She had caved the night before and told Cass that yes, a few more days would be fine. It had been too tempting to resist—she was heartsick over Jake and wanted just a few more days to see if she could make it right. But now she was filled with regret. She had failed to send her sister the recipe file, putting her career at risk. Now, she wasn’t going back and taking her life over the way she should, electing instead to stay home. No man was worth risking her career—which was why Charlie was so perplexed. Because it wasn’t just Jake. She’d been standing at the countertop contemplating the true reasons for her reluctance to step back into her life for so long her feet ached. From a distance, she was starting to realize her picture-perfect life in L.A. was anything but.

And also that, yes, she had developed some very strong feelings for a man she wasn’t being honest with.

Ding. She glanced at the incoming text and smiled despite her morose mood when she saw it was from her dad. Apparently, Cass had tried to teach Thomas how to take selfies—but throughout the week, each attempt had been funnier than the last. The most recent one he had sent only included the top of his and Helen’s heads, but this one was worse: one ear and the deck of the ship. Charlie stared down at the screen, struck by how much she missed her parents—and how much, the night before, she had wanted to be told by Cass that it was okay to stay where she was. Things were complicated in Starlight Peak—but it was home. Over the past year, she had forgotten that.

Walter had busied himself with the coffeepot but now came to stand beside her. “So, what’s going on?”

Charlie put her phone away. “I had trouble sleeping last night,” she said, which was not a lie. After her phone call with Cass she had tossed and turned all night, finally coming down to the bakery hours earlier than usual—which meant that even with all her daydreaming about Jake, she had completed all her usual morning tasks and almost everything was ready for Walter to start baking. “Worried about the Starlight loaves, I guess.”

“We’re getting there,” Walter said. “Don’t worry. And we still have time. Woodburn’s will come through.” Then he paused and tilted his head. “You sure it’s just the bread that’s got you so concerned, though? Because, well, the rumor mill in town is churning, and I don’t think I need to tell you who the hot topic is.”

Charlie felt a lump rise to her throat and shook her head. “You don’t need to tell me,” she said. “There is nothing going on with me aside from the fact that Brett still doesn’t understand that we are over, and he is irrationally jealous of Jake, someone I am just friends with.” It didn’t sound true when she said it, and she could tell from the way Walter cocked an eyebrow at her that he didn’t believe her.