Kneading Love

by Jaime Russell

  “If I want to order something like this for every Friday, and then have certain people pick it up, can I leave an open tab running? I will come in and pay, whenever it’s my turn to pick them up.” I ask her, as her eyes get huge with excitement.

  “Yes, but please make sure to order them by Monday, because it’s too much of a hassle to do what I did today.”

  “I’m sorry about that. Liam said it was okay.”

  “Of course, he did, because he knew he wouldn’t be here. It’s his off day, so that explains why he took the order. I didn’t have his help at all today with anything. He offered to bring me lunch, but never showed back up, and I had to order out. Sorry, I’m a little pissy.” She says, smiling at me, as I smile back.

  “I’ll take the orders this weekend, and then, bring them by on Monday for you. Will you be open on Black Friday?”

  “Yes, I’m actually opening up early, because I’m trying something new. I want to cater to the Black Friday shoppers, so it’s an experiment. I’ll be fully decked out for Christmas by then, too.” I chuckle at her, as she asks, “What?”

  “You’re the only one who makes sure not to skip Thanksgiving.” I wink at her, as I grab my boxes. I leave the bakery, heading to my Tahoe, and then place the boxes on the passenger side seat.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” She asks, as I hear the bell ring from the door to the bakery.

  “The last time we spoke, you made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with me. I figured that was still in effect.” I say, before turning to face her. “Luce, I’ve missed you, and when I told my dad about me moving back here a year ago, he told me to tread lightly with you.”

  “Peter knew, and you took his advice?” She curses under her breath, as she looks over her shoulder. I tilt my upper body to see what has her so nervous, and I see two little boys, standing with their noses pressed up against the window.

  “You have a couple of customers.” She smiles at them with so much love in her eyes, as she swallows hard.

  “Ty,” she starts, but someone comes up to the bakery and walks in, and she tells them that she’s coming. “I’m glad that you’re back, but you and me, we’re still broken.”

  “Lucy.” She waves me off, and I can’t do anything about it, since she’s already inside. I kick the tire of my truck. “I’m an idiot,” I whisper, as I hop in the Tahoe and take off.

  I drive to work, trying to get Lucy out of my head for right now, because I need to focus at work. I need to give the staff a hundred percent, and the patients a thousand percent of my attention. I pull into my parking spot, and then walk into the nurses’ lounge with the goodies.

  “What is that?” Lindsay asks, walking over to me, as I set the pastries down.

  “A thank you treat, and I marked the boxes for each of the shifts. I also set up a pre-order with Mistletoe Bakery for every Friday. In one of the bags, there are three sets of menus for us to order what we want for our deliveries.” I tell her because she’ll let everyone know. I’ll also send out a mass email, informing the head nurse on each of the weekend shifts, so they can let everyone know. Monday is my day off, so I’ll collect them up Sunday night, and then drop them off to Lucy and Liam.

  “The staff is going to love this treat, and I bet some will even start wanting to work the weekends,” Lindsay smiles.

  “I hope it’s an incentive to help rotate some people, so the same ones aren’t always working,” I tell her. It’s a small area, but we still have a medium-size hospital.

  “I think this is a good place to start, Tyler. You’re making this a great place to work, so just give it some time.”

  “I hope so. I know that I’m from here, but I moved away for a good while, so I’m transplant to a lot of people.” I sigh. A lot of the doctors and nurses look at me like I’m an outsider. I wish I knew what I could do to make them understand that I’m not. “I went to college and fell in love with someone, but it didn’t work out. Then, after a few years, this job came available, and I knew that I wanted to be home. It’s where my heart has always been.” I’m talking about Lucy, but I’m not telling her that.

  “I understand what you mean. Well, we better get going,” Lindsay says, as I grab one of the cannoli’s, and then walk out to the emergency room.

