And You're Just What I Need...

I was cleaning up the counter and getting ready to close up when Doria comes through the door. “Juliana, can I speak with you for a moment.”

I set down the rag and nod, wiping my hands on my apron. We walk back to her small office and she motions for me to have a seat.

“as you know, this was always my dream. To own a small bakery and put smiles onto everybody’s faces.” I smile and nod, not quite sure as to what she was getting to. “and I can tell that you’ve always wanted to do this too, am I correct?”

“yes, since I was a little kid.”

“well, I’m planning on retiring at the end of the month but I still want this place to be a bakery.”

“and…?” this conversation was sounding better and better.

“and I was wondering if you’d like ownership?”

“oh my god! Seriously?”

“yes seriously. There’s just one thing, I don’t want it to become a corporation or anything. Just the small bakery it.”

“there’s no other way I’d want it. But you’re not joking? You’re giving me the bakery?”

“None of my kids want it, and you’ve done such an amazing job over the past few months. I can’t imagine giving it to anyone else.”

I jump out of my chair and hug her from across the desk. Doria laughs and hugs back. “you’ll have to stop by some though.”

“of course I will.” She lets go, “now on you go, I’m sure Adam will love to hear that you’re staying.”

“ack! Thank you! thank you! thank you!” Doria laughs and shoos me out of the room. I quickly untie my apron and run out to Dakotas car that I had been using.

I made sure I went the speed limit down the street and get there as fast as I can. When I get to the front door, it’s lock, meaning no one was home. Well that’s not fair. I get back into the car and race off to Adams’ office. I’d been there a couple time before, but not that often.

The elevator was being seriously slow so I took off my heels and ran up the five flights of stairs to his floor level. I run down the halls, which I’m sure is against the rules, to his desk just to find him gone.

“he went to get some coffee.” Matt, the guy who sits across from him says, “just like a minute ago.”

“thanks Matt!” I say and run back down to the break room. When I get there I notice three women who were all trying to get closer and closer to Adam. A laugh accidentally slips out of my mouth.

All the heads look up at me, “hey.” I say, walking past the girls and up to Adam. They were all glaring at me like I just stole their blanket. “I’ve got some news.” I tell him, grabbing his hand and running it across my stomach. The other girls let out disapproving sounds and stomp out of there.

“you’re pregnant?”

“haha, no. but you caught onto that too? I’m surprised. Anyways, that was to get them out of here.”

“hey, hey, no disrespecting the fan club.”

“right. I do have news though.”

“and this news must be big if you drove over here and run up the stairs barefooted just to tell me.”

“oh it humongous.”

“really?”

“really.”

“and you’re not pregnant.”

“not yet.”

“would you like to share this news?”

“Doria is retiring and leaving me the bakery.” Adams eyes go wide and the coffee mug slips out of his hand. I catch it before it crashes to the floor. Luckily he hadn’t put any coffee in it yet.

“leaving you the bakery as in…?”

“as in I’ll be the new owner of Dorias’ and yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“so you’re moving over here.”

I nod my head excitedly. “and it won’t be too long before I’ll have enough money to get my own apartment and we can move out of the house and have our own place and ack! I get my own bakery!”

Adam laughs and pulls me into a tight hug. “I have to finish up this report, so I’ll be here another hour or so. But then we can go out and celebrate.”

I pull back from the hug, “great, that gives me time to track down Finn and Dakota.”

“I’ve got to get back to work.” He kisses me quickly. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“mhmm.” I give him another kiss before he leaves. I slip on my heels and, calmer now, I walk to the elevator, patiently waiting.

When I get back to the house, there still isn’t anyone home. First I call Nicks house to see if Katelyn is there, Hannah is the one who answers. “hello?”

“hey Hannah, it’s Julie. We met the other night.”

“of course! Kate’s soon to be sister-in-law.”

I laugh, “sure. That works. Is Kate around?”

“yes, they’re doing homework. Do you need me to get her?” she asks.

“actually, I have a question for you. I know it’s last minute and a school night and everything, but could she maybe spend the night there?”

“of course she can. Something wrong?”

“no, quite the opposite actually. My boss is giving me her business when she retires and we were going to go out to celebrate, but didn’t want Kate to be left home alone too late.”

“well no worries, we’d love to have her.”

“thank you so much!”

“just real quick though, would it be alright if they stayed in the same bed?” Hannah asks. “it’s just, my sister is passing through town tonight and sleeping on the sofa.”

“no problem. I trust them not to do anything.”

“great. I’ll let them know what’s going on. Oh, and don’t worry about dropping clothes off, I’m sure Nick’s sister has something that’ll fit her.”

“okay. Well then, I’ll talk to you later.”

“yup. And congratulations on getting the business.”

“thanks.” We both click off then and I sigh. One phone call down. Two more to go. I dial Dakota’s number and it goes to voicemail. Next I dial Finns number and Dakota picks up.

“why aren’t you answering your phone?” I ask her.

“cause it’s in the car and we’re not in the car at the moment. What’s up?”

“when you guys get home, we’re going out to celebrate.”

“celebrate what?”

“the fact that I’ll be officially moving here.”

Dakota screams into the phone and I move it away from my ear. “we’ll be there in ten minutes!” she hangs up before I can tell her she doesn’t have to come so quickly. I laugh though, and click end on the phone.

I sit down on the sofa to call Blake. I didn’t know how this conversation would go. Of course he’d be happy for me, but to have his only sister moving across the country might not be that easy for him to let happen. Especially after our parents died.

“hey sis.” He answers on the second ring. “what’s up.”

