Page 44 of Emma and the Grumpy Baker

When we weren’t working tirelessly on the conversion of Liam’s store, we were enjoying as much of life as we could together. Many days when we could leave the stores in the hands of the employees, Liam would take me out to the beach which we otherwise rarely visited, despite how close it was. We traveled on weekends when we were free, and every second felt like a movie. Our time was spent catching up on all of the things that we’d missed in each other’s lives in the past eight years. It was like the time period we weren’t together had never existed.

Liam had taken me to the mainland a few times and shown me his sporting goods store, which was expanding. He had to check on the progress, and I was more than happy to go with him.

Some might have thought it was unhealthy, but we didn’t spend much time apart. We just couldn’t stand to be away from each other when we’d already lost so much time.

Our fathers eventually talked. Liam informed me that all of this was over a major misunderstanding, including a baseball jersey that Liam had taken to college and forgotten to return. I expected that my father wouldn’t come around to an apology for a while, but that required an apology to be given from Liam’s dad. After Liam made it clear to his dad that we were going to be together and not break up again, his dad reached out to mine. I wasn’t exactly sure how it had gone since neither of them would tell us, but I hoped for everyone’s sake that they overcame their differences.

And, I hoped that they would be present today. Because today was so important.

I cleaned up Liam’s mouth from where we’d transferred my lipstick, and then I had to redo a lot of my makeup by wiping off the smudges. Once we were finally both ready, we left his apartment to walk down to our stores.

Today was the long-awaited opening of the new coffee shop, and based on what we’d already had to do, I knew it was going to be huge. Wanting the morning off to relax, I’d scheduled five employees to be baking this morning, preparing enough baked goods for the number of people we were expecting. There were also seven employees in the coffee shop to help process orders quickly.

After we announced our official opening date on social media, we received a lot of interest on social media. It became clear that our followers were interested in traveling to the island to come to our opening. Which absolutely blew my mind. I couldn’t believe people would want to travel just to come to our opening.

But that was the power of what building a community would do. These people loved us and our story, and they wanted to support us. It was incredible and so humbling.

Grady set up a virtual event sign up just so we could get an idea of how many people were planning on joining us on opening day, which made me cry. Over three thousand people signed up, saying that they would be attending. Knowing that we didn’t have the capacity for that many people in our stores, we called our local chamber of commerce, and they got to work helping us plan all of it out. Law enforcement was going to block the road in front of our stores for the day so that the guests could fill the streets. That kind of help was crazy to me, but I was thankful.

“Are you excited?” I asked Liam as we reached the street just one block over from ours. I’d already asked him about fifteen times, but I couldn’t help myself. I was too excited to hold it in.

He gave me a smirk and a side eye as he pulled my bouncing figure along, laughing at me.

“How many people do you actually think will be there?”

“More than we can probably handle in one day,” Liam answered, smiling down at me. “I’m positive that the ovens are going to break from being overworked the last few days.

“I know,” I responded, laughing. We’d been preparing for today all week and the ovens had stayed on the entire time.

“It’s going to be great,” he said, looking away as if thinking about something.

We turned a corner from our street and I stopped moving. There was an entiremobin the streets. Police cars blocked off the road for a few blocks, and almost the entirety of the space was filled with people. Liam walked in front of me as we approached one of the law enforcement officers. He was one that we’d met last week to go over plans. He greeted us warmly before escorting us around the blockade. Other traffic officers helped clear us a path to the front of the store, where a huge ribbon was set up for us to cut.

“This is insane,” I whispered to Liam, still not comprehending why this many people would want to come out to support us. It was so overwhelming that I almost started crying. But I told myself that I would at least wait for the end of the day to cry.

“It’s amazing,” Liam affirmed, waving to some people that called out our names as we passed. It felt like we were celebrities in a way.

The local news station was set up in front of the ribbon for the opening ceremony, and we said hello to all of them as we passed by. There were ropes keeping people away from the front of the building, and the fire marshals ensured that the crowds weren’t a hazard. I heard someone call out to extend the blockade to increase the room in the area. I couldn’t believe that this was happening.

Grady was also set up outside and helped Liam and me get microphones on so that he could get audio with all of the filming he was doing today. I was excited that he’d come all this way yet again. I’d been paying him a salary that I still didn’t think was enough for all the work that he did for me, but he refused any more.

I stepped inside my bakery, still not used to all of the things that had changed. Instead of the pink wall to the right, there was now a massive hold, bordered by bricks to create a cool doorway. Down the middle of the doorway frame, the bricks color changed from the pink of my store to the navy we decided to leave Liam’s. The two colors looked so good together and it was a very cool juxtaposition for the stores. My store was bright and cheery, and Liam’s was dark and moody. Over the doorway that led into his coffee shop, the new name blinked in a white neon light.

“GRUMPY COFFEE CO.” It read. We’d tossed around so many ideas and even considered only having one name for both of our businesses. But this was perfect for the vibe of his store, and the marketing worked well. Because who wasn’t grumpy before they had their coffee? And with Liam as the face of the company, it was a perfect fit. At least as far as the public knew.

The counters in both stores were still separated by a wall, but that was only to help keep the lines for ordering distinct. The back room had been completely renovated, though. The two kitchens were now one huge one, allowing baked goods to be made with ease.

Anne came out of the back as soon as she heard the doorbell, and she grinned at me. “Emma! There are a ridiculous number of people out there!”

“I know!” I squealed, running to her to give her a hug. She wore a clean apron because she would be working out in the front and didn’t need to be covered in brownie flour batter. “Are you all okay? Is there anything I can do for you before we open in ten?”

“We’re good! We’ve actually been taking a break before the craziness begins!” She told me with a laugh.

“Good! Let me know if anyone needs anything today!” I gave her another hug before walking over toGrumpyto see what Liam was up to. He was talking to his manager, who handed him a cup of coffee. Liam was grinning ear to ear as they had their conversation, and I didn’t interrupt. I just waited by the door as they talked until Liam approached me.

“Ready?” He asked, and I nodded enthusiastically.

“Let’s do this!” I said in a whisper-yell. We walked outside and headed to the ribbon for the ceremony.

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