Page 25 of Grounding the Baker
“All gone, I’m afraid.”
“We’ve got a couple down here, haven’t we?” asked Chloe.
“No. They’re reserved,” he said, feeling his face heat.
“And I bet I can guess who they’re for,” said Giselle with a knowing look.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Giselle and Henrietta laughed, whilst Chloe snorted. These women were far too intuitive.
“Yes, yes, I get that I’m a complete cliché. Having a crush on a straight guy. You don’t have to take the piss.”
This resulted in them all howling with laughter, which made him feel even worse. He scowled at them all.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, honey,” said Giselle. “Who told you Austin was straight?”
“What? He was married to a woman.”
“He likes both.”
“What? Since when?”
Giselle looked at Henrietta. “Since forever, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” replied Henrietta. “Ever since he was at university. At least that’s what his mum told us.”
Liam’s head was spinning. So, Milo was right. Austin was bisexual. He was replaying all their interactions in his head. Had Austin been flirting with him? Or was he just being friendly? It had to be the latter. Why would someone like Austin be interested in Liam? The guy was so put together, and Liam was a fucking mess. He felt like a zombie most of the time, and he had another four months of this.
He looked at his watch and saw it was almost twelvethirty, which was the time Austin said he’d be here. Liam couldn’t see him right now. He wasn’t sure how he’d react around him, and would probably make a fool of himself, even more than he had already. Had Liam been obvious with his crush? Straight guys could be fairly oblivious, but another queer guy would have picked up on it. Austin was probably just humouring him because he was a nice guy.
Fuck – he needed to get out of here. There was no way he could be on the stall when Austin arrived, but he couldn’t leave Chloe on her own. Maybe he could just disappear for a bit and then come back. He could bake some more muffins. His chocolate orange ones. There’d be no danger of those not selling out.
“Will you be okay on your own for an hour while I bake some more muffins?”
“Really?” asked Chloe. “I thought this was it.”
“I didn’t know it would be this busy, and we’ll easily sell them, especially if I make chocolate orange.”
“Liam? Are you okay?” asked Henrietta in that calm voice she had, but it was doing nothing for his nerves.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Right, I better bake.”
He ran off before they could say anything else. He was heading for the exit off the village green as fast as he could when he saw a familiar plaid shirt. Liam wasn’t proud of himself, but he quickly hid behind one of the other stalls and watched Austin walk past with Maisie. They were heading towards his stall, both smiling and talking. Maisie looked excited, but that was probably about the whole festival and nothing to do with Liam. He’d grown fond of her in the past few weeks, and didn’t like the fact that she might be disappointed he wasn’t there.
Once Liam was certain Austin wouldn’t see him, he rushed off the green and headed towardsthe bakery. Once he was in the clear, he fired off a quick text to Chloe, letting her know about the special order for Maisie, which included something for Austin as well. She was instructed not to accept any money. She replied with a string of thumbs-up, winky face, and aubergine emojis. Chloe was a bitch, but he couldn’t help laughing. Hopefully, Austin wasn’t sticking around all day, or Liam would need to face him, and he didn’t feel ready for that yet.
SEVEN
AUSTIN
Liam was avoiding him.
Austin hadn’t seen his cute baker in a week. Not that Liam was his, but he couldn’t help but be worried about him. He had so much pressure on his shoulders, and when Liam flashed one of his genuine smiles, Austin would feel more at ease and know he was doing okay.
Maisie had been disappointed Liam wasn’t at the festival, although not as much as Austin. Of course, he’d left unicorn cupcakes for her, and chocolate orange with plaid icing for Austin. Chloe had refused to take any money, saying she didn’t want to get fired. Liam needed to stop giving him cakes for free, although his daughter was happy and thought Liam was the best thing in the world.
