Raspberry Kisses (The Bakery Romance Series Book 1) (18 page)

“You’re hesitating, so, you
are
seeing somebody else.”

“No, I’m not.” He had to be truthful. “You know I’m a pastor, and I want to lead my father’s church. I’m looking for someone who would be beside me in my profession. Do you honestly see yourself as a pastor’s wife?” He still didn’t know if he had a chance to have a relationship with Rhea, but hopefully, things could work out between them. He could imagine seeing her every day, spending time with her. How he loved her warm, caring spirit and gentle nature. What would happen if she finally moved on, and decided to give their relationship a chance? Would things work out for them? Was Rhea the woman that the Lord intended for him to marry?

He stood, not sure what else he could say. He had let her know how he felt, now she just needed to accept it.
She looked directly into his eyes. “I wonder how your church would react if they found out how you treated women?”

His heart skipped. “What?”

“I wonder how they’d react if they found out that you lead a woman on and then dump her. What would they say about a pastor who does that?”

He plopped back into his chair, got directly into her face, refusing to back down. He needed to stand up for himself and he couldn’t let Raven blatantly lie about his intentions. “Why would you do that?” He softened his voice, lost. He could not figure Raven out. He’d prayed about this, wondered about this, and now she was making threats. Was she serious, or, was she just doing this in desperation? “What good would it do if you told the congregation about this? Even if I don’t get the pastorship, how would that make things better for you?”

“Because it would hurt
you.
I’d be hurting you the same way you hurt me. Doesn’t the Bible say an eye for an eye?”

“You can’t twist scripture just to serve your dishonest motives.”

“I’m not being dishonest.
You
are.”

“I can’t help it if you misinterpreted my intentions, imagining a romance that didn’t happen.” He stood up again. He needed to get out of there. He gritted his teeth.
Lord, help me to deal with my anger.
He couldn’t deal with this. Taking hurried steps, he left the coffee house.

Chapter Seventeen

Using a huge slotted spoon, Rhea pulled the sourdough donuts from the vat of hot grease. Their delicious scent filled the bakery. The new recipe, using Martin’s sourdough starter, had been a hit with the customers. She’d arrived at the bakery, earlier than usual, at 4:00 AM, just so she could make some extra batches of donuts. For the last two days, Candy said they’d run out of donuts by noon.

Once the treats were out of the grease, she drizzled them with vanilla glaze, her mouth watering. Her stomach rumbled, and she glanced at the clock. It was six thirty. She had a little bit of time to relax, and drink a cup of coffee, eat something before she had to be at the law office.

The bell above the door jingled and she glanced up, her heart skipping. It was Martin! Dark circles nested beneath his eyes. Had he had a sleepless night? Was he worried about something?

She removed her apron, hanging it on a peg, before making her way toward the door. “Martin, I wasn’t expecting you.” She had to work to keep the excited tremor from her voice. She’d already said she was not dating a pastor, so, there was no need for her to get so excited about his unexpected visit.

“I—”

Candy rushed in, interrupting them. “Hey, Rhea.”

“Hi, Candy.”

Customers trickled into the bakery, and while Candy waited on the customers, Rhea took Martin to a table.

“I’m sorry for showing up without calling first.”

She reached toward him, wanting to touch his hand, offer her comfort. Mentally sighing, she held back, pulling her hand away. She didn’t want to encourage an emotional connection between them. “That’s okay. Tell me what’s wrong.”

He sighed. “I went to see your sister yesterday.”

“Oh?” Rhea plopped into a chair, her appetite disappearing. “What happened?”

He told her all about the visit, his deep voice stilted and sad. He balled his hands into fists while he spoke, as if he wanted to punch something. Rhea placed her head into her hand, stunned. How could Raven do this? Her sister had not done anything so awful in years. What could be going on in her life that would make her want to hurt Martin? “I’m shocked Raven would do that.” She bit her lower lip, pausing. Her mind spun, so many thoughts filtered through her brain that she didn’t know which to focus on first.

“With Linda Tucker stirring up trouble, insinuating that I’m a womanizer…if Raven were to come forward about my ‘dumping’ her after leading her on…Rhea, I just don’t need that right now.”

Martin could lose his pastorship because of Raven’s immaturity. This was not right. She had to do something to ensure that did not happen.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Why would you apologize about your sister? You can’t control her actions.”

