Tart by Lauren Dane Page B

family. So you know, I get presents that only underline just how little he knows me, but he remembers so that’s a plus. He doesn’t come up here. I run a business and can’t just jet down there, even if I wanted to or felt welcome. We have the equivalent of a Facebook friendship. Like we went to high school together or something.” She shrugged again and looked lost as she sipped her wine.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “I’m a big girl. I don’t want him to be unhappy. He seems to be in love with his wife. My brothers, and that’s odd to say, but they’re my brothers, just the same, are sweet. She’s pretty—his wife—so they made pretty kids. I wanted to hate her. I’m not crazy about her still, but she’s all right. She loves him. I hope he doesn’t do to her what he did to my mother. I hope he’s learned his lesson. I’m not holding my breath over it, but it’s really not my problem anyway. And wow, I’m sorry I’ve totally turned this conversation into a downer.”
    He reached across the table and took her hand. “No, you didn’t. I asked, you answered. So how did you end up with Tart and why did you decide to change the diner into a bakery?”
    “On Ethan’s birthday—you remember him right? My brother?” He nodded and she continued. “Anyway, at his birthday dinner, right after the cake had been sliced, my dad got up and told us all he’d filed for divorce that day. He was getting married to his girlfriend, who by the way is my age. Oh and she was knocked up.”
    He sat back, wide-eyed.
    “I know, right? It’s like a plotline from a television drama. Anyway, my mom just sort of lost it. She made us go and when I turned up again the next day she’d broken every last piece of their china. That china of hers was so special. I remember growing up how she’d buy little pieces of it here and there when they could afford it. She asked me to take out the trash and when I got back inside she handed me the paperwork signing the building over to me. They gave my brother the house. She told me that at least my father had been good for something and she wanted us to have the business and the house.
    “We tried to talk her out of it, but she was adamant. So. I wanted to make the space my own. I didn’t want to run a diner. So I talked to Gillian, that’s my best friend, and she suggested a bakery because she knew how much I loved to bake. It really just sort of went from there.”
    “Looks like you’ve been really successful there. Granddad told me Tart was even in the Northwest guidebooks as a place to go when in town.”
    She grinned. “I know! Crazy, isn’t it? It’s good for business, but it’s also great for my ego.” She looked him over. “So now it’s your turn.”
    He figured he was up next and in the face of her honesty could he really not give her the same?
    “I was in college but restless. It wasn’t the right place for me. I met this girl.”
    She laughed then. “Oh, how many times has that sentence been part of a story?”
    He grinned. “Yeah. Well, that girl lived in Wyoming and when she took me home to meet her family I fell in love with the area. I got some work on a ranch, learning the ropes so to speak, and when I’d socked enough money away, I bought a cattle ranch with my brother-in-law. We ran it together for over a decade. It was good. I loved the work, loved being outside so much. Loved the animals and the land.” He’d loved the feeling of looking out their bedroom window and knowing he owned all he could see around them. It had meant something to build it with her. Then.
    The server came and took the appetizers away and brought their entrees. He liked the way Jules dug into her steak and sighed happily at the first bite. Liked that she wasn’t afraid to eat or enjoy the process. Made him wonder again what she’d be like in bed.
    “But then we got divorced. I tried to stay on but it became pretty clear after a while that it wasn’t possible. So I sold my half to