Page 7 of The Gingerbread Bakery (Dream Harbor #5)

Chapter Seven

Now

A nnie was getting dressed when her phone rang.

‘Hey, Haze. I thought we were meeting at nine?’ Annie glanced at her watch.

She wasn’t late. She couldn’t be late. Too much to do today.

First the spa with Jeanie and the girls, then finishing up her special gift for the bride and groom, and then helping Kira set up the tables and flowers.

And if she could manage it, she had a few dozen cookie orders that needed filling before Monday.

Worse-case scenario, she could just skip sleep, she’d done that plenty of times before.

‘The appointment got moved to the afternoon.’

‘Okay, great.’

‘But that’s not why I called.’ Hazel sounded frazzled and, frankly, that was ominous on the day before the wedding.

‘What’s going on?’ Annie put her phone on speaker while she brushed some mascara on her top lashes.

‘Have you seen Estelle?’

Annie paused mid-mascara-swipe. ‘Why would I have seen Logan’s grandmother at eight-thirty in the morning, Haze?’

‘I don’t know, but no one else has seen her, either.’

‘Wait. Hold on. Are you telling me that Logan’s grandmother, his beloved Nana , is missing the day before his wedding?!’

‘Uh. Yes.’

‘Hazel! What the hell?! Have you tried calling her?’

‘Of course I did! I was supposed to take her to get her hair done today and I called her to confirm, and she didn’t answer her cell phone, so I called the house and Henry said she left early this morning.’

‘Left to go where?!’ Annie was shouting and pacing in her tiny bathroom, which was really only two steps in one direction and two steps in the other. She was getting dizzy.

‘I don’t know!’ Hazel wailed, having moved far beyond frazzled into panicked territory.

Annie sat on her toilet lid and took a deep breath. ‘Okay, let’s calm down for a second. Didn’t Henry know where she went?’

‘Honestly, he seemed kind of confused about the whole thing. He said Estelle had to go out to pick something up. Or maybe someone? I don’t know. He was talking in circles about some kind of surprise, but I’m worried, Annie.’

Okay, so a missing elderly person was not ideal but, as elderly folk went, Estelle was pretty with it.

Annie was reasonably certain that Estelle wasn’t lost and confused somewhere, but she also knew that, if Logan caught wind of this situation, he would be a mess on the day before his wedding and Annie couldn’t have that.

‘I’ll go look for her,’ Annie said, rising from her seat and hastily finishing her makeup routine. ‘She’s probably just around town somewhere getting a gift. I’ll track her down and then we can all rest easy for tomorrow, okay?’

‘But then you’ll miss the mani-pedis.’

‘I’m sure I will have found her by then.’

Hazel let out a worried little sigh.

‘It’ll be fine. Everything will be perfect. Don’t worry.’ Annie would make sure of it. ‘And don’t mention anything to Jeanie about Estelle, either.’

‘Are you sure? Maybe I should come with you.’

‘No, you promised Kira you would help with the favors.’

‘Oh, right. I would send Noah, but he and Logan are taking some of the Ellis cousins ice-fishing today.’

‘Dear God,’ Annie muttered. ‘I swear, if those two idiots fall through the ice, I will revive them and re-kill them myself.’

‘I know. I suggested paint and sip, but they didn’t go for it.’

Annie smoothed her hair back into her signature ponytail. ‘It’ll all be fine. And I’ll keep you posted on my search for Estelle. My guess is I’ll be sipping a PSL with her by ten.’

‘I hope so. Bye, Annie.’

‘Bye, Haze.’

Annie took a minute to tidy her apartment before setting out on her quest. It only took a minute because the space was so small, but she loved her little attic apartment.

She lived on the third floor of an old Victorian house that had been converted into several apartments.

She loved the slanted ceiling and the way the light came in through the front window every morning.

She had everything she needed here. Her cozy bed, her kitchenette, good for heating up soup or tea and not much more, and a clawfoot tub, which was perfect for soaking after being on her feet for hours. It was her oasis after a long day.

And most importantly it was hers . She’d spent years living with her parents while she got her business up and running.

She was barely making enough money to buy ingredients in those first few years; she certainly couldn’t afford rent, too.

And then she’d been saving for the lease on her shop, the new equipment she’d need, and the money to actually pay an employee.

Owning a bakery was her dream, but it was an expensive one.

After years of working for it, she wouldn’t trade her baking empire for anything.

Annie strongly believed that everyone should have a passion in life.

It could be anything, bird-watching, writing fan fiction for your favorite small-town TV show—where you make every character a werewolf—photographing the squirrels that live in your backyard.

Whatever gets you out of bed every day. It just so happened that her passion for baking translated into her career, which was a mixed blessing.

Now, her other passions were napping whenever possible and watching reality TV. Not that she would admit to either of those things. She had a reputation to maintain, after all.

She grabbed her coat from the hook by the door and slung her bag over her shoulder. When she opened the door and found a man standing on her doorstep, she yelped.

‘Damn it, Mac. What the hell are you doing here?’

He looked as shocked as she was, apparently not expecting her to be charging out the door right as he was about to knock.

‘Logan sent me.’

Annie frowned. She did not have time for this. ‘He sent you for what?’