“I know, but, I’ve always felt responsible for Raven.”

“Responsible?”

“Ever since we were children, I’ve been more responsible than Raven. I’d have to reason with her, talk her out of doing something that could get her into trouble.” She folded her hands in front of her. “I told you about the cancer she’d had as a child.”

“Yes?”

“Well, after she went into remission, my parents were so pleased that she’d survived that Raven wasn’t disciplined very much. She turned wild and I think my parents regretted their actions after she was a teenager.”

How could she say this without sounding weird? Would Martin understand why she felt she needed to be there for Raven, protect her? “I’ve always felt responsible for Raven because, well, she was so sick when we were kids. That six-month scare was so awful. It happened to
her
instead of
me.”

Would he understand her crazy reasoning to protect Raven? Could he comprehend why she felt she needed to be there to support her sister?

“I’m feeling kinda lost. Are you saying that you protect your sister for her unsavory actions because you feel guilty because she was sick and you didn’t have to go through that illness?”

She cringed, Martin’s words sounded so twisted and wrong.

What made it worse was, he was right.

He’d said how she felt, and now she didn’t know what she could do to help him.

He touched her hand, just for a second, and sparks of warmth shot across her skin. She placed her hands beneath the table. Martin probably thought it was shameful, the way she felt somewhat guilty because Raven had suffered from cancer.

“You’re not responsible for Raven. She’s a grown woman who makes her own choices. You shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened when you were children. You have no control over that.” His deep voice softened, making her feel a bit better. How she wished she could curl into his arms, offering him comfort. No, she couldn’t allow herself to hug him, but, she could offer to do something about Raven.

“I’ll talk to Raven about this.”

He raised his thick eyebrows. “You don’t have to do that. I just stopped by because I was feeling upset and I needed to talk to a friend.”

So, they were friends? Could she find the courage to allow them to be more than just friends? “But, I want to.”

He rested he elbows on the table, cradling his chin in his hands. “I don’t want to cause trouble between the two of you.”

Her relationship with Raven proved complicated and problematic. She doubted that her speaking to Raven about this would change their relationship very much. “My talking to her won’t cause any trouble. I’ll go over there tonight after I get off from the law office. Besides, I got paid for my first week’s work from my temp job. I’m glad I’m able to begin paying Raven back for her loan.”

“Okay, if you really want to do this. I just feel funny about your talking to Raven on my behalf.”

“I want to do it.”

“Okay.”

A few more customers breezed into the bakery. He glanced around the shop. “How’re things going? Have the new recipes been working out for you?”

“You wouldn’t believe it. Sales have started picking up. I had to come in early this morning to bake more donuts because we ran out yesterday.”

“That’s wonderful. How about the raspberry cupcakes I tasted awhile back. Are you still perfecting that recipe?”

Her face warmed and she glanced away for a few seconds. Whenever she made that recipe, Martin popped into her mind. The warm raspberry scent seemed to create an inexplicable connection to thoughts about Martin Lane. She swallowed. “Yes, I’m still working on that. It’s still not perfect, but, I’m getting there.”

He grinned, his sexy eyes suddenly glowing. “I really liked those cupcakes. I still think people would buy them for Valentine’s day.”

Valentine’s day. Rhea could imagine that when Valentine’s day rolled around, thoughts of Martin would clog her brain.

He folded his muscular arms in front of his chest. “Well, I can’t wait to try your cupcakes again.” He paused for a few seconds. “Since I’m here, there were a few other things I wanted to mention.”

“Okay.”

“Well, we need to decide on a logo and a new sign for out front.”

“I don’t know if I can afford—”

“Don’t worry about it. Remember, what I told you at the retreat, we’ll worry about payment later.”

That’s right, he’d mentioned that. He knew that she was financially strapped and this was his way of making things a bit easier for her. Was he doing this because they were friends, or, because he was hoping they could be more than friends? If he’d helped out one of his other friends or congregation members, would he be so lenient about payment?

“Rhea, we just need to get your bakery up and running and from what you’re telling me, we’re going in the right direction.”

She dipped her head, nodded, before looking into his eyes. “What else did you need to tell me?”

“I’ve had so much on my mind that I forgot to mention getting a mailing list together.”

“Do you mean an e-mail list?”

“Yes, both e-mail and snail mail. You might have some older customers who don’t have an e-mail address. If you start gathering a database of customers, you can occasionally contact them, letting them know about sales and special occasions. About those raspberry cupcakes…”

“Yes?”

