“Something like that,” Amy replied, her flush deepening. “It was time to move on.”
“It’s his loss.”
Even though William hardly knew her, his words touched something in her. They made something low and warm unfurl in the center of her stomach, and it wasn’t until he handed her a packet of tissues that she realized she was crying again.
What was the matter with her?
“I didn’t mean to upset you.” William looked more than a little alarmed as one hand held up the packet of tissues and the other hung limply at his side. “I’m sorry if my words offended you.”
Amy dabbed at her eyes and waved his comment away. “No, don’t apologize. I just… It’s been a long time since someone told me something like that.”
It had been too long, in fact.
Outside of her immediate family and the occasional acquaintance, most people in her life didn’t bother with compliments.
Not unless they wanted something.
And in the span of one night, William Johnson had reduced her to tears twice with his words alone.
She really was turning into a sentimental mess, but with the way William was looking at her, she didn’t mind one bit.
Chapter Ten
She pressed two fingers to her temples and rubbed in slow, circular motions. Still, the numbers drifted in and out of her field of vision, and the headache in the back of her skull only grew. Spending the past few hours holed up in her office, trying to make the numbers make sense, hadn’t helped.
If anything, she felt worse.
And no amount of pacing, groaning, or muttering to herself was going to change the reality of what she was facing.
The numbers just weren’t adding up.
With a frown, Emily pushed her chair back and stood. She shoved both hands into the pockets of her jeans and leaned against the window. When she pressed her face to the cool glass, Emily suddenly wondered if it was the last time she was going to be standing in her office, scrambling for a way to save the bakery.
In a few weeks’ time, she was going to lose the place she’d worked hard to build, and she had no one to blame but herself. All of those late nights and all of the blood, sweat, and tears she’d poured into the bakery were going to be in vain, and there wasn’t a single thing she could do to stop it.
Unless she was able to find an investor in time.
But who was going to want to invest in her small, locally-run business?
Sighing, Emily pushed herself off the window and turned away from the blue clouds rolling by, the bright afternoon sun, and the steady stream of people coming in and out of the park.
With a frown, she snapped her laptop shut and wished it was just as easy to get rid of her problems.
When she stepped out into the hallway, a few of her employees were already racing past, distinguishable because of their black-and-white uniforms. At the double doors to the kitchen, she paused and peered inside, a half-smile tugging on the edge of her lips. A thin steam enveloped the kitchen, and the smell of strawberries and cinnamon filled the air.
Pots and pans banged together as Emily studied the blue and orange flames of the stove. Then, someone snapped the door shut, and Emily turned away. The bakery was unusually quiet, with only a few people sprawled in various degrees of rest on the booths. The usual jazz music played through the overhead speakers as people walked past the large windows in their casual business suits. Emily was reorganizing the baked treats behind the display counter, her mind racing at a million miles a minute, when the bell above the door rang.
Slowly, she rose to her feet, rehearsed smile in place, and froze.
Jack Johnson lingered in the doorway in a pair of dark jeans, a button-down shirt, and an adorable furrow between his brows. His blue eyes darted around listlessly, and he stopped to take out his phone. After typing something out, he looked back up, and their eyes met from across the room.
Emily felt a familiar jolt course through her.
She blinked and broke their gaze, pretending to busy herself with some of the napkins. Before she knew it, Jack was standing in line, his eyes sliding over to the counter every so often. Whenit was his turn, he put his phone away and shoved a hand into his pocket.
“I almost forgot that you worked here,” Jack began with a smile. “I pass by every day, and I still can’t believe you and I never officially met until a few days ago.”
“You look like the kind of guy who stays in shape.”
