Page 26 of Beauty and the Baker
The man placed a box tied with string and a few apples on the counter next to her bits of paper. “I told you it isn’t my cat.”
“If it isn’t your cat, I don’t know why you were chasing it.”
She watched the man drag his hand down his face. “Listen, lady. The cat got out the window and I went to find it. It jumped the fence into your yard. That was it.”
“So, it is your cat.”
“No, it is not. It belongs to my brother-in-law.” She recalled her aunt saying something about the cat belonging to a neighbor. Maybe this man was telling the truth.
The shopkeep cleared his throat. Georgina glared at him. “If you lovers are done arguing, perhaps we can tidy this mess up.”
“We aren’t,” Georgina said.
“Aren’t what?”
“Lovers.” She looked at the man. “Or arguing. It was simply a discussion.”
A wide grin broke out on the man’s face. Dimples. Oh goodness, he had dimples. He turned to the shopkeep. “I need a dime’s worth of flour. The four apples. And…” he looked around the store. Georgina watched him pick up a stuffed bear and add it to the pile. “Add this bear. What do I owe you?”
Georgina tried not to think about the child that would be getting that bear. Maybe once she moved to San Francisco she’d talk to Lawrence about having children right away.
“Sixteen cents.”
The man counted out coins while the shopkeep packaged up the items. “It was only a nickel’s worth of flour. I can’t afford to pay you for the difference.”
“Don’t worry.” The man placed the bear under his arm and gathered the two sacks. He picked up the box with his finger. “Let’s go,” he said, heading towards the door.
“Wait. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t even know your name.”
“You can call me Charlie.”
Charlie offered to carry the sack of flour just so he could spend a little more time with her.
He learned her name was Georgina and she had only come to Creede to help her aunt who had a broken leg. The leg that she broke tripping over Mr. Gladstone in the garden.
There was definitely something familiar about Georgina and Charlie wished he could figure out why that was. Maybe she reminded him of someone.
There weren’t many women working in the factories, so he knew it wasn’t from there.
“Tell me about this cake you are baking,” he said, as they walked past the shops towards the residential area.
“My aunt is trying to perfect her recipe for chocolate cake. So, we’ve been experimenting with different recipes. We used the last of the flour on a cinnamon and chocolate cake.”
“That sounds good. But anything involving chocolate and cake sounds good.”
“I thought it was delicious, but it wasn’t what my aunt was looking for.” Georgina leaned over and whispered to him. “I think she has been trying to figure this out for years. Or it gives her a reason to keep making cakes.”
Charlie laughed. “I’d like you to make me a cake.”
Georgina stopped. “Really? Whatever for?”
“I went by the bakery today and it was closed. I was hoping to buy a cake.”
Georgina laid her hand on his arm. He felt his arm go warm underneath her touch. “My aunt owns the bakery. That’s why I’m here.”