“Well, you could e-mail your customers, tell them about a new flavor of cupcake you’ll be adding. You can also send them coupons, maybe occasionally let them have a baker’s dozen instead of a regular dozen donuts.”

Rhea nodded, understanding his marketing expertise, wishing she’d thought of some of this on her own. If she offered coupons for a baker’s dozen, her regular customers could get thirteen donuts for the price of twelve.

Martin continued. “We’d have to play around with it, see what works best.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” She’d also been trying to think of a cute, snazzy name to call her raspberry cupcakes. She’d noted a list of names, but, she didn’t want to show Martin her list right now. She wanted to think about it, come up with a name on her own.

He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet. “I’d wanted to give you this.” He removed a small cardboard slip of paper and handed it to her.

“A ticket to a culinary professional convention?”

“Yes. As you can see, it’s not until much later this summer. It’s in Baltimore, and there will be people from all over the world attending. I think it’ll be good for you to network.”

She studied the ticket, noting that the conference was three days long and the price of the ticket was eight hundred dollars! Martin had already spent so much time and money helping her…maybe she shouldn’t attend this event. She didn’t want to owe him eight hundred more dollars when they decided how much she needed to pay for his services. She opened her mouth, about to object, but, Martin touched her hand. “I didn’t pay for the ticket. I got it for free because of my former connections in the food industry. I even have a hotel room reserved for you. A cousin of mine owns a small bed and breakfast near Baltimore, he’s letting you stay there for a greatly reduced rate during the conference.”

She mentally groaned. If Martin was any nicer to her, she honestly didn’t know what she’d do with herself. She stared at the ticket, trying to figure out what to say.

“So, will you go?”

She nodded. Candy would have to run the bakery by herself while Rhea was gone, but, she didn’t need to focus on that right now. The convention was several weeks away, so, she still had time to plan her schedule. Maybe it would be good for her to meet other food professionals and talk about her business.

After they’d talked for a while longer, Rhea stood, glancing at the clock. “I hate to cut this meeting short, but I have to get ready to go to the law office.”

Martin got out of his chair, touched her cheek. “Okay, I don’t want to make you late.”

He rushed to his car, and she eyed his vehicle while he drove away. She’d revealed yet another layer to Martin about her complicated relationship with her sister. Talking to him, just telling him how she felt, made her feel as if an emotional connection had been formed. Now, if she ever felt as if she needed to confide in someone, she could imagine turning to Martin for advice.

But, she couldn’t form that kind of habit, right? She couldn’t turn to Martin for advice, wanting his comfort when things were going wrong. Could she?

Lord, please help me tonight when I meet with Raven.
Also, Lord, please help me as I struggle with my growing feelings for Martin.

*

Rhea pulled Raven’s spare key from her purse, unlocked the basement door. She stepped into the house. Why was it so dark? “Raven?” She flipped on the light. Raven sprawled on the couch, tears poured from her red eyes. “Raven,” Rhea softened her voice. “Why are you lying here in the dark?”

“I was trying to get some sleep. What do you think?” she snapped.

Rhea ignored Raven’s tone while she carefully walked into the living room. She sat on the couch. Both of them remained silent until Raven finally sat up, cringing. “I wasn’t able to sleep well last night.”

“Do your ribs hurt?”

“Yes, I took my medicine, but I was too upset to sleep.”

“Why?”

“Martin doesn’t want me to call him anymore.” She looked at Rhea. “He threatened me.”

“Raven….”

Her eyes widened. “He did threaten me. I’m going to tell his church people that he treats women badly.”

Rhea took Raven’s hand, closed her eyes.
Lord, help me to help my sister. Something is wrong, and Lord, I’m not sure how to fix it.

“Listen to yourself. Be rational. You’re upset because Martin isn’t interested in you. Threatening to tell his church about this makes you look petty and childish. Accept that he’s not interested and move on.” She squeezed Raven’s hand. “Why don’t you try and focus on getting better?” She studied Raven—she’d lost weight since the accident. It’d been two weeks since the car wreck and her cheeks were hollow, dark circles shrouded her eyes. “I’m worried about you. Being in such a bad car accident is traumatic. Maybe you need to talk to somebody—”

“I’m not going to a shrink! I’m not crazy! I swear, you sound just like Martin.”