My Regretful Ex-Husband novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: In Case You Asked

A year later, on the first Sunday of the month, the whole bakery smelled of lemon.

Daley's had a second oven now and a new sign over the door.

The sign said Daley & Hollister in plain green letters.

The baker had cried when it went up.

Ruth sat at the long table in her lilac cardigan, with a small, serious person on her lap.

"Who's this?" Ruth said.

"That's Ruth," Wren said, wiping her hands. "Your granddaughter. She's eleven months old and she's been in the flour again."

"Hello, Ruth." The old woman studied her. "You have a very good nose."

The baby grabbed a fistful of Ruth's braid and put it in her mouth.

It was one of the clear mornings.

Ruth found more of them now, on the Sundays the family came with a plate of cake.

Camille was at the end of the table with her sister, who was twenty-five and newly qualified.

Her sister was eating her third slice.

Hallie sat across from them in her scrubs, after a night shift, guarding a coffee she refused to share.

"I put in for a transfer to the maternity ward," Hallie said. "I'm tired of men carrying their wives in with their shirts on backward."

"That's Jonas," Camille said.

"That was Jonas. Once."

The bell above the door rang.

Jonas came in with a lemon cake in a white box and flour already on his sleeve. He had been at the ovens since four.

He put the box down in front of Ruth.

"The boy who pays," Ruth said happily.

"The boy who bakes, now."

"Is that better?"

"I'm told I'm improving," he said.

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