“We found a place that’s got arched doorways and crown molding and built-in bookshelves in the living room. And a brick patio. But Marcy said the houses in that neighborhood are too close together. She doesn’t like having neighbors. And she’d like to blow all the walls out and make the whole first floor open concept. That sounds costly. What do you think of that?”

“About buying an old house? Well, I think first of all that you should like old houses. Maybe Marcy would prefer a more modern one.” If she was going to essentially gut it, wouldn’t that be easier?

“Well, she likes the convenience to downtown.” Marcy worked in marketing at the candle factory, where Sam worked in accounting. While Tessa was slaving away in the bakery, he was apparently trying to have his cake and eat it, too. Or burning his candle at both ends, if she stuck with the candle-factory analogy. Ugh. Where was that rustic loaf?

“Well, good luck with that,” she said.

“Here you go, Sam.” Her mom walked out of the back, handing over the loaf, as polite as ever.

“Thanks, Mrs. M.,” Sam said with a little salute. “You ladies have a good day.”

As soon as the door closed, Tessa’s grandmother appeared. “He’s got some nerve, coming in here like that,” she said. “If he had any insight at all, he’d be ashamed to show his face.”

“I have to agree,” her mother, who rarely said an unkind word about anyone, added. “I don’t understand why you tolerate him.”

“I just want to keep things cordial between us.” The truth was, she didn’t know the best way to handle Sam. And she didn’t know how to tell him to stop coming into the bakery.

So she changed the subject. “We should sit before anyone else stops by.”

Her mother gave her a concerned look and smoothed some hair back from Tessa’s face. “How are you doing with everything, anyway? He’s moving in with that girl?”

So much for trying to change the subject. “Everything” was code for her post-Sam life. “I’m doing okay. Lilac and I are having lunch this week.” Her eccentric best friend, who was a children’s librarian, kept her supplied with books and humor. And of course her two sisters, Juliet and Vivienne, were always in her corner. Tessa also had her YouTube ladies who always watched her baking videos that she uploaded a few nights a week and left kind comments. They were her cheering squad that helped her keep her dream alive of one day becoming a pâtissier.

Gram returned, carrying a little tray holding three coffees. Two were bitter black espressos. Tessa’s was topped with steamed milk and a lot of foam. And any one of these was capable of keeping a person up for a double shift.