Page 32 of In This Together

She glanced at her bedside clock. 07.59. It was as good a time as any to break her cycle of thought.

After slipping out of the covers, she pulled on a pair of stonewash jeans and a Rolling Stones T-shirt from her closet. Having found her sneakers and located her purse, she gently closed the apartment door and headed to her favourite bakery, three blocks away.

This was the best time of the week for Andrea – early on a Saturday morning, before shoppers, tourists, dog walkers and families with strollers hit the streets. When Williamsburg was waking up. The sun had risen but wasn’t yet too hot. Before cars were noisily filling the air and before the stalls were being set up for Smorasburg market. She didn’t need to wear tailored clothes or make-up. She could just be herself, with herself, please herself.

She closed her eyes on the sidewalk when the first scent of fresh bread and pastries reached her nose from the bakery. The only thing that could possibly rival that smell as the best in the world was the scent of fresh coffee being brewed.

She smiled to an elderly man, whose name she didn’t know but whose face she recognised as the one that always took up a seat at a small iron table outside the bakery. As usual, he dipped his head today without speaking.

Stepping inside the corner building, she was immediately thrust into sensory overload. Baskets filled with fresh baguettes, sourdough and bloomers lined the walls. The glass counter was filled with macarons, fresh fruit tarts, vanilla slices, every kind of Danish imaginable.

‘Hey, Andi!’ She smiled to Aliza, who was already reaching for a takeout coffee cup in anticipation. ‘The usual?’

Aliza had been serving Andrea every Saturday morning for the last two years. Every week, without fail, she smiled and offered a bubbly welcome. She was only slightly plump, which Andrea thought was nothing short of miraculous, given she worked among such decadence. The plumpness suited her personality in the most stereotypical of ways and with her cupcake apron tied around her front, everything about Aliza made Andrea envious. To the naked eye, she had such a straightforward life.

‘Hey, ’Liza. Actually, I’ll take two filter coffees and two almond croissants today, please. Then I’ll take the usual rosemary focaccia and a date and walnut loaf.’

Aliza paused somewhat comically, with the coffee cup in her hand and her jaw loose. Andrea couldn’t help the short laugh that escaped her.

‘Not alone then?’ Aliza asked with obvious playfulness.

Andrea smiled. What would it be like to say,Hunter and I are doing this or Hunter and I are doing that?She hadn’t much considered it before now. Then, Hunter had never so much as hinted that he might feel more for her than a bit of fun on the side.

It sounded odd and, honestly, not like something she could ever imagine herself saying.

Armed with breakfast, she strode toward home with her shoulders back and her chin high.

With coffees balanced on a tray and bread tucked under her arms, she fumbled for her keys in her pocket but before she got them in the lock, the door to her apartment was pulled open.

Hunter stood in front of her, dressed in last night’s clothes. He replaced his shock very quickly with a smile but not quickly enough.

‘I was wondering where you got to,’ he said.

Was he leaving? Really?‘I went to get breakfast. Were you leaving?’

‘N-no, I saw you coming, I was getting the door.’

He turned his back, not taking anything from her, and led the way to her kitchen.

‘What did you get?’ he asked.

Not quite sure what to make of the situation, she simply told him, ‘Coffee and croissants,’ and set about putting the other items in her bread bin.

He remained standing as he tore off a large chunk of croissant and put it in his mouth, washing it down with coffee, barely chewing and making a sipping sound.

Andrea watched him, a little repulsed. ‘I thought maybe we could have breakfast and, you know, talk about last night.’

He regarded her for silent seconds before he said, ‘You like the jewellery, don’t you?’

‘Of course, the bracelet is beautiful.’

He grinned. ‘Good.’

She sighed. ‘Hunter, last night you told me you love me. Was that just… I mean, did you… Do you mean it?’

He walked around the counter to her on the opposite side and pulled her waist until they were inches apart. ‘I have to go to Europe next week on business. Come with me.’

‘Withyou?’

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