Free The Baker's Man by Jennifer Moorman Page B

argue. “It isn’t proper. What will people say? You have a man staying with you.”
    Anna stood and threw the wet towel into the sink. “Mama, I don’t care what the town thinks. It’s my business.”
    “He’s too handsome to stay with you,” Evelyn argued. Anna was so shocked she laughed. Evelyn added, “Don’t laugh at me. He is, and you’re a beautiful girl. Things happen between boys and girls.”
    “Mama,” Anna said in exasperation. She filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove. Anna heard her mama fiddling with papers. When she turned, she saw Evelyn reading the contract.
    “What is this?” Evelyn asked. “Are you offering to buy a bakery in Wildehaven Beach?” Her mama’s face paled, and she dangled the contract from her fingers as though it was a contaminant.
    During the past two days there had been too many lies told, so Anna answered honestly. “Yes. The owner is retiring. The bakery is in the perfect location.” Anna reached for the contract. “It’s a great opportunity, Mama. You know I love the ocean. I was going to talk to you about it.”
    “You have a stranger living in your apartment. You’re entertaining the idea of moving more than an hour away to a town where you’ll have no friends or family. Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?” Evelyn asked. She stared at Anna with her dark eyes and shook her head with disapproval. “I think you need to remember that this is your home, it matters what the people here think about our family, and you have a responsibility to keep your grandmother’s legacy alive.” Evelyn walked to the door. When she opened it, the raging storm winds gusted into the apartment, fluttering book pages and bringing in the pungent scent of sulfur.
    “Mama…”
    “Think about what you’re doing. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Evelyn grabbed an umbrella from the stand next to the door. She opened it and walked out into the rainstorm.
    ˜˜˜˜
    Anna swan dived onto her bed and exhaled a long, pent-up breath. Thunder growled outside her windows, and dishes rattled in the cabinets. Eli stepped out of the bathroom; steam crawled along the floorboards. She turned her head and looked at him. He wore a towel wrapped around his waist. Anna grabbed a pillow and smashed it on her head, but she could still smell a hint of melting chocolate.
    She felt him sit on the bed a few minutes later. She rolled onto her back. The blue shirt he wore perfectly matched his eyes. “Show me what you bought with Lily.”
    “You want to talk about it?” he asked. He opened a shopping bag and grabbed the folded clothes inside.
    Her brow wrinkled. She propped up on her elbows. “About what you bought?”
    “About what’s bothering you.”
    Anna shook her head. Thoughts of Baron, Eli, Wildehaven Beach, the Clarke House, and her mama sunk together in the mire of her mind. “Let’s see what you found.”
    Eli laid his new clothes on the bed. Lily was a professional fashionista. Her exemplary taste shined as Anna sorted through Eli’s finds. She smiled at him. “Your pants fit.”
    Lightning zigzagged outside her bedroom window. Eli pretended to model the jeans he wore, which now were long enough for his tall frame. Rain assaulted the windowpanes, and Eli returned to the bed.
    “I thought you’d look more alike, you and your mother,” he said. “Do you look like your dad?”
    Anna thought it was odd that Eli wouldn’t already know what her daddy looked like. Maybe some of his memories were blurry, like looking at a photograph through water. Anna shook her head. “I look like my grandpa. He was Irish.” Or at least that’s what they’d told everyone. She lifted a lock of her hair. “Red-haired and green-eyed. Fortunately for me, my hair is more auburn than flaming red.”
    “People can’t call you Carrots,” he said. After a long pause, he added, “She was pretty burned up about something.”
    He reached out and hooked a finger around one of