Lauren had been warned not to hold the baby. She’d been warned that it would make the good-bye so much harder. But once she heard her baby’s cry, there was no way she could let him go.
She was his mom.
He was her sun and moon.
The Meekses were furious. The baby had to go. The baby was supposed to go. Lauren had promised.
Mr. Meeks threatened legal action.
Her dad threatened to do serious damage to Mr. Meeks’s face.
Mr. Meeks stormed out, and Lauren never heard from any of the Meekses again. John included.
By the time she returned to school in the fall, John was already off playing football for some college in the Midwest.
And even though he was gone, Lauren knew that one day she would hear from him, because how could he not care about his son?
* * *
Four thirty the next morning Lauren was in her car, heading for downtown Napa. It was dark, still pitch-black, and she was thankful she’d grown up on the ranch’s winding country roads as there were no streetlights here, just sharp curves and deep valleys, and her car’s headlights only illuminated so far.
She reached downtown before it was even five and parked on South Main Street, deserted at this early hour. Leaving her car, she cut down Third Street to the riverfront and walked along the river, under the streetlights, listening to her footsteps and the gurgle and rush of water.
She could do this, she told herself. She could handle this. Just go to the restaurant. Unlock the door. You’ll be fine.
So she turned around, retracing her steps, hands thrust deep into her coat pockets, head down, putting one foot in front of the other, before taking a shortcut down Main Street and over another block.
Crossing the quiet street, Lauren glanced up at the dark building. It was a handsome brick corner building, a former bank, three stories high, with big windows on two sides and lots of trim. While she admired the building’s aesthetics, she’d never been comfortable here, in this new space.
It was too much square footage, and the elegant ceilings Lisa adored were too high and impersonal in Lauren’s eyes.
They were here, in this new spot, because of Matthieu.
He’d been the one to insist they needed the change. And while Lauren knew they were outgrowing her grandmother’s Victorian, she wasn’t ready to relocate. The timing was all wrong, for one thing. Blake was a junior in high school. He was studying hard for his SATs. It was also baseball season and he had games almost every night of the week.
But Matthieu owned the bank building, and he’d poured over a million dollars into renovations, and he was anxious to fill the space. He offered to ready the ground floor, covering the costs of adding a kitchen and making the other necessary changes if Lauren and Lisa would handle the lease.
Lauren said no.
Lisa said yes.
The sisters were at odds for weeks, barely speaking at one point, which didn’t help in running the restaurant or their catering business. Lauren didn’t want to be financially stretched, not when Blake would be going away to college soon. But Matthieu had insisted the move would be profitable, with better parking, signage, and increased foot traffic.
Blake, who absolutely adored his Aunt Lisa, had sided with her and Matthieu, and Lauren, cornered and outnumbered, caved in.
So Lisa and Matthieu went to work, teaming with a local architect to remodel the ground floor, dividing the old bank lobby into sections, added partitions, creating hallways, bathrooms, and storage closets. One fifth of the sunlit bank lobby became an old-world bakery with a huge mahogany glass display case for all the cakes and pastries and sweets, another chunk became a modern, efficient kitchen, and the rest was turned into a sophisticated café with dozens of round marble-topped tables, black-lacquered chairs, big mirrors in thick gilded frames, and a long gleaming white marble counter paired with tall, red leather stools.
It was beautiful. Stunning.
Très chic.
The new, improved Summer Bakery & Café was written up everywhere, and the reviews were brilliant. Matthieu and Lisa did tons of interviews, too, and the publicity ensured there was immediate traffic. From the first day they opened their new glossy door, business boomed.
Matthieu had been right about their location. Parking was plentiful and foot traffic excellent. The compliments poured in from both old customers and new. The comments on Yelp and TripAdvisor were glowing. The café was delightful. Excellent food, impeccable service, and a comfortable but stylish interior.
Matthieu and Lisa were delirious with happiness. Lauren less so, but even she saw that this new location was a positive, that people enjoyed all the light and the location close to the new riverfront development.
Lauren had been here, that morning last June, the morning everything changed.