Page 14 of Emma and the Grumpy Baker

I’d thought that I wanted her anger, but I’ve never been so incorrect in my life. I never wanted to see her that angry or hurt again, and I would do anything to make it disappear.

If I had known that she was the business next to mine, I might have changed business plans entirely. I would have opened a book store or a shoe store. Anything that wouldn’t put her business at odds with mine.

Convinced that my idea was fool-proof, I began thinking about what the future would look like if I did truly change my business. It was a toxic trait of mine—overthinking the future and visualizing the outcomes of many of my different paths. Finding myself wanting to change my business only weeks after opening it wasn’t in the visualization I’d had when I first thought of openingMidnight.

Emma and I could work together, instead of blowing up like vinegar and baking soda. Her business could thrive and so could mine without either of ours hurting the other. Maybe one day, I could even convince her to go on a date with me again. At this point in my life, I realized that my father’s wishes held no weight in my decisions, and that it was stupid for me to let her go. I should have just put a ring on her finger and never let her feel the pain of our breakup. So maybe, changing my business could mean a happy ending for us, one day.

I felt so confident in my plan that I could barely contain it. I could have Emma back. We could be happy again, and I could hear that beautiful laugh and see that bright smile directed towards me.

Unable to hold back my ambition, I left my house and made the short trip to our stores. I had been updated by my manager that the store was well and selling consistently, so I hadn’t planned on stopping by today. And I still wasn’t. I was going to talk to Emma and tell her my plan, even if I hadn’t fully fleshed it out just yet. The logistics and details would come later. I just needed to see Emma’s face light up with happiness when I told her I wouldn’t compete with her business and that her dream could be hers again.

When I finally made it, I peered in to see if Emma was out front. And what my eyes landed on made my blood boil.

Emma was sitting at one of her tables, sharing a cinnamon roll with a guy I’d never seen before. As in literally eating off of the same plate. It was a miracle they weren’t sharing a fork. They were both laughing, and Emma was leaning over his shoulder to look at something on his phone. She erupted into a fit of giggles, and leaned back in her chair for support. He grinned at her and swiped something on his phone before showing her. Her hands flew to cover her eyes and I could see the red tinge of embarrassment on her cheeks as she peered through her open fingers. But she was still laughing, and her hand went to his arm in the way that girls did when they were into a guy.

And I couldn’t stand to watch another second of it.

I didn’t know who he was, but I hated him.

I couldn’t believe that someone had swept her off her feet just as I was about to do the same thing. What did she see in him?

Angrily, I walked all the way back home without even stopping by my bakery. I couldn’t look at anyone right now, and I needed to be as far away from Emma and her new boyfriend as possible. There was no way she would want to merge our stores now, right? Because that would probably make her new boyfriend uncomfortable since she and I have a history. And I wouldn’t want to put her in an awkward position.

My fists were balled up tightly all the way home, and I shoved my front door open with a little bit too much force. I guess I had to go back to the drawing board now and figure out a new plan.

Because boyfriend or not, I still wanted to see Emma succeed. And my store was hindering her ability to do so.

15

Emma

“Emma!” Anne yelled the second I walked into the back ofThe Pink Bakery. She was grinning from ear to ear and I wondered briefly if it was my birthday and I’d forgotten about it.

“Anne!” I said back, confused as to what had her so excited. She was here earlier than me, as usual, working on a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies. More than we normally make. Had someone called early this morning and asked for them?

“Did you see your TikTok?” She asked, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

“Is it running?” I asked excitedly, running over to her. I was eager to see what Grady had come up with and watch it for myself. He’d shown me some amazing bloopers before he’d left last week, and I’d nearly peed my pants with laughter and embarrassment. I wasn’t the best in front of a camera, but he had told me it made me endearing. He wouldn’t show me any of the results though, because he wanted it to be a surprise.

And though I had been checking every morning to see if anything was posted yet, I hadn’t this morning, so I must have missed it.

“Is it running!” She scoffed at me and typed onto her phone. “Emma! It went viral!”

“What?” I screeched, yanking her phone from her hand. Even though I could have just checked on my phone.

The Pink Bakery’s TikTok was pulled up on her phone, and there were three videos posted. I don’t know how I’d missedthree, but I clicked on the first one with shaky fingers.

The video had an adorable sound behind it that gave off funny vibes, and the video was just little clips of Anne and me goofing around in the bakery. One shot was of me being silly while showing off the full case of treats. I had flour all over my apron and a little on my cheek, but I looked like I was having fun. One clip was of Anne handing a plate with a massive cinnamon roll to the person behind the camera, so it looked like the viewer was getting the cinnamon roll.

There were clips of Anne and I dancing to the music, playing karaoke with spatulas, and just overall having a great time. It warmed my heart to watch the video, because this was what the bakery was like for me all the time. I didn’t even know that Grady had seen most of these clips, let alone gotten them on video, but I was glad he had. If this business failed, I would be happy just to have this as a memory.

The text on the screen read:POV: you own the coolest, pinkest bakery in the US, but no one knows about it yet.

The caption read:The Pink Bakery—serving delicious baked goods and karaoke sang horribly off-key. Amelia Island.#ThePinkBakery #CookieDoughKaraoke #Bakery #BestCinnamonRollsEver

“See there?” Anne pointed to the bottom of the screen, where there were some numbers and symbols that I didn’t understand. “Where it says three-point-fourM? That means this video got three-point-fourMillionviews! And it has over three hundred thousand likes and sixty thousand comments!”

“What!” I screamed, unable to comprehend that so many people had seen this borderline embarrassing video. Anne scrolled down on the phone, showing me the next video, which was a very aesthetic-looking video showing the process of making the cinnamon rolls. Grady really did have a thing for the cinnamon rolls, even though they weren’t a daily thing here. The video was amazing, and I saw that it had over a million views too.

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