  The next three hours are slow and tedious, but it gives me time to work on paperwork. I have so much to get caught upon. Living in a small town, the emergency room gets a lot of falls on ice, food poisoning, vet calls, because there’s no vet emergency room, and they actually have a service through us, and of course, the common cold. It’s a lot of the same shit different day. When I lived in Boston, it was constantly nonstop, and I always felt like I couldn’t breathe. After my marriage fell apart, I knew what I needed to do, which was to come home, but I was afraid to do it. I also had to find myself again, while figuring out who I needed to be for Lucy.

  When I came back, my brother and sister-in-law agreed to let me move into their garage apartment. They needed the money, and I needed to be home. Plus, they’re expecting my first niece or nephew in a few months, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I love being able to help my brother build a crib, paint the walls, and tease my sister-in-law for waddling around. I often think about what it would be like to go through that experience with Lucy. I’d love to watch her stomach grow, carrying a child that we created out of love. I just can’t get it out of my mind how I fucked things up so much during our marriage, especially the last eight months.

  “Thanks for the treats, Tyler.” One of the nurses says, as she walks past me, and I smile at her.

  “Excuse me. I really need to see a doctor.” I hear a familiar voice say, as I look up, seeing Liam standing there.

  “What do you need to see one for? A personality change, maybe?” I laugh.

  “No. I’ve had this pain on my right side all day, and it won’t go away.” He tells me.

  “Oh, shit you’re serious. Well, come on back.” I get up from the desk, and then bring him back. “I’ll have a nurse check your vitals, and then someone from registration will be in to see you,” I tell him. “Do you need me to call anyone to let them know you’re here?”

  “Lucy.” He groans. “She should still be at the bakery.” I nod, as I dial the phone, after getting the number from the menu to call Lucy.

  “Mistletoe Bakery, Lucy speaking. How may I help you?”

  “Lucy, it’s Ty.”

  “What do you want?” I can tell she’s not happy at all. I also hear her laughing and telling someone to be quiet because she’s on the work phone.

  Is she dating someone?

  “I’m calling on behalf of Liam. He’s here in the emergency room, and he’s not feeling well. He asked me to call you to see if you can come in.”

  “Is he okay? What’s wrong with him?” I hear her voice quiver.

  “He’s having some pain on his right side. The nurse is with him right now, and I’m running the front tonight, so I don’t know much of anything else yet.” I tell her.

  “Okay. I just need to close up, which takes about thirty minutes. Is that okay?” Lucy sounds concerned.

  “That will be just fine. If anything changes, I’ll call the bakery.”

  “Just call my cell phone. The number is the same. Do you still have it?” Lucy asks me.

  “Yes. I never deleted it because I never had the guts to do it.” I smile into the phone.

  “I didn’t either. Okay, well I really need to get busy. Bye, Ty.” She hangs up the phone, as I start doing the paperwork again, before checking on Liam.

  Lucy Avery Smith

  I can’t believe that Liam and Peter knew that Ty was here again, but never thought to tell me. I’m so kicking Liam’s ass, when I see him next. He’s already getting it for not feeding me earlier. After Ty left, the bakery got busy, and I got a lot of orders for Christmas parties and a few last-minute Thanksgiving cake orders. I’m going to be putting in some late nights and early mornings for the next four weeks.
This means I’m probably going to be sleeping here, until Christmas Eve.

  I start to clean up, as I’ve had no one in for the last hour, so the town crowd must have died down some. I open the bakery door and feel the cold front moving in. “I think it’s going to snow.” I sing cheerily to Peter and Max. They love the snow. With the first significant snowfall of the year, we always go to the park and play. I love hearing their laughter.

  I look up into the sky, seeing the stars shining brightly. The moon is also full, which lights up the whole street. The bakery phone starts to ring, and I run back inside to answer it.

  After hearing that Liam’s in the hospital, I try to hurry up cleaning, as I switch the sign to close, even though I have another hour to go. I grab my phone, calling Clara to come early, so she can get the boys. I don’t want to take them to the hospital. I leave the back a mess, as I make a note to come back, after making sure Liam’s okay. I grab all of the food that didn’t sell, and then box it up. I put the chairs up on the table, because I already wiped the counters off, since there were no customers. The money is already in the safe, since I go to the bank, when they’re open, instead of at night. Once I make sure everything is shut off for the night, I walk out the back, after the front is locked up.

