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Connie 1
I really didn’t need to work at Sweetie Pies anymore. My cousin Shea paid me an amazing salary for helping her run her charity, but working at the pie shop made me happy, so why quit?
I’d cut my days down to two a week, Saturday and Sunday from seven to eleven, and I worked most other days with the accountants, advisors, and a couple other folks who helped us disperse funds for Betty’s Startup, named after Shea’s very generous grandmother. Mostly, we gave financial support to local entrepreneurs to get their businesses up and running. We also gave to the local schools and the hospital in Sweet Whiskey, the next town over. Shea had wanted to keep everything relatively local for as long as possible, and so far, we’d been successful. The folks who received the startup money didn’t know exactly where it came from, and we hoped to keep it that way.
Funny thing was hearing all the speculation on who this benevolent donor might be, which was everyone from Bill Gates to Cher, but never once did anyone guess it could be either Shea or I who did it.
Fortunately, the six employees we had also liked keeping it a secret and had signed non-disclosure agreements, so no one said a word about the foundation. Not that Shea or I ever thought it would stay this way, but for now, it felt more like a Secret Santa kind of fun thing with no pressure from the outside world, which was something we were trying our best to avoid.
Cricket was now completely back on its feet and thriving, thanks to my cousin’s generosity and the good people of the town who loved to pitch in and support and help each other. We had the best mayor on every level and hoped to keep him in office for as long as he wanted to stay. We were a different kind of small town, and we liked it that way.
So, when Luke Ansley, Josh Baron, and Rascal Skatts, three guys from my past who I’d not only crushed on but had been in a band with, waltzed into Sweetie Pies on a hazy Sunday morning, I about dropped the three mint-chocolate pies I carried over to the display case.
“Oh, my God,” I heard myself mumble under my breath, as goosebumps ran up and down my arms. Just seeing them again caused my stomach to clench, and I broke out in a light sweat. It didn’t help that they’d gotten even better looking and much more adorable in the time they’d been away.
My God, did they have to be so deliciously gorgeous?
Couldn’t at least one of them have returned looking worse than when they’d left? Did they all have to look like panty-dropping, ripped cover models? Didn’t we have enough over-the-top good-looking men in this town? Did we need three more… and three more that I’d already had some awkward attempts at sex with?
Those experiences still made me cringe. We were so inexperienced. Not that I could seriously upgrade myself to well-versed in that category, but I’d like to think I was a lot more knowledgeable now than I was back when we were first messing around.
Those memories alone were enough to make me want to run home and pull the covers over my head.
Still, there they stood, just inside the front door… the three boys, or rather men, I’d never truly gotten over, reminding me of what happened all those years ago that changed the course of my life.
It hadn’t just been awkward sex that drove us apart. That was merely a side effect of working together whenever we could.
I let out a heavy sigh and kept moving towards the display case in the front of the restaurant, mere feet from where they now stood.
I truly thought I’d never have to see them again… ever.
They’d gone off to college, while I stayed in town, licked my wounds, and found a new path for myself… several new paths. Recently, I’d gotten so busy with all my commitments, I could barely keep up, but that was something I’d have to work on.
Seeing these three again only added to my stress levels. I couldn’t imagine that they’d dropped into Cricket out of some nostalgic memory. Back then, they couldn’t wait to get out of this town. And yet here they were, back again and looking happy for it.
I knew they were here to see me, and I didn’t like it… I didn’t like it one bit.
I’d disappointed them, and in many ways, myself. Unfortunately, they’d played into all that distress. Instead of helping me to get over the hurdle, they just left me to lick my massive wounds all on my own.
Who does that?
“Uncaring assholes, that’s who,” I mumbled under my breath.
I was happy with my life now. Happy with my work in this town, and I didn’t need them coming back to destroy all that I’d worked hard to achieve.
Even their parents had moved away right after the second flood decimated the town. No one could blame them. All their houses were on the river side of the town, the lowlands, and had taken the worst of the floods. Those homes weren’t there anymore. That land had all been transformed into a lovely Riverwalk that the people of Cricket loved.
Besides all that, they hadn’t even contacted me in all this time… not really.
Maybe there were a few text messages along the way, and a couple of phone calls that I never returned, but in all fairness, what would’ve been the point? I didn’t come through for them when they needed me most, and they abandoned me soon afterwards. No way to get past any of that… at least I didn’t think so.
Yet, there they stood in the front of the restaurant.
My restaurant.
Well not mine-mine, but it was where I loved to work. They seemed to be waiting for a table, as if nothing had ever happened. All they wanted was a breakfast pocket and a slice of pie.
“Right. Just breakfast. That’s why they’re here,” I muttered, as I reached inside the pie showcase and slid our various pies around. Our summer collection of pies was slowly making its way back on our menu. This year, our owner, Lexi Cardinal, had developed a creamy, fresh strawberry pie that was already a big seller, and the season hadn’t officially begun yet.
