Bakery

[CHAPTER THREE - The Market]

Every year, the city Alex grew up in had a series of competitions, primarily for their local stores to attract tourists and the like. For the past 6 years in a row, the winner of the cake competition was a dessert bakery by the name of “Barb’s Bakery”, and damn was it well deserved. If you wanted a cake, there wasn’t a bakery for miles that could outshine them. So, then, when he was deciding where to get the girls a cake to make up for his absence, there was no question where he had to go.

This, however, was a problem for Alex, as Barb herself was the mother of his ex-girlfriend Jennifer. They had dated his last year of high school, and were as about as in love as silly high school kids could be. They planned on staying together even while Alex went off to college upstate, deciding that even if the distance was a strain, they should at least try. Sadly, they didn’t make it that far as during a party after graduation, Alex got a bit drunker than he intended and she found him, very sloppily propositioning her little sister Mackenzie.

Every holiday or summer back home since, Alex would do just about everything in his power to avoid seeing her. When she dumped him, very publicly, at the party, it was made abundantly clear that if she ever saw him again, she would do some things that would make her grandmother faint. When he began to make plans to fully move back into town, Alex hoped that perhaps the years had calmed her.

As he gripped the door handle to the bakery, he took a deep breath, hoping he could get out of there intact enough to at least get the cake back home to the girls. A heroic ****, he figured.

A little blonde head popped out from the back store room, greeting him. “Hello! I’ll be with you in just a moment.” Alex had been expecting to see either Jenny or Barb as they were usually the ones manning the counter, or at least they did the last time he was in here over 4 years ago. He wasn’t, however, expecting Mack to be here. The last time he had spoken to her, - at least, the last time he was sober and spoke to her, - she had mentioned she was planning on diverging from the family business slightly and become a chef, rather than a baker.

As she walked out from the back room, Alex couldn’t help but marvel at her. Mack had been, hands down, the most attractive girl back in school. Most people were surprised she wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps at all, expecting her to become a famous model or actress. Jenny, though the older sister, and herself very beautiful, had always been jealous of Mackenzie. No matter how much she loved her, Alex would often have to hear Jenny go on about how Mack had a better ass, or perkier tits, or toner legs, or this, or that. In retrospect, it was a bit ironic that she got so upset with me for being attracted to Mack… ish… Okay I’m the asshole, but seriously, she never shut up about it.

“Sorry about that, we’re a bit short staffed today. What can I get for you?” She gave him a warm, patient smile that gave Alex hope that she might not recognize him. This could be easier than I thought.

“I need a cake. Birthday to be exact.”

“Okay. Everything up here was baked fresh just this morning. See anything you like?”

“Yeah, is that chocolate fudge?”

“Yes it is. Though I have to warn you. One taste has been known to cause severe cake addiction.”

“Ooh, now I have to try it.”

“Great.” She pulled the cake out of the display and began to box it up. As she moved about Alex stood there, admiring her juicy ass move about in her jeans. Alex always felt that the best part of their mother owning a dessert bakery was how much is rounded out their figure.

“Okay then. Anything else?” she asked, sliding over the box.

“Nope, that’s all. Thank you.” He began to make his way out when she spoke up again.

“Really? Absolutely nothing? Not even, a ‘Hi, how you been Mack? Long time no see.?’”

Alex froze in his tracks, sighing in defeat. “I, uh, was kind of hoping you wouldn’t recognize me.”

“Fat chance. You did date my sister for over a year. You were over at our house so often I’m surprised dad never made you pay rent.”

“And I’m also the jackass who broke your sister’s heart. I figured if either of you did recognize me, you would already have a knife to my throat.” He walked back over to the counter, preparing for the earful he had been avoiding for 4 years now.

“Nah, the past is the past. She got over you quite a while ago. Has a kid now, so I don’t think she’d risk prison over stupid high school drama.”

“Really? Good for her. She always was the doting mother type.”

“Oh yeah, it’s almost nauseating how much she loves that kid.”

“Aww, you’re just jealous because she doesn’t spend as much time with you anymore,” Alex teased. This was part of the reason Jenny had gotten as angry as she did. Him betraying her and all was bad enough, but him making a move on her baby sister had sent her overboard. Alex couldn’t blame her, as one, he would do the same if it where Maggie or Alli, and two, thanks to Mack’s beauty, she already spent most of her time fending boys off with sticks.

“Hmm, maybe a little. I can’t blame her though, she is one cute frickin baby.”

“If she takes after her mother in the slightest, she’s no doubt beautiful.” They stood there for a moment, awkwardly. “So, what are you doing here Mack? I thought you were gonna go off and become a big time chef?”

“Oh, that was just stupid teenage angst. I don’t wanna be a cop dad, I wanna be a firefighter.” Mack shrugged, as if to say she was being stupid back then.

“Really now? Because this doesn’t seem like teen angst to me.” Alex reached into his wallet and pulled out a small business card. On the front it read:

Mackenzie Prescott
Gourmet Chef

“Oh my god! You actually still have this? I made them as a joke.”

“Of course! Then I could go all hipster and show people I knew the best chef in the world before she opened her restaurant and got famous. Or at the very least you would find it endearing enough that I could get a free meal with it.” She looked at the card, biting her lip and making a face that Alex couldn’t quite make out. “Come on, really, what happened?”

Mackenzie sighed, looking him in the eye. “End of senior year, dad got pretty sick, so I stayed to help out. He got better, but then Jen’s baby daddy ran off, so I stuck around longer to help her. Before I knew it, I had settled in. Being a chef would have been nice and all, but, I do love it here in the shop. Business is doing great, god knows it always smells good in here.”

“Well, at least you’re happy! Even if life knocks you down, should you land in a pit of cute bunnies, you’re gonna be having a pretty fantastic fucking time!” The two of them laughed for a moment before sinking into another awkward silence.

“Well, what about you, I thought you were going to go off and become a rich businessman or a rockstar or whatever?”

“Ah, it turns out the big city has no need for another jackass who thinks he knows everything about anything.”

“Hey, at least you made it further than I did.”

“Perhaps, but at least you manned up when you family needed you.”

“Yeah, come to think of it, I didn’t see you at your dad’s funeral.”

“You went to my dad’s funeral?”

“Yeah, Jen always liked him, so I went as support.”

“Jeez. You didn’t even know the man and even you made it to the funeral. I, on the other hand, have some serious amends to make.” Alex grabbed hold of the cake, emphasizing his point.

“Well, I can assure you, that cake can mend just about any bridge.”

“Think it’d work on Jen?”

“Like I said, you don’t have to-”

“No, but I want to. With the way things ended between me and my dad, I’d like to be sure all hatchets are buried before I am. And not just with her, you aswell. After all, I did betray your trust as well and make you suffer through my drunken advances. Here.” Alex pulled out a notepad he kept in his pocket and wrote down his number. “If you two are willing, I’d like to take you out some time and make it up to you.”

Mack looked at the number and thought for a moment. “I… I’ll talk to her. If she’s up for it, and can get a sitter, sure.”

“All I ask is that you think about it. Have yourself a nice day there Mack.”

“Bye.”