  “Clara, thank you so much for coming in early.” I’m finally in the apartment with the boys. “They’re getting their pajamas on now. I don’t know how long I’ll be, but I do need to clean the back of the bakery, or I’ll go down early to do it.”

  “Earlier than four a.m.?” She laughs.

  “Ty’s back.” I flatly say, staring at her, as she blinks a few times. “What am I going to do? Liam and Peter knew it too, but neither said anything to me. How could they not prepare me for this? How am I going to explain everything to “the ones” involved?” I use air quotes, as I speak in riddles, since the boys are now out of their room.

  “It’ll be okay.” Clara tries to reassure me.

  “Alright, come give me some hugs and kisses.” I open my arms to them, and they laugh, as they try to tackle me on the couch. “I love you both, and please be good for your auntie. I’ll be home soon.” I kiss them both, thanking Clara again.

  I get into my Ford 350 and head to the hospital. When I walk in, I see Ty, sitting at the front, talking to a couple of women in scrubs, and they are laughing.

  “Lucy.” He smiles at me. “I’ll take you back to Liam.”

  “Do you work at the bakery?” One nurse asks, as I look down to see that I’m still wearing my apron covered in flour. I quickly take it off, letting her know that I co-own it with my brother. “You are my new favorite person in the whole world. Those apple fritters taste just like my gram used to make. Can I place an order for Thanksgiving and Christmas? She’s been gone for three years now, and all of us have been trying her recipe, but we can never get it right.”

  “Sure. Ty, do you have a pen and paper?” He hands it to me, as I take down her name and order. I also give her a quote, and she pulls me into a big hug.

  “You just made my year.” I smile at her. This is why I love baking. The two women walk away, and Ty just stands there, staring at me.

  “What?” I snap at him with a smile on my face.

  “Nothing, let’s go. Liam’s had some blood work and an ultrasound.”

  “Are they thinking appendix or gallbladder?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure just yet. Liam’s running a fever, and he’s on some fluids, which are antibiotics. He’s in this room.” We step in, but Liam’s not alone. There’s a woman sitting beside him, holding his hand.

  “Luce, Ty.” Liam looks up, and the woman drops his hand.

  “Hi. What’s going on?” I tentatively remark.

  “I feel like shit.” He tells me, as he groans. I look to the woman, who is sitting there quietly with her hands in her lap.

  “Umm, Liam. Who is that?” I point to her.

  “Oh, this is Renee, my girlfriend.” He says, and she looks at him with the biggest smile. “She teaches at the middle school. We met when I was making a delivery a few months ago.”

  “I’m Lucy, his sister,” I say, holding out my hand to her, and she shakes it. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry that I didn’t know about you.”

  “It’s okay. We were just keeping it quiet because this town loves to gossip. I’ve been here for about six months, and everyone talks about the most eligible bachelors, and who has dated who.”

  “She’s heard a lot about me, but yet, she still wants to date me.” Liam laughs, and then groans. “Dude, I’m going to be sick.” He says, as Ty moves to get him a bag to throw up in. “My insides are tearing me up. What’s going on?”

  “Let me check and see what I can find out,” Ty states, as he walks out of the room.

  I sit down next to Renee, while we wait. Liam asks why I didn’t bring the boys, and I point in the direction of Ty. I begin making small talk with Renee, as Liam falls asleep. She tells me about being from Colorado, and how she moved to Juneau to be with a guy, and then he ended up leaving her to go on this adventure with his brothers. He met someone along the way and got married, and Renee became the joke of the town. So, she left and was heading back home, when her car broke down in Mistletoe, and she fell in love with the city. A teaching position was available, so she knew this was where she was meant to be.

  “I wish I had traveled a lot more, before the kids came. At least, I did travel a bit in my marriage, before moving back to Mistletoe,” I tell her.

  “Kids have a way of changing a single, carefree life.” She says, as we both laugh. “Can I ask you something? What does Liam do at the bakery?”

