Tessa leaned over the countertop to address the little Yorkie that had strolled in with him. “Hello to you, too, Millie.”

The dog put her paws up on the glass of the display case and wagged her tail.

“I have just the thing for you.” Tessa handed Arthur the freshly made latte and egg-and-cheese croissant she’d already bagged, his usual Tuesday dinner, and grabbed a dog biscuit for Millie. As Tessa walked around the counter and stooped down, Millie daintily plucked the treat from her palm.

Tessa patted her head. “She’s such a lady.”

“So are you, Tessa,” Arthur said, beaming.

She glanced up at him. “Aw, thanks. Where are all the nice guys when you need them?”

Not in Blossom Glen, Indiana, that was for sure, where the biggest attraction was the new scents reveal from the famous candle factory across the street. Although, to be fair, visiting with her regular customers was one of the things she loved the most about their little town. And the rows of crab apple trees that lined Main Street, now in glorious bloom with rich pink flowers, that gave their town its name.

“I don’t believe for one second that stuff they’re saying about you.”

She held up her hands in mock protest. “I swear I only spent five years in prison,” she said jokingly. “An honest mistake.” But inside, her heart sank. Because she already knew what everyone said behind her back. Phrases like such a shame, and even spinster, now that she was thirty-two and single. And stuck in Blossom Glen, Indiana, baking bread twenty-four seven.

“You’re not an Ice Queen,” he said. “You just need someone who understands you.”

Ice Queen. She hadn’t heard that one yet. Well, could she help that the few guys in town who were her age were immature and foolish and she didn’t hesitate to let them know that?

Or, a little voice deep inside her seemed to say, was it because shooting one-liners at people was her best defense against being an object of pity?

“If only I were forty years younger,” Arthur said with a wink.

“Eighty is the new sixty,” she said with forced cheer. It wasn’t his fault she was stuck. Or that the only happily ever afters she’d be seeing were in romance novels or Hallmark movies.

He left his usual bill with a big tip, which she fought him on every time to no avail. “Okay, doll,” he said with a wink. “See you tomorrow.”

“Hey, Arthur, one more thing,” Tessa called just as he reached the door. She grabbed a flyer off the counter and ran it over to him. “The library’s having a botanical lecture this week about perennials. I was thinking it might be a fun place to meet someone who loves gardening as much as you do.”

“Thanks, honey,” he said. “The last woman I met online was nice, but she just wanted companionship.”