Page 1 of Building Romance
CHAPTER ONE
Cam
“Why is it so hard to find good dick?” Drew asks with exasperation as he strolls into my café as if he owns the place.
I glance up at him from where I’m making sourdough bread and fight a smirk.
“Uh, is that a trick question?” I ask, looking around to ensure another customer hasn’t snuck in here even though I know I’m alone.
“Well, let me tell you about my latest text from this guy,” he sighs and sits down at my counter. He starts to prattle on about a conversation he’s having on a dating app, while I continue my work.
The feeling of the dough beneath my fingers is as familiar as the air I breathe. It’s soothing. My senses are filled to the brim. The sourdough beneath my fingers, the smell of the chocolate chip muffins in the oven, the sounds of Drew’s voice as he speaks, the taste on my tongue of the cookie I just sampled a minute ago, and the sight of Drew waving his hands animatedly as he speaks. I glance down at my dough. It’s nearly ready to proof.
Between school and bakery jobs, I’ve worked for a solid decade toward a goal. And last week, that goal was achieved when I opened my very own bakery. I can hardly believe it. I feel like pinching myself again just to prove that all of this is real.
When my former boss, Phyllis, decided to retire a few months ago, she offered to sell her business to me. The landlord for the property likes having a café here and agreed to sign the lease with me. I snagged a small business loan, and just like that, everything fell into place.
Well, nearly everything. I glare at the empty building down the street. A large banner sign hangs over the front door.
“McDowell’s Coming Soon”
I grimace. I’ve worked so hard and I felt like I nearly had it all figured out. I was going to be that quintessential success story. I was.
“Turn that frown upside down,” Drew says, breaking my train of thought. Regardless of how discouraged I feel right now, the thought that my closest friend is sitting in my café does make me smile a little.
“That’s better. The usual, by the way,” Drew states as he swivels in the barstool and types furiously on his phone without looking up at me, clearly responding to this man he just ranted about for the last five minutes. “I am so over this new guy. I swear he’s the most annoying human ever born.”
I raise an eyebrow at my best friend. Drew had been in a serious relationship until a few months ago. Drew was dating an Italian man who finished his graduate degree and went back to Italy. He pretends it’s no big deal, but I know he’s still heartbroken.
And now, well, he’s swiping right on one-night stands. I hate seeing him like this. I know deep down, he wants a serious relationship. Hell, the man reads more romance books than I do.
“So, no second date?” I ask as I make his coffee and pull out an orange cinnamon roll, something I added to the bakery menu when I reopened as Cam’s Café. I set the roll on a plate and push it toward him.
He finally glances up at me. “Hell no. He wore a paisley shirt, Cam. The entire shirt was paisley,” he grimaces.
I giggle as I finish making his caramel latte with mocha cold foam. The man has a new fancy drink order monthly and this is his new usual drink, at least for the next two weeks.
“I mean, there are worse offenses,” I state with a knowing look.
“True. That guy you went out with a few weeks ago wore cargo shorts. It’s freaking winter practically and…cargo shorts. Just no,” he says. “Thank God I was there to rescue you.”
“I’ll cheers to that,” I say as I clink my coffee mug with his after I set it down. I wouldn’t say I’ve given up on love, but it’s definitely taken a back seat while I’ve been getting my café up and running.
“Morning,” my new employee, Adriana, says as she walks through the front door. She’s a young college student, but she worked as a barista in high school and only lives a few blocks away. So far, she’s been great. I kept Amber, my baking assistant, on my team. She’s worked here with me for years. She’s a few years older than me and a single mom. And then there’s Hugh. He’s older and takes care of stocking my shelves, cleaning, repairs, and basically anything I ask him to do. It’s a small team, but a good one.
“Morning,” Drew and I say in unison.
“Banana bread still in the oven?” she asks as she walks back toward the kitchen.
“Yep, should be done in about five minutes,” I answer.
She nods and I watch as she disappears into the back.
“How’s that working out?” Drew asks, nodding toward the door.
I shrug. “So far, so good,” I state as I walk back into my kitchen and slide the dough I was kneading into my warming oven.
I wash my hands and step back out to find Drew smiling at his phone.