  “He helps me bake and run it. He’s going to help jumpstart a new lunch and dinner program soon. Why? Has he said something?” Renee looks away. “So, he has said something to you,” I state a little bit louder than I intended.

  “He wants to try something else, like exploring his culinary degree. He’s just been afraid to tell you.” She starts to tell me, as I sit back in the chair. Why wouldn’t he just tell me?

  “We’ve talked about expanding the bakery once we are stable enough,” I say, feeling like I need to defend myself.

  “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just making conversation.” Making conversation my ass. It’s more like causing a huge problem. She throws her hands up in the air. I open my mouth to speak, but the doctor comes in with Ty. He smiles, but it drops it quickly, when he looks at me. He has always been able to read my face.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Smythe. Sorry, I wanted to get your test results, before coming in and ordering some medicine. Mr. Avery, you’ll be heading into surgery first thing in the morning. You’re going to be having surgery to remove your appendix. You’ll be in here for a couple of days as well.”

  “Why for a couple of days?” I ask.

  “After the surgery, I like to make sure that the patient is eating, before he or she is given the go-ahead to go home. He’ll also be on pain meds shortly after the surgery. Plus, I need to make sure there’s no infection. I’m just an overly cautious doctor.”

  “Okay, but he’ll be home for Thanksgiving, right?” I smile at Liam.

  “Of course, sis. It’s my holiday to cook.” Liam smiles at me.

  “The nurse will be coming in and getting the antibiotics and fluids going.” The doctor says, as he starts to leave.

  “Thank you,” I tell him, as he nods on his way out. “Now that we know what’s wrong, I’m going to head home and get some sleep. I left the bakery a mess, so I need to go in early.”

  “Earlier than four a.m.?” Liam laughs, and then groans again.

  “Yeah, I have a ton of orders for Thanksgiving on top of the normal bakery needs, so I need to get a jump on them. I’ll be in sometime tomorrow to check on you, and don’t worry about the bakery. You just concentrate on getting better for your Thanksgiving meal. The family will expect you to be in tiptop shape.” I squeeze his foot, as I walk over to hug him goodnight.

/>   “You can’t do it all, and you know that,” Liam warns me.

  “If it gets to be too much, I’ll call in Mama or Auntie. The staff has been asking for extra hours for the holidays anyway, and with these orders piling in, I can’t cover the front, as much as I normally do. Don’t worry, though, because it will be good.” I smile at him.

  Actually, I’m lying to myself. Mama wouldn’t come in to help me, because she hates baking, but I know she’ll stay with me to help with Peter and Max. I hug Liam, and then say goodbye to Renee.

  As I navigate my way out of the emergency room, I see that it’s almost eleven o’clock at night. I’m never going to get to spend time with the boys. I hope that I can at least make their Thanksgiving play at the daycare.

  “Lucy. Lucy.”

  I hear my name being called a couple of times, before I stop in the lobby. “Are you okay? When I walked in, you looked like you were going to rip Renee’s head off.” He laughs.

  “She was talking about some things that Liam said to her about the bakery,” I say with a fake smile.

  “Like what?” He seems concerned.

  “Nothing. If I talk about it, then I’ll start crying. I need to get home. Bye.” I walk away from him and out into the cold. Oh, wow. It’s the first snowfall of the year. I walk into the parking lot, as I twirl around laughing. I’ve always loved it, when the first snow fell. It’s so magical. Everything is so new and beautiful. It’s like a fairy, sprinkling her dust, making sure all the wishes come true.

  “Did you make a wish?” I gasp, holding my chest, as Ty’s deep, booming voice echoes into the air.

  Tyler Smith

  When I saw the tears in Lucy’s eyes, I wanted to pull her into my arms and take away her sadness. I watched her, as she walked outside, and then started twirling around and laughing. I knew what she was doing, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her. I stand there watching her, and it makes my heart hurt, knowing that I’ve missed out on five years of her life. I head outside, and when she’s done twirling, I ask her if she made a wish, which makes her gasp.