“I’ve got some news.” I say.

“you’re not pregnant, are you?”

I still hadn’t mentioned the miscarriage and didn’t feel as if I had to. Since I didn’t actually have the kid, it seemed like a pointless conversation to have with him. “no Blake, I’m not pregnant.”

“good. So, what is it?”

“my boss, she’s retiring. And, well, she wants to give me the bakery.”

“as in sell it to you?”

“no, just give it to me. as in write the ownership over to me.”

“that’s great, right?”

“well, yes. But the bakery is here in Maine. Which means I’ll be moving over here. And Katie will be moving over here too.”

“wait, what? You don’t need to be there to own a bakery!” I knew he would freak.

“Blake, this is my dream. And I’m not going to leave it just because it’s across the country. If I come back home I’m going to go back to the job I had before and not move forward with my life. This way, I’ll be able to do what I love doing, with friends around me. It’ll give me a chance to do what I really want to do.”

“but what about us? You’re just leaving?”

“it’s not like that. I know it’s a big move but I need to do this for me. For Katie and me. This is what will be best for us. I know you won’t be happy for awhile, but you’ll get over it. Especially when I’m some big famous baker.”

“if you really think this is what’s best for you then I guess I can’t argue.”

“it really is. When you come out here you’ll know that this is where I belong.”

“but what about college?”

“Blake, I’ll be owning a bakery. I don’t need college. That was just going to be a waste of time.”

“you need college.”

“no I don’t. please trust me on this, I know what I’m doing.”

“fine.”

“we’ll do the packing and all after the wedding.”

“I can’t believe you’re actually moving.”

“I need to do this for myself Blake. You didn’t expect me to stay in Washington my whole life, did you?”

“a brother can hope.”

The front door opens then, “well people are home and we’re going out to celebrate. I’ll talk to you later.”

“okay, bye.”

“bye.” I press end and set the phone down.

Dakota runs into the room and jumps on me, engulfing me in a big hug. Finn stands a ways away laughing.

“you’re moving over here!!!” she screams.

I laugh. “yes, if I survive this hug.”

She lets go, “sorry.”

“it’s alright. Adam should be home in about thirty minutes or so, then we’ll go out.”

“where are we going?” Finn asks.

I shrug, “I don’t know. But we can get as wasted as we want cause Katelyn won’t be home tonight.”

“sweet!” Dakota shouts.

Finn looks at me like I’m crazy, “not that I’ll be drinking. I’m just saying for the rest of you.”

“right. I’m sure that’s what you mean.” He says, jokingly.

“it is.”

“well, we won’t be getting drunk. But it’ll be nice to not have Katelyn around for a night.”

“I’m getting drunk!” Dakota screams. Finn and I laugh.

Finn starts to put groceries away while Dakota and I just watch stupid tv shows. Nothing was on that seemed exciting enough to sit through all of it and watch. So we just flipped through channels.

“we’ve got reservations at Four Walls for 6:30.” Adam says, coming in through the garage door.

“how the hell did you get Four Walls man?” Finn asks. “that’s even full on weekdays.”

“I have my ways. Anyways, we should leave in about an hour and a half or so.” Dakota was up in an instant, jogging her way upstairs. I roll my eyes and turn off the TV before standing up and stretching.

“need any help Finn?” I ask.

“now you ask?” he laughs, “and no thanks, I just have a couple more cans to put away. You guys go get ready.”

“fine, fine.” I grab Adams hand and we go upstairs. The instant we reach my room, he closes the door and pushes me against it. “what are you doing?” I whisper.

“helping you change.”

“oh really, that’s what they call it these days?” I smile.

“mhmm.” He runs his hand up my back to the top of my zipper and unzips my dress while kissing me. the dress falls to the ground and Adam lifts me up, tossing me onto the bed.

“hey Julie, how do you think this will-“ Adam freezes on top of me and I peek around him to see Dakota standing there. “right. It doesn’t matter.” She leaves and closes the door. Adam rolls off me and sighs.

“we need to get a lock for that door.” I comment.

“definitely agreed.”

I get off the bed and walk over to my closet to pull out another dress. “let’s just get dressed now. We’ll finish later.”

“with my sister home? I think not.”

“your sister is staying at Nick’s tonight.” I saw his jaw tense at the mention of that, “don’t worry, I talked it over with Hannah, they’ll be in separate bedrooms and everything.” So I lied, it’s not like that’s the worst of the lies I’ve told.

“fine.” He sighs and gets off the bed, grabbing a change of clothes.

About an hour later we pull up to the restaurant and got to our table. “What can I get you?” the waiter asks.

“three champagnes and a 7-up.” Adam answers, ordering for all of us.

“in a champagne glass.” I request. Dakota laughs at this request and the waiter looks at me weirdly. “the 7-up in a champagne glass, is that so hard to do?”

“no-no miss.”

The waiter leaves to get the drinks. “one of these days, you’re going to have a glass of champagne,” Finn says, “like on our wedding day.”

“in your dreams. This girl ain’t drinking no alcohol.” I joke and everyone laughs.

The waiter comes back with the drinks and sets them down. We each take one. “To Friends!” Dakota shouts.

“and marriage!”

“and um,” Adam pauses to think of something, “Maine!” we all laugh.

“and to getting her own bakery!” we clank our glasses together and down the drinks. “well, that was fun.” I comment.

We order actual food and have a few more drinks before calling it a night. Since I was the sober-ist one, I got to drive home.

And even though Adam said we’d finish later, we were both to exhausted to do anything but sleep. So that’s exactly what we did.