Molly wanted to respond to Liam, but he was long gone.
Instead, she turned around behind her, and offered an exaggerated wave to his parents who were standing near the back of the town square. Molly noted that there was a crowd of people gathering back there, too, all faces she recognized from around town. Once Liam’s parents returned her greeting, Molly then turned back to face the stage.
“Thirty seconds! Places, people, places!” Mr. Tony had finished downing his coffee, and he handed the empty cup to a nearby crew member. “Ms. Johnson, you ready for the spotlight? I’m going to say my introduction to the show, first, and then it’s all up to you, sweetheart.”
Hannah nodded in response, and Molly could tell that she was taking deep, steadying breaths.
“And go! Go! Go! We’re live!” A camera person shouted, holding out an eager thumbs up.
“Merry Christmas, food lovers! Welcome to BakeTown, USA!” Mr. Tony’s face lit up as soon as the cameras started rolling. “I’m here with BakeTown’s Baker of The Year, Hannah Johnson! Ms. Johnson is the owner of Sweetness & Light, and I’ve gotta’ tell you, folks, she must’ve named the shop after herself because she’s been nothing but sweetness and light since we got here!”
Molly rolled her eyes at Mr. Tony’s introduction. How would he know anything about Hannah’s personality? She hadn’t even seen him have a full conversation with Hannah.
Hannah laughed in response to Mr. Tony’s kind, although a bit counterfeit, introduction. “Thank you so much to BakeTown and to you, too, Tony, for that lovely intro. I actually named the shop after something my grandmother used to say all the time. She would say it right after she pulled a perfect cake out of the oven. She would say it whenever my grandfather managed to find a good parking spot on a busy Sunday at church, and she would say it whenever she found a quarter on the ground, too!”
The crowd in the square erupted with laughter, and Hannah beamed out into the audience.
Mr. Tony chuckled too, and then pointed towards one of her still enclosed cakes. “Alright, Ms. Johnson! So, here we are, it’s Christmas Day, kids are playing with their new toys, moms and dads everywhere are relaxing in their living rooms, and everyone can’t wait until Christmas dinner! Tell us what you’ll be serving this year.”
“Are we starting with dessert, first, Mr. Tony?” she asked with a TV worthy smile.
“Oh, you know me so well, Ms. Johnson!”
The crowd laughed along with their interaction once more, and Hannah removed the container that surrounded the cake. In response to the pastry revelation, the crowd went into a sea of oohs and ahhs.
The cake’s frosting was snow-white and with the sun shining down on its surface, it looked like the silver button decorations that Hannah had placed all around its sides were twinkling with bright, glowing light. There was also a gray band wrapped around the cake, making it so pretty that Molly couldn’t even imagine slicing a piece away from it.
“Oh, wow. That cake is gorgeous,” Mr. Tony told her. It sounded genuine to Molly's ears. “Please, tell me that this is my present this year, Ms. Johnson! Is that what Santa left for me?”
“Only if you’ve been good, Mr. Tony. And by good, I mean, only if you’ve been watching your calories at the dinner table,” Hannah said with a wink at Mr. Tony as she reached across the table for a cutting knife.
“I’ve been watching them! I’ve been watching them” he promised. “I make sure to watch every bite really closely before it goes straight in my mouth!”
Molly chuckled, and she found herself entertained at the seamless interaction between Hannah and Mr. Tony, almost as if they’d been hosting this show together for years, instead of just within the last five minutes.
She was sure that the crowd felt the same since the people who lived in town were trying to get even closer to the stage, obviously wanting a better view of the show. Even the camera- people seemed mesmerized by the interaction happening on stage as they chose to look at the scene with their natural eyes and not through the lenses of their cameras.
And Molly could see it all happening: Hannah being offered her own show, Hannah moving to New York, the beginning of a beautiful, new chapter of Hannah’s life.
She'd be gone, but she'd be happy. She'd be following her dreams and doing th
e thing she'd always wanted to do. Hannah's wishes were coming true. With thoughts as sweet as those, Molly had to press her palms over her face as she began to cry.
Chapter 36
Nicholas
Nicholas reached the town’s Welcome Home sign that was situated on the county line and he kept right on running until it felt like his lungs would give right out.
He needed to see Molly.
There wasn’t any other way.
On the run over, he’d thought through all the coincidences in the car and all the coincidences in his life that led him to Molly Carmichael. He’d thought about her love of the Christmas holiday and the odds of her working for his parents, the timing of neither one of them currently being in a romantic relationship, his own disinterest in running the store making her want to put in the effort to convince him otherwise, making her want to spend time with him.
Everything just made too much sense, without making any sense at all.
And because he couldn’t explain everything logically away, he needed to find at least one answer.