Page 13 of And I Love Her

“No, just the cookie and a large coffee, please.” Digging into his jeans pocket, he approached the register.

She placed the Chaos Cookie on a plate and turned to pour a coffee. “So you’ve obviously been here before, if you know about our cookies.”

Too late, Jake realized his mistake. “Uh, yeah. It’s just been awhile.”

“Welcome back, then.” She set an earthenware mug on the counter and rang up the purchase.

Whowasshe? She didn’t seem to recognize him, at least.

He handed her a twenty and waved off her attempt to give him change. After taking the plate and mug to a table by the window, he set his camera down and pulled his phone from his pocket. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to find out who the woman from the elevator was, since he wouldn’t see her again.

He found the Skyline College Classics department website and searched through the biographies and photos of professors. There was only one photo of a woman on the faculty page. Her hair was scraped away from her face, her serious expression mitigated by a slight smile.

Dr. Calista Prescott.

Jake swallowed a sudden laugh.Callie Prescott. I’ll be damned.

Memories flooded back to him, as if a dam had broken. They’d been in the same graduating class, though not in the same social circle. He’d hung out with both athletes and theater kids.

Callie had been neither—she’d been a hardcore, all-business AP student who spent lunchtime reading thick books and working on extra credit projects. Not surprisingly, she’d also been the class valedictorian. A crazy intelligent overachiever, she’d been intimidating to most students, if not exactly popular.

According to the webpage bio, she’d earned her undergrad degree from Stanford and her PhD from Harvard before she’d been hired at Skyline College.

Callie Prescott. Her mother had owned Sugar Joy…and it looked like the bakery was still in the family, since the girl behind the counter had to be one of her sisters.

Intense curiosity rose in him. When had Callie come back to Bliss Cove after university? Where did she live now? Was she married? If not, did she have a boyfriend?

Smothering the thoughts, he turned his attention to his coffee and cookie. He couldn’t fixate on her, no matter how badly he wanted the answers to those questions.

He took a bite of the Chaos Cookie and almost groaned aloud with pleasure. He’d had cookies all over the world, baked by renowned top pastry chefs, and not one compared to the Sugar Joy Chaos Cookie. How could he have forgotten this heaven existed?

He crunched into the cookie again and reached for the coffee. He could come here every day, if he wanted to. Between Sugar Joy and his rediscovery of Callie, his self-imposed exile in Bliss Cove was looking much brighter. Taking another bite, he closed his eyes and chewed.

A little shriek followed by a crash shattered his pleasure.

His eyes flew open. A woman in her sixties with short blond hair—Mrs. Prescott, the bakery owner—stood right next to his table, a tray dangling from her hand. The broken shards of a ceramic teapot and cup lay at her feet. The other patrons were all looking in their direction.

Panic flickered in Jake’s gut. Ducking his head, he slipped from the chair and crouched to pick up the broken ceramic.

Mrs. Prescott knelt beside him, her stare riveted to his face. Around them, the conversation and noise of the bakery resumed as people appeared to attribute her shriek to alarm over the broken pot.

“Oh my God.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “It’syou.”

Well, shit.

Less than three days in and already his cover was blown.

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