Page 62 of Hearts of Fairlake

"Good morning, Louise," I called with a sigh, knowing my peace and quiet were officially ending. She was more excited about the festival than most people. Then again, that meant she was going to be at the stalls, able to meet all sorts of people. That was precisely why I’d been more than happy to put the gregarious woman at the front of my shop years ago when I'd been hiring.

"What?" came my brother's voice. "I don't get a good morning?"

Yes, my morning was officially no longer quiet. “And good morning to you too, Felix. I suppose you didn't think to speak up, or perhaps you didn't think you would be heard over Louise."

"Isn't it cute how he thinks he's witty?" I heard Louise ask Felix as if I couldn't hear her.

"What are you both doing here?" I wondered. "Louise, you weren't set to work until later when we need to start setting up the stalls."

"Did you or did you not say you wanted to have a morning run so people could still get their morning donuts, pastries, and whatever the hell else you've put poor Devin up to?"

"He volunteered to get everything I normally make in the mornings shipped over," I retorted. "He's more than capable of the task."

Felix appeared with an armful of boxes that he set nearthe door. "Am I allowed to point out that you've made a lot of progress as a person and that you're so willing to hand the reins of your work over to other people?"

I blinked at the boxes. “Both Devin and Luke have proven more than capable of handling things. I have seen an uptick in business for them both, and a majority of reviews coming in are extremely positive. Why should I feel any differently about this?"

Felix raised a brow. “Because this is stuff coming out of your original bakery. You're trusting Devin to make it to your standards."

I didn't know why that made me uncomfortable, but I shifted uneasily. “He worked here for some time before I decided to have him take over the Fovel location. If there’s anyone I trust to know precisely how I want things done, it’s him."

"You know, it is possible you can accept that you've grown as a personandthat I'm complimenting you on that fact," Felix said with a snort.

"Is it just the two of you?" I wondered, knowing I was changing the subject but not caring. There were other things to worry about besides my apparent growth.

He gave me a knowing look before shrugging. “Luke's at home until I head back so he can make the deliveries from Devin's. Louise will stay here while Luke takes everything we have here to the stalls to begin setting up. Afterward, Devin will close up as you agreed and return to spend the rest of the day at the festival. I'm going to start the setup process, and then Louise will come in after you close here and 'fix' everything I got 'wrong' despite her painstaking and exhaustive description of what she wants."

"I see believing you're witty is a family trait," Louise said brightly from the front room, followed by more thumps.

"What's with the boxes?" I asked, knowing I had zero sayin how the day's events would go. Louise was handling presentation, while everyone but me handled the logistics outside of baking. Not that I couldn't have done it, but between Luke, Felix, Devin, Louise, and even my husband, I’d been outvoted and told I would take on only the load for food preparation.

In a way, I could see Felix's point because the idea of handing so much responsibility and organization to others would have once filled me with a dread that would have driven me absolutely crazy. Now, though, I could see the strengths of the people who worked for me, and I understood my limitations...for the most part. It still left a twitchy feeling inside to leave so much to others, but I knew there was no way I could manage the entire load without losing my mind.

Louise popped her head in, and I saw she’d painted half her hair red and the other half blue. I didn't know how she managed, but there were also white stars on each side. "Where is Sylas?"

"Sleeping in, as I requested, until he helps man the booths later," I said, knowing I should be used to her hair changes but unable to help myself. "You realize this is an anniversary celebration for the town, not the Fourth of July, right?"

She stared at me momentarily before her hand touched her hair thoughtfully. "It took me forever to decide what to color it. In the end, Fairlake doesn't have any town colors, so I went with the country's instead. It's still celebratory, and hell, maybe it'll strike up aconversation."

"Or attract attention," I said. "That stands out when people expect...well, small town."

"If they think my hair is weird for a small town, wait until they discover the absurd number of homos in this town," she said with a snort.

"She has a point," Felix noted with a frown. "Why have I never realized that before?"

"Beats me," she said with a shrug. "The whole town seems to attract or make them."

"Make...them?" I wondered, knowing that was not how sexuality worked, but unable to stop myself from hearing her supposed logic.

"Well, yeah, this one went and bagged Sylas' assistant despite him being straight," she said, jamming a finger toward Felix, who didn't look bothered in the slightest, only grinned. "And then there's you, who somehow managed to bag a whole ass celebrity even though the chances of that are, like, next to zero. Then there's that cute cop married to his former straight best friend. Those two cuties from the firehouse, the police chief who just happened to fall for the former straight best friend's former brother-in-law. Then there's Devin also getting with his former best friend turned love of his life, who really needs to get on top of proposing. Am I forgetting anyone?"

"There's that gay cop and EMT that a bunch of the people you just mentioned helped a while ago," Felix said.

"Oh, right," Louise said with a nod. "That's a lot of formerly straight, bi, and gay men in this town, which is just weird. I love it, but that doesn't mean it's not weird."

"I believe that is simply a coincidence of noticeable proportions rather than anything specific," I said carefully.

She gave me a disbelieving look. “Hey, I wasn't saying it wasbecauseof anything. I was just saying it's really weird. But hell, for all we know, there is something in the water."

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