The Trouble With Falling

TWENTY-FOUR

Elijah

“Are you ready?”I ask Hartley as I help her clean up the last of the mess from the dough. She decided to make all of the bread tonight so that she just needs to wake up early to make the desserts and baked goods.

“Yeah, I’ve got all of the stuff ready and waiting for tomorrow morning.”

“That’s good, but I meant are you ready to see my parents again.”

Hartley giggles, washing off her hands and grinning at me.

“I can’t believe that they’re coming back so soon.”

“I told you, they wanted to be here for your grand opening. My mom loves the name, by the way. I told her that I was the genius behind it and took all of the credit.”

“Good,” Hartley says, laughing. “When are you leaving to go get them?”

“In a few minutes. Their plane lands in about an hour.”

Hartley nods, double-checking the bags of ingredients that she has sectioned and lined up all over the kitchen.

“Did you want to go with me? Keep me company on the drive?”

Also, so I can keep an eye on you because I have a feeling that if you’re left here by yourself, you’re going to start to freak out.

“Can we grab some food on the way? I’ve been working all day and forgot to stop to eat.”

“I guess,” I say with a dramatic sigh. “What am I going to do with you?” I tease as I wrap my arm around her shoulders and lead her out of the front door.

She hops into the passenger seat and we take off, stopping at a McDonald’s on the way to the airport. The wind picks up as we reach the arrivals gate doors and I try to hold back my groan when my mom spots Hartley in the seat next to me. They both wave at each other and Hartley is jumping out of the truck before I’ve even stopped completely.

“Mrs. Grove!”

“Hartley! It’s so good to see you again, honey!”

I hop out as the women embrace and greet my dad, helping him with the bags as my mom and Hartley jump into the back seat.

“Nice to see you, Mom,” I greet her as I climb into the driver’s seat and merge into traffic.

“Hi, honey,” she says distractedly from the back seat.

Hartley and my mom catch up the entire drive back to Honey Peak. I’m not sure how they have so much to talk about since they just saw each other like a week ago.

My dad and I talk about the weather and their flight on the drive back. He seems tired and I’m sure they both are with the long flights and the time difference.

“Are we dropping you off at home, Hartley? Or are you staying with us at Eli’s?” my mom asks with a wink in my direction.

“Oh, I’ll be getting up super early tomorrow morning, so I’m headed home,”

she says as we pull into town and head toward the bakery and her apartment.

“I can’t wait to see the bakery and taste everything! Do you need any help tomorrow?”

“No, but thank you. I’ll have everything made, so I’ll just have to run the register. I’m hoping that I can hire someone soon, maybe a few weeks, to help me with that and maybe with some of the baking, but we’ll have to see how it goes.”

I pull up outside of her apartment and step out of the truck to make sure that Hartley gets out alright.

“Why don’t you walk her up, honey?” my mom suggests as I lower Hartley to the ground.