Page 35 of Beauty and the Baker
Georgina nodded. “They didn’t send me word that they were arriving.”
“Do you want to go spend time with them? I can probably manage alone today.”
Georgina swiped her finger through the frosting and licked it from her finger. “I don’t think so. You may be the creative genius but remember who runs this shop.”
“Your Aunt Maybelle?”
Georgina laughed. “Exactly. Aunt Maybelle.”
“Is her leg any better?”
“Oh, the doctor took off her splint yesterday. Her leg is a little weak from being wrapped up for so long, but she said she’ll build up to walking longer distances over the next week.”
“I guess then she’ll be ready to come back.” Charlie started smoothing the frosting on the first layer of cake.
“She didn’t say.” Georgina washed her hands in the sink and took a second cake, turning it upside on another frosting board.
“Don’t you like it here?”
“I do. But I was training to be a nurse, not a baker.”
“I remember,” Charlie said softly.
“I am supposed to return to Baltimore. The hospital is keeping my job for me. Although they have probably filled the position by now.”
“What about San Francisco?” She had mentioned moving to San Francisco several times over the past month, but when he pressed her about it she refused to talk.
We all have our secrets,he thought.
Georgina pretended not to hear and turned her attention to scooping the right amount of frosting on her cake layer. Once she was done, she stacked a second layer on top of it and repeated the process.
“Georgina?” Charlie asked softly. Georgina looked at Charlie. He saw the sadness pass over her eyes. “What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Know what?”
“If I want to go to San Francisco. But I made a promise. I told someone I was coming.”
“Well tell them you aren’t.”
“It isn’t as easy as that. I gave my word.”
“You were on your way there and Creede was just a detour, wasn’t it?”
Georgina nodded. Charlie turned his focus back to frosting the cake in front of him.
“Don’t you like being a nurse, Georgina?”
“It is hard work. You are at the hospital long hours. You see some terrible things. It isn’t what I expected.”
“What did you expect?”
“I expected it to be easy. I wanted to heal people. Save them from near death. Assist doctors with surgeries. Not changing bedpans and soiled sheets. It is like I wasn’t appreciated.”
Charlie flinched. “It is much more than that. You are healing people. Every time you do what you consider a mundane task. It is important to the person that can’t do it for themselves.” Charlie put his cake aside and reached for another layer. “I’m eternally grateful to the doctors and nurses that healed me. I couldn’t do it on my own. I couldn’t change my own bedpan, or sheets. So, I’m thankful for those that did that for me. I’m thankful for the nurse that sang to me when I was falling asleep. She gave me something to hold onto. There was hope I would heal when I had lost all hope of living. You can tell a lot about a person by their actions.”
“What do you mean?”
