He lifted his hands in the air. “It appears there’s a first for everything.” He was half tempted to actually drop to his knees for comedic effect.

She pulled her hand up on her hip and fixed her gaze on him. Then a flash of humor crossed her face. “How am I supposed to say no to that?”

“You’re not.” He walked over to her. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve done with this place. It’s impressive even from out here.”

“Fine. Come on in.” She opened the door to let him in. “But I’m not sure I forgive you.”

“Fair enough.”

She gave him the tour of not only the bakery storefront, which she was very proud of, but she took him out to the factory floor and showed him around there too.

“You’re amazing.” He was so proud of what she’d done here. She’d surpassed everything they’d dreamed of, or maybe he’d never seen the vision the way she had. “I can’t believe you’ve done all of this. Alone.”

“Didn’t have much choice. My partner ran off.”

He dropped his chin to his chest. He had. There was no arguing it. He’d left her waiting.

She regarded him with somber curiosity. “You couldn’t even come home and talk to me about it that Christmas. I’d waited for months. Counted down each and every day—one by one. I missed you so much.” The words caught. “And then you didn’t even really give us a chance.”

“You’re right. I was selfish. I should’ve come home and told you. I think deep down I knew if I came home, I’d never go back.” At the time he couldn’t bear to think he might have been stuck in this one-horse town flipping burgers at the cafe when there was so much more out in the world. Then again, she proved bigger things could be done right here.

“Thanks for at least being honest with me.”

“I really am sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She paused, glancing around. “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right?” She turned and walked off of the factory floor and back into the bakery. “Come on.”

He jogged to catch up with her. “Yes. I suppose you’re proof.” She’d never looked as beautiful as she did this moment. “Thanks for the tour. How about I repay the kindness with a day out tomorrow?”

“I can’t. I’m too busy. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t possibly. I’ve got a stack of orders to work on.” Taking the clipboard down, she flipped the pages. “See?” Then she marched into the bakery kitchen.

Much smaller than the factory, it was still impressive. “I thought you had two shifts of people working for you to handle things. You can’t get away for just a couple of hours?”