Page 13 of A Room By the Sea

Elaine smiled and didn’t miss a beat. “Someone else could do the baking.”

Shep wrinkled his nose. “I do the baking.”

“Oh, come on now. I know you’ve had other people bake for you in the past—you’ve gone on trips before. You’re the best baker in town, but it’s your recipes that are really where the magic happens. Someone else could bake for you sometimes if you gave them careful instructions.”

Shep shook his head. “It’s my bakery.”

“But that’s just the thing.” Elaine leaned against the counter playfully, her voice low and conspiratorial again, as if they were sharing secrets together. “My granddaughter thought you weren’t actually the one who bakes here, since she never sees you here and neither does anyone else.”

Shep blinked. “Why on earth was I the topic of your conversation?”

Elaine laughed, waving her hand through the air. “Never mind. I guess my point is, it’s good to see you. I’d like to order a dozen doughnuts and half a dozen of your famous macaroons, please.”

“Certainly.” Shep began to busy himself with gathering doughnuts for Elaine’s order. Since she hadn’t specified the type of doughnut, he decided to give her three cream-filled, three lemon-filled, three jelly filled, and four regular doughnuts. He didn’t usually give out a baker’s dozen to his customers, but Elaine was someone who he felt he wanted to treat well. He arranged the doughnuts carefully in the box, wrestling with whether or not he should tell her out loud what each type of doughnut was. He hated speaking to people he didn’t know very well, but he wanted her to know where to find each type of doughnut in the box.

Elaine started to hum as she waited, a cheerful little tune that Shep didn’t recognize. He wondered if she was making it up on the spot. He didn’t know Elaine all that well, but he’d seen her a few times since her granddaughter and daughter had come to town, and he’d noticed a lift in her spirits.

I’m glad she’s had them come into her life, Shep thought. She deserves to be happy—I’m sure she disliked being lonely even more than I do. And I think what the three of them are doing with The Birchwood House is just amazing.

Shep admired what the Sutton women were undertaking, and he was silently rooting for the success of the hotel.

“Here are the doughnuts,” he said, placing the box on the counter. “I’ve got three jelly doughnuts here, three lemon-filled here, three cream-filled here, and the rest are plain. I’ll get those macaroons.”

“Oh, thank you Shep. What a thoughtful arrangement.” Elaine smiled at him and he found himself smiling back.

That was odd, he thought, as he hurriedly gathered the macaroons into a small box. I told her about the doughnuts. I don’t even remember deciding to talk to her. I just did it. I wonder why?

He decided it was because Elaine had such a kind-hearted, easy-going energy. She made him feel comfortable, so he’d just told her about the doughnuts because it felt easy to. Or—had that been it, or had he just wanted to make sure she knew about the doughnut types? He honestly wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he’d found himself talking out loud and he hadn’t had to force himself to do it.

Elaine paid for her baked goods with a quick swipe of her credit card, smiling companionably at Shep as she did so. “These look just delicious, thank you Shep.”

He nodded. “Glad you like them. They’re a particularly good batch, I think. The lemon-filled ones have a slightly tweaked recipe which I think is superior to the old one. If you have any feedback on it, I’d love to hear it.”

If Elaine felt any surprise in reaction to Shep’s unusual outpouring of sentences, she didn’t let it show on her face. Shep himself was shocked by his behavior. He hadn’t strung that many sentences together in years—not for anyone. The last person he’d said that much to at one go was his wife.

“I’ll be sure to,” Elaine said warmly. “I love lemon-filled doughnuts. I’m very excited to try your new recipe.”

“Well, fantastic.” Shep smiled at her.

She waved and left the shop, carrying her two boxes of treats in her arms. Shep watched her go for a moment, still feeling shocked by his own behavior but comfortably glad that he’d gotten to talk to Elaine.

She really is a lovely woman, he thought. I think I’m actually a bit glad that Iris stepped out for a bit. It was nice to get to see Elaine.

He busied himself with tidying up the counter, even though there was hardly anything to do. Instead of dreading the arrival of the next customer, he found himself absentmindedly humming the tune that Elaine had brought into the shop.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Michelle pulled on the silver chain that hung down from the attic’s first lightbulb. A moment later, a patch of light illuminated the dark expanse in front of her.

“Hi, furniture,” Michelle said. “I hope you’re not lonely up here.”

She chuckled at her own silly joke and made her way across the attic, turning on the rest of the overhead lights. The attic was reasonably cozy but still somewhat spooky with only one small round window at the far end to let in any daylight.

Since the rooms of The Birchwood House had all been filled with furniture before they were transformed into functional hotel bedrooms, much of that furniture had needed to be transported to the attic. Furniture pieces that were too old, damaged, or not meant to be in a bedroom all got carried up the staircase and left in the attic. In addition to the furniture pieces, there were also all kinds of personal belongings that had belonged to past residents of The Birchwood House. Trunks full of old clothes were arranged in a haphazard semi-circle, and baskets of old yarn sat next to boxes filled with old journals and letters.

Michelle had spent her morning putting some finishing touches on some of the hotel rooms. She’d finished everything that she was able to get done that day, but she was still feeling energetic and eager to improve The Birchwood House. As a last resort, she’d decided to sort through all of the items in the attic and arrange them into a more organized set-up. At the moment, the attic felt like a bit of a mess since it contained a bunch of junk that had been dumped there haphazardly.

She wandered around the furniture items and piles of old belongings, trying to come up with a good plan for organizing it all. She noticed a few empty bookshelves that would be perfect for storing the yarn and other items, and she moved those against the wall and began to fill them shelf by shelf.