Chapter 2

I pour coffee into my to-go cup, grab my phone, and head out the door. I carefully descended the metal staircase outside of the building trying not to slip on the frost that had accumulated overnight. I am so glad that I chose a sweater this morning since the weather in March is still a little brisk in the mornings here in Montana. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I headed around the corner of the building to the front door of the bakery. I shuffled my keys and coffee mug around in my hand to unlock the door without spilling anything and stepped through door. Wiping my boots on the rug, I turned around and locked it behind me and headed to the kitchen. I flipped on the lights and started to pre-heat the oven, before I grabbed all the ingredients to start making scones, muffins and raspberry turnovers for the breakfast rush. I put everything on the stainless steel table island and put on my apron.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I grabbed it quickly, hoping it was the bride sending her cake testing questionnaire for our meeting tomorrow.  But unfortunately, it was a text from my best friend Hattie, “Dinner and drinks after work, no backing out. See you soon, love ya!” I couldn’t help but let out an irritated moan. I did not want to grab dinner after work at all. All I wanted to do was head back upstairs and binge watch my show on Netflix and open a bottle of wine after a long day.  But Hattie texting me to grab dinner and drinks on a day we normally don’t get together has me a little suspicious. Which of course is going to bug me until I meet her this evening.

But when it came to Hattie there was no arguing with her. I was only 2 weeks older than her but for some reason she always felt like the older sister that I never had. We grew up down the county road from each other, both our families’ raised cattle and horse; and our parents were best friends, so in return we were attached to the hip since birth. Since I was an only child, I was always with Hattie and her older brother Luke. We always did everything together, until after high school we all went in different directions. Hattie traveled all over as well, taking photos of everything she saw and discovered. After her travels she then decided to become a photographer and has made a name for herself. She truly enjoys taking photos of her clients so they can always have those memories to look back on. While Luke on the other hand had a completely different route in life. He didn’t want to be a rancher like his father and the generations before him, so he went to law school to become a lawyer. He now has his own firm that he works hard at and has made a name for himself in New York.