Page 27 of Baking and Angels

“Yeah,” he asked, the anxiety thick inhis voice.

“Yes, I think you have done the worst thing in the world,” she continued gravely. “You banged your funny bone.”

She said it so deadpan Rafferty didn’t realize it was a joke until she broke out into an enormous grin and started giggling. “You’re going to be fine, don’t worry,” she assured him, and leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek. “You never banged your knee when you were alive the first time?”

“Not that I remember.” For a split second, he almost flinched away but instead forced himself to hold still and receiveher kiss.

“I am sorry about last night,” he said instead, letting her help him sit up on the bathroom floor.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, brushing her fingers through his hairtenderly.

“Embarrassed. Stupid,” hemuttered.

“It’s alright, we’ve both gone through some… big changes the last couple of days.” She stood up and then offered him a hand, but he didn’t take it. “Did you at least have fun with Éliott?”

“Yes, yes, I did,” he said truthfully, a grin threatening his lips at the fresh memory, whisps of the sound of the other man’s laughter ringing throughhis head.

To have a friend again…

“Does your knee still hurt?”she asked.

“No, it is better now,” he confirmed. “I just need a moment.” He gestured to the door, asking herto leave.

She gave him a sad smile that pained him to look at.

“I just need a minute,” he said, and it sounded weak even to him.

But she left as herequested.

Then he lay back down on the cooler bathroom tile and sighed angrily.

“Ungrateful,” he murmured. “You are ungrateful.”

Finally, he had to screw up his courage to come out of the bathroom. Their eyes touched briefly, but then he looked away, moving toward his borrowed suitcase to pull out clothes himself. He laid them out on the bed, then turned his back to her. Without hesitation, he let the towel fall so that he could get dressed. From his periphery, he saw her only take in his nakedness a second before shyly looking away.

He thought she would say something, hopedshe would.

Instead, she grabbed up her toiletries bag and went to the bathroom herself.

They continued in that tense silence, each plagued by their own thoughts, until she broke first. “Who isEleanor?”

He jumped at the question. “Who?”

Helena didn’t answer but went to the side table by the bed and picked up a dog-eared business card. Only then did he remember. “Oh, right. She is a pâtissier, a dessert chef, here at the hotel. I met her last night in the kitchen. She makes cakes.”

“Oh, I see,” Helena said, looking down at the card as if it could verify his words for her. “Why did she give youher card?”

“She said she could help me find work. I suppose I will need to find a job now.” He stared at the card and this new reality it symbolized.

A fresh panged look crossed her face. “God, I don’t even know if Ihavea job now,” Helena said, handing him the card. “Is this what you would like to do?”

He didn’t answer that, so shecontinued.

“Because I’ve been thinking, you know, while you were gone last night…” She went and fetched her mobile phone. “I was doing searches last night, and I found some things. And I mean, I was searching everything, you know, just jumping from rabbit hole to rabbit hole, but I ended up on this realtor’s site where it lists restaurants, cafés, and kitchens that are up for sale or rent in the city, and I thought we could go and look at some of them today. Not make any decisions or anything, but just go check them out. Get some ideas?”

She held out the screen to him, showing him exactly what she described, small thumbnail pictures of beautifully decorated cafés with location and catchy words in the titles. There were a few restaurants ranging from classy to working-class, each with a price tag that suited them. As he scrolled down, looking at what Helena called possibilities, he paused on one that wasfamiliar.

“Isn’t this that kitchen, that catering place we went to that had the awful food?” he asked, tapping the image to direct her attention, but the action opened up the entry even further.

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