Page 48 of Fairy Cakes in Winter

Of course, I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Daily reminders popped up everywhere.

Mom wanted to spoil me with my favorite meals before I left. The airline wanted to know if I wanted to pay extra to upgrade my seat on the flight home. My bank wanted to let me know that rent for my apartment had been paid online, and the accounting firm wanted to remind me to send in my new employee documentation.

And then, out of the blue, Giles showed up at the bakery looking for me.

He strode purposefully toward the front register, his elegant long wool coat trailing behind him as he pulled his leather gloves off. He nodded a greeting to Joanne, absently ordered a biscuit and tea, and turned to me with a wide smile.

“Cheers, Theo! I was hoping to find you here.”

“I was…um, just uploading photos to Instagram…for the bakery,” I explained awkwardly.

“Fairy cake mania has swept the land,” he joked. “You’ve created quite a stir. I take it business is good?”

“Yes, it’s great. Scott is open for online orders now and”—I held up my cell phone before slipping it into my pocket—“I’m getting the word out on social media. I haven’t seen you in a while. How are you?”

He grinned. “Very well. Very well indeed. I’m off to America in a few days.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I ran into your mum this morning and she’d mentioned you were on your way home soon. Turns out, I’m on your flight.”

I cocked my head curiously. “You are?”

“Yes, I’m visiting my sister for a week and hoping to get an idea whereabouts I’d like to live. I came by to ask if you might be willing to meet up one day next week in the city. No pressure whatsoever, but if you’re able, that would be smashing.”

“Um, of course. Sure.”

We exchanged contact information and chatted amicably about the weather in San Francisco in February. I think Giles would have kept talking away, but Joanne interrupted to hand over his biscuits just as Scott walked in from the kitchen.

Giles nodded a greeting at Scott and stepped aside. “I should be going. I suppose I’ll see you at the airport, Theo. With any luck, we can arrange to be seated next to each other.”

I smiled, but it felt plastic and I couldn’t seem to fix that when I turned to the counter where Joanne and Scott were discussing a birthday cake that hadn’t been picked up. They both glanced up when I wandered over.

“You all right, love?” Joanne asked kindly.

“Yeah, I was thinking about a few things I need to do.”

“Do yourself a favor and take some time off,” she advised in a maternal tone. “You’ve been meaning to go to London and you should. Working yourself silly for weeks on end isn’t good for the soul. But I feel a wee less sorry knowing a handsome lad is following you home.”

“Who?”

“Giles. Isn’t that his name? Sorry. I was eavesdropping. Oops!”

My lips quirked slightly at her lascivious wink.

It was a testament to our sneaking skills that Scott’s employees had no idea we were lovers. Joanne clandestinely asked my opinion on random customers all the time. “Do you fancy him? He’s quite fit,” she’d say. Apparently, “fit” was British for hot. According to Joanne, Molly, the woman who ran the Oxford shop and sometimes chauffeured goods from London, had a mad crush on Scott, while Clive, the delivery man, was convinced Scott and Becca were a couple. I wasn’t sure why he thought that since Becca hadn’t been to the Bath location in weeks.

At first, their very wrong assumptions made us chuckle, and now there was no point in correcting them.

And on that depressing thought, “I should probably—”

“When do you go home again?” Scott whispered when Joanne greeted a new customer.

“Four days.”

He rubbed his beard and cocked his head. “Get your coat.”

“Why? What do you—”