Free Bon Appetit by Sandra Byrd

Desfreres.
    “Yes,” I said.
Not at all
, I thought.
    She made light conversation throughout the day, and I tried to respond, wondering if this was a change in our relationship and if I understood what was happening in any of my relationships. Or within myself. I was glad it wasn’t a day to work with chocolate, because I was sure anything I touched would have seized.
    After the distracting day at school, I walked to the bakery. I tied on my apron and went into the back. Patricia showed me a barrel of apples and told me that I should peel, core, and slice them.
    “Philippe is here,” she mentioned, tossing her head toward the office. I saw the light on, and Philippe talking with an older man. Her tone was casual, but the look in her eyes was intense. I glanced from Philippe to the older man.
    “My papa,” Patricia said, answering my unspoken question.
    The
patron
—the big boss, Monsieur Delacroix.
    I got to work, and a few minutes later, Philippe and his father came out of the office. They headed straight toward me.
    Phillipe smiled, friendly and encouraging. “Lexi, this is my father, Monsieur Delacroix”.
    Monsieur Delacroix held out his hand, and I shook it. “Pleased to meet you,” I said. “Thank you for allowing me to come and study, and to go to school”.
    “Certainly. Luc’s idea,” he said. “Time will tell if it was a good one or not”. He wasn’t rude when he said it, just matter of fact, like his sister, Maman.
    I turned back to slicing apples, and he walked up front with Philippe. Soon, I heard him leave the bakery, and the atmosphere felt like it’d exhaled a collective breath.
    Philippe came back to the prep room holding a shrunken apple head. “Is this the kind of thing you sell in America?”
    I laughed. “No, it was for Céline”.
    He smiled. “I know”. Then he held something out in his hand. I saw Patricia peeking her head around the corner. “I picked these up—I hope it’s okay. You’ve been so kind to Céline, I wanted to return your kindness. Can you go?”

    I took them in my hands and accepted his offer, which brought a big smile to his face and a blush to my cheeks. He was even more attractive when he smiled.
    I spent the rest of the day wondering if the invitation was only to pay me back for my kindness to Céline, and if it mattered to me either way.

Five

    There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread
.
Mahatma Gandhi
    I recognized the car when it pulled into Maman’s circular drive. I’d been watching out the window and suddenly felt anxious when I saw Philippe get out and open the gate before driving in. Why I was nervous to visit a museum with two new friends who I’d already seen in church today, I didn’t know.
    Before I stepped back from the window, I looked up at the big house. It was barely perceptible, but I saw it. A lace curtain was drawn slightly aside to view the driveway, then dropped back into place.
    Both Céline and Philippe came up to the door to greet me. “Can we come in?” Céline asked. Her father shushed her.
    “Sure,” I said.
    “I want to see if it’s any different from when Dominique was here. Dominique is my cousin, you know”.
    “I know,” I said. I let them in, glad that I’d tidied up a little.
    Céline ran into the living room and plopped herself down on one of the chairs. Philippe pointed at the chalkboard hanging on my kitchen wall. “I recognize that,” he said.
    “Yes, it’s from your bakery”.
    “My father’s bakery,” he corrected. I nodded, picking up the barb in his tone.
    “Yes, your father’s bakery,” I agreed. “It was in the garbage in the back, and I pulled it out and asked Patricia if I could keep it”.
    He smiled and read what I’d chalked in.
    “No baguette?” Philippe asked.

    “Non,”
I answered, not explaining. Friend or no, some things a girl kept to herself.
    “Jean 3?”
    “Since the pastor’s teaching through the book of John