Page 7 of Between the Shady Groves
“I guess it’s kind of like me opening a baked goods store. I am afraid I might eat my profits and come down with some dread disease—heart disease, diabetes, cancer. Something from all the stuff I make.” She supposed that’s what happened to her mom. Although her mom had never been extra heavy. She had just been…pleasantly plump. That’s how Lauren looked at her anyway. She supposed that in today’s medical models, her mom would have been obese. She was sliding toward that herself.
Maybe that’s why Cannon never paid much attention to her. She was less appealing to him than she was when she was younger and thinner.
“I hope that doesn’t change your mind. I wouldn’t mind having a baked goods store right next door to me. Plus, you could sell healthy stuff too.”
“Like smoothies and yogurt parfaits?” She smiled. The store just wouldn’t be the same. But she supposed she could sell them on the side. That would be the downside of having a baked goods store. She wouldn’t really be helping people, although… Was there something to be said for food that warmed the stomach and the heart? Even if it wasn’t good for the heart?
She had to think on that. Maybe it was more of a moral issue than she realized. Maybe she should just go back to her husband. And leave this town, these memories, and this intriguing man behind.
She finished wrapping up the banana bread, and walking back, she stayed on her side of the counter, handing it over. For some reason, she thought it might be a good idea to keep some distance between her and this man. Not that she was exceptionally attracted or even interested in him. He just seemed like a dangerous type. Plus, she might have left her husband, but she was still good and solidly married. She was thankful she hadn’t left her wedding rings behind. She assumed that Cannon would file for divorce, and she would go along with it. But she wasn’t taking her rings off until it was time.
“Thanks. That was awfully kind of you. I promise I won’t come over looking for handouts all the time.”
The man was charming, but he didn’t seem like much of a people person either. “You don’t need to promise. I’m not worried about it. I…haven’t decided whether I’m going to open the shop or not.” She paused for a moment, and then she said, “My mom used to own it. There are a lot of memories here for me.”
He nodded, acknowledging her words. “I guess that’ll be a hard decision.”
He didn’t seem overly interested in what she had to say. She supposed that was a typical man. Focused on whatever had theirattention and whatever they were trying to accomplish. Anything else was just noise.
She didn’t mean to lump all men into that category, but maybe she was expecting too much of her husband. Maybe men didn’t sit around with their arms around their wives comforting them when they needed it. Maybe that was just something from a romance novel. Maybe she should have been content where she was. Honestly, this man made her a little uncomfortable.
“Come over anytime. I’m still stocking the shelves. I lucked out and bought out a used bookstore online for a little bit of nothing. The books are being shipped in boxes, and I think they’ve mostly arrived.”
“All right. I guess if any get misdirected this way, I’ll know where to take them.”
“Be sure to send some of your banana bread over with them.”
“I’ll do that,” she said, giving him a smile, because he’d been kind to her, before he walked out.
She waited until he walked down the street before she walked over to the door and locked it.
Then she walked through the bakery, out the back, and sat down on the back step, looking at the peach trees where the little green fruit were growing under the drooping branches.
Grace had said this was one of her favorite spots when she was growing up, and Lauren had to agree. It was one of hers too. There were so many memories here. So many good times. So much fun with her mom.
Sure, there were times where she wished she would have had a dad, but her mom had said that she had gotten pregnant, and her boyfriend wanted her to have an abortion, while her mom had wanted to get married. They hadn’t gotten married, but she hadn’t gotten an abortion either, and her mom had moved out of town because it was a small town, and she didn’t want to embarrass her family.
Growing up, from what she’d heard of her grandfather and grandmother, she didn’t think that they were the kind of people who would have been embarrassed or at least who would have been upset and kicked their daughter out. But sometimes people got older andmellowed out. Regardless, they lived just south of Milwaukee, and Lauren only saw them once or twice a year.
It was hard to know someone when you only saw them once or twice a year. They had passed away, and her mom had grieved but had continued making ends meet.
In hindsight, Lauren admired that. How she could lose people in her life and just continue on with her life, like…like it didn’t throw her through a major loop.
Well, that was one of the ways she and her mom were different. Although she didn’t really have any direction in her life to continue on with. She was just drifting, so far from the husband she barely saw. Her purpose had been taking care of her mom. When that had ended, she didn’t really know what to do with herself. Go back to teaching? She didn’t really want to. She had enjoyed it but hadn’t loved it the way she loved baking.
She breathed deep of the fresh lake air. She missed this. Cincinnati didn’t smell the same at all and didn’t feel the same either. Coming here had been the right thing to do.
Her phone buzzed, and she saw that her husband had texted her again.
His texts had started out casual, not panicked after he’d seen her note.
Lauren, when are you coming home? I want to talk about this. That had been one of the first ones.
And then he sounded irritated.
Lauren. Am I really going to have to take off work and come get you? Plus, how do I know you’re okay? At least let me know you’re okay.
At that point, she realized that she could have been abducted by someone and being held for ransom, and he wouldn’t know.
