Page 20 of Roman
“I appreciate your apology, but I don’t feel as if I can talk to you at the moment, Evan. You…what you did and said was unkind, and I’m not ready to talk to you.”
“Beau. Come on. I’m sorry.”
I nodded. “I get that. But just because you’re sorry doesn’t mean I’m ready to forgive. I will. We both know I will. But I’m not ready yet, Ev.” I stood, and after running my hands down the front of my jeans, I took a deep breath. “Now, I really need to get back to work. Thanks for the apology.” With those last words, I popped myself back to the bakery. I found Konrad and Aleric standing in the kitchen, talking. At my appearance, Konrad immediately rushed to me and wrapped me in a tight hug. If I had to pick an omega father for myself, I would have wanted one like him. He was amazing, and his sons were both incredibly lucky to have such a loving omega dad.
“We’re sorry,” Konrad said.
I pulled out of the hug a bit before shaking my head. “There’s no need,” I said. I tried to look over Konrad’s shoulder, but he was taller than I was, and I couldn’t meet Aleric’s eyes. Instead, I leaned around to make sure the alpha dragon knew I was including him. “I appreciate what you did and Evan apologizing, but I’m not ready to forgive him just yet. I’ve told him as much, but I need to leave it at that for the time being. If I were to talk to my brother right now, I would say something I would regret later.”
I nodded again and glanced around. There was a lot to do before we opened, and although I hadn’t planned on it, thismorning was going to require a lot more magic than I had wanted to use. After my upsetting night, and now this morning, I didn’t quite trust myself completely with all of the magic I was about to expend, but it must be done.
“What can we do to help?” Aleric asked.
I slowly looked over the disarray that was the kitchen’s current status. “Well, if you truly wish to help, you can start taking trays out and placing them in the display cabinets.” I looked over at Konrad. “Is Elias going to be in this morning?”
Konrad shook his head. “He’s going to be gone for several weeks. I thought I shared that news with you?” Konrad glanced at Aleric. “He and Claude are grandfathers again. They’ve gone to spend time with their family’s newest little addition.”
“Oh. That’s such wonderful news.” It truly was. “If you talk to him before I do, please tell him to pass on my congratulations.” Babies were always a reason to celebrate in our village. Which was why I didn’t quite understand Evan’s harsh comments about me and Roman eventually having babies of our own.
“We will,” Konrad said. “Did you want me to put these in the oven?”
I blinked a few times before I focused on the worktable he was standing in front of. Aleric came back into the kitchen and grabbed another set of trays that were already loaded before he disappeared back out front.
“No.” I took a deep breath. Maybe go out front for a sec? I don’t want you to get caught in any possible mishaps.”
Konrad’s eyes widened. “Is your magic not working?”
I shrugged. “It seems to be, but I’m upset and tired, and emotions play a big part in our magic. It should be fine; I just want to be certain.”
Konrad nodded before he left the kitchen area. I took several deep breaths with my eyes closed before opening them and focusing on everything I needed to do. I gestured to the roomwith first my left arm, then the right, and let out the breath I’d been holding when the day’s goodies were suddenly occupying every available surface. I couldn’t help but let out a little happy dance before I remembered that Konrad and Aleric were waiting for me in the outer room.
“It’s safe to come in,” I called out. They were dragons, and I knew they would no doubt hear me. The door pushed open, and first Konrad’s and then Aleric’s heads peeked in. “It’s safe.” I glanced at my work. “And it looks like the day’s baking is finished.” I guess on some level, I didn’t want to have to come back to prepping things because there were pastries and breads that I hadn’t intended on making until later in the day. Oh well. It wasn’t as if anything would go bad throughout the day.
“Should I continue filling the cases?” Aleric asked.
“Would you mind? Konrad knows where everything goes. I’ll get things staged on the racks for later in the day.”
“There’s a line forming out front already,” Konrad told me.
I stopped my forward momentum. “Already?” A glance at the clock on the wall told me that we were supposed to be open in under five minutes. “Oh, wow. All right. We’ll get everything put out and go ahead and let them in. I don’t want to keep anyone waiting. Especially not if they have to get to work.”
Those ended up being the wrong words to say because as soon as the doors were unlocked and opened, there was a steady stream of customers all morning. Aleric left as soon as he finished helping to fill the cases with all of this morning’s choices.
Konrad started serving customers, and I pasted a smile on my face while I took over the cash register and rang them out. The pastry request cup filled up as the day went on. It wasn’t until there was a bit of a lull around midday that Konrad and I were able to take a moment to slow down.
“You need to eat,” Konrad said.
“So do you,” I told him. The bakery had a few people sitting at the small tables, enjoying their purchases, but for the moment, there weren’t any new customers waiting to be served. “This isn’t a one-person job. There is no way I’ll be able to do this alone. It’s not even a two-person job. How did the previous proprietors run it with only three of them?”
“You will have help. Aleric mentioned how the council is working on sending some this way to see if they are a good match. As for the family that used to run this place, they worked immensely long hours, and they didn’t offer nearly as many selections.” Konrad indicated the glass cases that were half-full. “Also, this is new again after being closed for a bit. The freshness will wear off in a few weeks, and things will slow down.”
The door chimed, and I sighed. There would be no lunch break for us just yet. I smiled as a young man came in toward us.
“Hello, Sean. Are you enjoying your summer break?” Konrad asked.
“I am,” he said as he looked down at the case and then up at me. “I’m here to see about a position. I attend college down off of the mountain, but I’m off for the summer. This fall, I won’t be able to work mornings, but all of my classes I’m enrolled in are finished by one.”
I glanced at Konrad, who nodded at me. Oh, this was a me thing. I was the one who would have final say. That was still something I was going to have to get used to.
