeah,it’s going to go right under those lights,” I tell one of the workers who showed up first thing this morning to set up the display cases in the bakery.
I watch as they set up the first case, double-checking that it’s in the right spot. There are three cases being set up, two up front by the register and one along the wall. I pushed all of the tables and chairs up along the opposite wall so that they wouldn’t be in the way.
They bring in the second display case and line it up with the first one. I love seeing them in here. It feels more real now. With all of the work that I’ve been doing, and all of the time that I’ve been spending with Eli and his family and friends, I seem to have lost track of time.
I love knowing that this place will be open soon though. I love seeing Grams’ and my dream finally come true. Some days, when I look around the bakery, I swear it’s like I can feel her here with me. I think she would love this place and I think that she would like that it wasn’t opened in Atlanta even though that’s what we had planned. She would have appreciated the adventure of it all.
I sent Iris a message this morning. She invited me to a girls night but I know that I’ll be too busy with the bakery to make the trip down to Destiny Falls. I sent her a few pictures of the bakery and she promised to come up for opening day.
Eli texted me this morning to let me know that he had just dropped his parents off at the airport and is headed home. I told him that the mixer, oven, and display cases were all being installed this morning so I would be busy at the bakery all day. He has someone watching the store today and he offered to pick up lunch for the two of us.
That was over an hour ago.
My stomach growls and I check my phone. There are no new messages but I know that he must be close.
The movers haul in the last display case and I help them get it centered on the back wall. This one will have the donuts on one side and slots for fresh-baked bread and rolls on the other side. They get to work, spacing out the shelves the way I want and then installing the glass on the front of the display cases and installing the doors on the section that the donuts will be.
They’re just wiping down the glass and packing up when Patrick and Brennan show up.
“Hey, you two! What are y’all doing here?” I ask as Brennan runs over to me and wraps his little arms around my legs.
“We were just driving by and saw you down here. We thought that we would stop in and see how you were doing. See if maybe you had some baked goods that you needed someone to take off your hands,” Patrick jokes, pretending to look around.
“I’m afraid that I don’t have any sweets here. Not yet anyway,” I tell them with a smile.
“We’re all set here, ma’am,” one of the men says and I step forward to thank them and show them out.
The door has barely closed behind them when it opens once more and Eli strides in, carrying two paper bags of food.
“Hey,” he says, obviously surprised to see Patrick and Brennan here with me.
Brennan skips over to Eli and gives him a quick hug before he takes one of the bags from Eli and heads over to a table.
“Help yourself,” Eli calls after him, and Patrick and I both laugh and head to join Brennan at the table.
“It looks really good in here,” Eli tells me as he takes the chair next to me.
“Thanks!”
I lean over and kiss Eli’s cheek quickly before the boys start to pull out all of the food. I let them divide it as I look around the new bakery equipment.
Eli brought four hamburgers and two large fries since he had missed breakfast and was starving, so we have just enough food to share with everyone.
I’ve only taken a bite of my burger when another big truck pulls up outside the bakery doors.
“Ah, that will be the new oven and mixer.”
“I’ll let them in, sweets,” Eli says, standing and brushing past me.
I hurry to finish up my burger and share of the fries so that I can show them where it’s all supposed to go, but Eli takes care of it for me. I’m sure that it’s pretty easy to guess where it’s going to go since there are two large spaces next to the other oven and mixer.
“Have you made anything new?” I ask Brennan when Eli comes back to the table to join us.
“We made a soup!” Brennan says excitedly, hurrying to finish chewing so he can tell me all about it.