Page 56 of Bittersweet

“A little.”

“Only a little?”

He leaned in again, but she pushed against his chest. “I have to get ready. To be continued.”

He chuckled. “You better believe it.”

Harper’s stomach was filled with butterflies again as she prepared for the day. She hadn’t expected any of this to happen, and now that it had, she was abundantly thankful that they had a chance to start again.

Every time the bells on the door sounded, Harper jumped. The place she loved coming to, the place that had always felt safe to her, was now tinged with fear. Brett had taken a happy, light-filled place and introduced anger and darkness, and the worry ate her up inside.

She didn’t know what he was capable of, because he had not turned out to be the man she thought he was. Would he show up there again? Was he capable of harming her? She still couldn’t believe that was possible after how tender he had been with her for months. Maybe it was the fact that Logan had come back to town that had turned him into a jealous maniac. Or had Brett simply shown his true colors? Would that side of him have come out if they had stayed together? She shuddered at the thought.

The door opened, and her heart rate picked up again, then calmed when she saw it was Savannah arriving after her morning off.

“Good afternoon,” Harper greeted her.

Savannah didn’t respond as she moved behind the counter and tied an apron on.

“Savannah?”

She waved a hand in the air and turned so she wasn’t facing Harper anymore.

Harper made her way across the room and saw her friend’s puffy eyes. “Van, what’s wrong?”

The floodgates opened then, and Harper hugged her tearful friend and let her cry on her shoulder.

“Oh, Harper, I don’t know what to do.”

“About what, sweetie?”

Savannah pulled back and wiped at her tear-soaked cheeks with her apron. “Oh, your shirt. I’m sorry.” She wiped at the wet spots on Harper’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about that. Just tell me what’s happening.”

“Remember how I told you my dad’s health has been deteriorating over the past few years since he was diagnosed with dementia?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it’s to the point now that he can’t take care of himself. Mom insists his wish was that he not be put in any type of assisted living, that he wanted to be home. But she’s going to be too weak to take care of him because …” She broke down again and hid behind her hands.

“Oh, Savannah. What is it?”

“She has cancer, Harper. I can’t believe this is happening. It’s breast cancer, but they said it’s already spread to her lymph nodes and other parts of her body. She’s going to have to go through surgery, chemo, and radiation. She’ll never be able to care for dad right now. And what am I supposed to do? Hire a nurse? Somebody has to take her to her appointments and him to his.” Her tears were freely streaming as she spoke. “These are my parents, Harper.”

Harper’s heart ached for her friend and all she was facing. She couldn’t imagine going through that with her own parents.

“I think I need to go home.”

It made sense, but it was still a shock hearing her say the words aloud. “For how long?”

Savannah’s chin began to quiver. “I don’t know.”

“Okay.” Harper took a deep breath. “We can do this. We can figure this out.” Her mind cycled through the possibilities. Traverse City was two and a half hours away. That was obviously too far for Savannah to commute. “Maybe I can find someone to fill in while you’re gone. I can handle most of the orders with a little help, but I guess we’ll have to stop taking wedding cake orders for a while.”

“What about the ones who’ve already ordered far in advance?” Savannah’s tears began again. “What will I do about those?”

“We’ll talk to the customers, and we’ll contact other wedding cake bakers in the area. I’m sure we can find someone to make them exactly as you’ve discussed with the brides. Don’t worry, Savannah. Your priority has to be your family right now.”

---