Page 6 of Never Alone
I set it down in front of him. Then I remembered the other thing.
"Wait. One more thing."
I went back through the swinging door, opened the small cooler beside the prep table, and took out the paper sack Mrs. Thompson had set aside.Sam and Jamie, she had written on it in the same careful hand,with my love. She'd asked me to make sure it went out with the cake.
I came back out and set the sack down beside the box.
"Mrs. Thompson wanted Sam and Jamie to have these. Something she made fresh this morning."
He nodded once and reached for his wallet, pulling out a card.
I looked at the card. I looked at his hand holding it.
He had nice hands. I gave myself that one, too. Big hands, the kind that did real work. A small white scar on the back of his leftthumb that had probably been a burn. The kind of muscle in his forearms that didn't come from a gym.
"Oh," I said. "It's already been paid for."
He paused for a second, then slid the card back into his wallet.
"Have a good one," I said.
"You, too."
He picked up the box in one hand and the bag in the other and went out. The bell jingled. The door swung shut behind him.
I stood at the counter and let the smile happen, finally, with no one watching. Shaking my head at myself, I went back to wiping down the case.
The rest of the week went by without anything worth remembering. The bakery had its weekday rhythm—wholesale orders out by six, the morning rush on my own with Mrs. Thompson and Benjie working around me, picking Noah up from school at three. The man who'd picked up the cake on Sunday kept turning up in my head at odd moments. I'd be portioning dough or wiping the case down between rushes, and there he'd be. I told myself to cut it out. He was a customer I was never going to see again.
I was loading the second tray of cinnamon rolls into the case when my phone rang.
I caught the screen on the third ring. Palmetto Creek Elementary.
The cold started low and went up fast. I had the phone to my ear before I'd registered moving.
"Hello."
"Hi, is this Ms. Marin?"
"Yes."
"This is Mrs. Halloran from the front office at Palmetto Creek."
Nothing about a school calling on a Thursday morning was going to be good.
"Is Noah okay?"
"He's okay. He's not hurt. There was an incident at recess this morning, and we'd like you to come in. Today, if you can. The principal would like to meet with you."
"What kind of incident?"
"I think the principal would prefer to discuss that in person. He's safe and sound, ma'am. We just need you to come in."
I closed my eyes.
"I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"Thank you, Ms. Marin."