‘His tie and cufflinks.’

‘Why the hell would I have—’ Oh, right. She did have those things.

As a close friend of the bride and groom, Annie had been helping them both.

She’d forgotten that Logan had ordered a tie and special cufflinks but had them sent here so Jeanie, a notorious snoop, wouldn’t see them.

She had already ruined the surprise proposal Logan had planned.

He, at the very least, wanted a part of his outfit to be a surprise.

Annie had thought it was cute at the time, but now she was annoyed.

And extra annoyed that Logan had sent Mac of all people.

‘Shouldn’t you be ice fishing or something right now? How are you the only groomsman available for this task?’

Mac smirked. ‘You really think I’d agree to sitting outside freezing my ass off trying to catch a tiny fish I have to throw back anyway?

No, thanks. And Bennett’s parents just got into town this morning.

They’re all out to breakfast at the Pancake House.

So, I told Logan I would run some last-minute errands for him. ’

Annie sighed. ‘Fine. Wait here.’

‘You’re not going to invite me in?’

She rarely invited anyone in. Her place was too small, and her bed took up most of it.

It was awkward to have people over and then expect them to perch on your bed.

But she also couldn’t remember where she’d stashed Logan’s stuff, and it would be weird to leave Mac standing outside on the tiny landing by her door.

Even though her instincts told her to slam the door in his face.

But she was still on her best behavior.

‘Fine,’ she huffed. ‘Come in. But don’t touch anything.’

He chuckled a little as he followed her inside. ‘God, Annie. You act like I’m going to come in and start rifling through your underwear drawer.’

‘I wouldn’t put it past you.’

‘I typically like it to be consensual when I see a woman’s underwear.’

‘Hmm.’

‘Like the last time I saw yours.’

She flung a pillow at his head, and he chuckled as he caught it. ‘The last and only time,’ she reminded him.

‘Oh, I’m well aware of that, darling.’

She flipped him off as she knelt down next to her bed. Having such a tiny apartment made her get creative with her storage. She started pulling out the bins she kept under there.

‘I don’t have time for your crap today, Mac,’ she said as she rifled through the first bin.

‘Busy day of manicures and secret bridesmaid stuff?’ he asked, kneeling down beside her.

‘Yes, lots of secret bridesmaid stuff.’ She nudged him aside with her shoulder.

‘I don’t need your help.’ She didn’t need him looking through her things.

This particular bin was filled with summer clothes she didn’t have space for in her only closet, a few books she’d meant to loan to her mom, a box of blank Christmas cards she’d had every intention of sending out two years ago but never got around to it, and multiple bottles of her favorite face cream.

‘Stocking up?’ Mac asked, lifting one of the bottles.

Annie snatched it back and laid it next to the others. ‘They were discontinuing it. And that’s my favorite one.’

Mac made a small sound like he was adding this piece of information to everything else he knew about her.

‘I feel like I’m getting a sneak peek into your inner workings here, Annie,’ he said, peering deeper under the bed to look at the other bins.

‘I’d rather you see my underwear,’ she muttered, closing this bin and pulling out another one.

The last thing she needed was Mac peering into her inner workings.

In fact, she needed Mac far away from her inner workings.

She’d let him get way too close last night, let him hold her. Which was really stupid.

Was it too late to find a date to this wedding? Maybe on her way to track down Estelle, she’d find an eligible bachelor walking down the street. She needed a buffer between her and this man who kept pulling her back in, despite her best efforts to push him away.

Mac sat back on the rug and let Annie sort through the next bin.

‘Afraid of what you’ll see in this one?’ she asked, glancing over her shoulder.

His lips tipped into a smile. ‘A little. I don’t really want to know that there’s a hit list and I’m the first on it.’

‘You’re the only one on it.’

‘That’s sweet.’

She shook her head, trying and failing to not be amused by this conversation.

‘Aha! Here it is!’ She pulled out the small paper bag that contained Logan’s tie and cufflinks. ‘Found them.’ She handed them to Mac, and she didn’t miss the disappointed look on his face, like he was upset the search ended so quickly.

‘Let me help you,’ he said, getting up from his spot on the floor and offering a hand to Annie.

‘Help me with what?’ She stood without taking the offered hand. No more touching. It was safer that way.

Mac sighed, tucking the rejected hand into his pocket. ‘With whatever you have to do today. You clearly have a lot on your list, and this was the only task Logan gave me. Put me to work.’

Annie contemplated telling Mac to go to hell, but she did have a lot on her list today. Not that he could help with most of it.

‘Fine,’ she said, begrudgingly. ‘You can pick up Estelle.’

‘Great. From where?’

‘I don’t know,’ Annie said, moving toward the door.

She flipped off the lights, including the twinkle lights she’d strung up for Christmas.

Mac followed along, still looking around at her apartment like he was taking mental notes about the fact that she had unfolded laundry in a basket and dirty dishes in the sink. She couldn’t be perfect all the time .

‘What do you mean, you don’t know?’

‘She’s missing.’

The shocked look on Mac’s face as he stood frozen in her doorway was almost entertaining enough to distract Annie from the fact that a missing grandmother was not funny at all.

And that she’d just recruited Mac to help her search.