Then I wash my face, go back out front, and sell Martha her second scone of the day because she’s been hovering near the counter making significant eye contact at each delivery and I need her to leave before I completely lose my composure.
“New apron?” she asks innocently.
“Goodbye, Martha.”
“It’s a lovely color. Compliments your complexion.”
“Goodbye, Martha.”
The fourth delivery arrives at 3:45 PM.
I’ve given up pretending to work. The display case is half-empty and I can’t remember if I restocked the brownies or juststood in the kitchen holding the tray and staring at nothing. My brain has been replaced by a single repeating thought: He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming.
The box is small. Black. Expensive-looking.
Perfume.
I know before I open it. My real scent, not the $8.99 generic I’ve been dousing myself with since I faked my own death.
He noticed. Somehow, in the restaurant? He noticed what I was wearing. Or at his house, what I wasn’t wearing. Or…
The card:
I want to know all the versions of you. Even the ones you’ve lost. - D
I spray it on my wrist. Just a little.
And there I am.
Stevie Reeves. The woman who existed before witness protection.
I smell like myself again.
I didn’t realize how much I missed that scent until right now.
The fifth delivery arrives at 5:15 PM.
I’ve closed early. Flipped the sign, locked the door, and am standing in the middle of my empty bakery surrounded by flowers and chocolate and the lingering scent of who I used to be.
The knock makes me jump.
Not a delivery guy this time. Two guys. And a dolly.
“Zoey Carter? Got a delivery. Gonna need you to sign for it.”
The box is huge. Industrial. The kind of packaging you see for serious equipment, not romantic gestures.
They wheel it into the kitchen. Leave the paperwork. Disappear.
I stand there staring at the box for a full minute before I find the courage to open it.
It’s a mixer.
KitchenAid, the kind you have to mortgage your soul for. Cobalt blue, exact shade of the bakery door, gleaming like a wet dream for carb enthusiasts.
This man is trying to buy my love and it’s working.
The card is taped to the top:
