Page 1 of Dr. Scandal Claus

1

SCARLETT

Folding the cardboard box with its clear plastic cutout shut, I added the Bake My Day sticker to seal the package and picked it up. The box fit perfectly on the shelf of deliveries to be sent out later this afternoon, and I was free to begin tackling the mountain of orders still piling up. With the Christmas market looming out ahead of me, my stress level was high.

But business was booming more than ever before. Nellie and I had hired a new delivery driver and three high school students to help pack orders and run the cash register. I even brought on a new team member just to help with closing tasks so we could get more sleep.

"My God, we're going under," Nellie said, feigning death by rolling her eyes to the side and letting her head drop backward. I had the same feeling. The business of this shop was overwhelming at times, especially early mornings like this.

"But it's so amazing!" I was cheerful as always. Chalk that up to the three cups of espresso I'd had and a full night's sleep for the first time in weeks.

"I love that we're growing. I just wish our budget was growing as quickly. I could use a raise—or more help." Nellie—the closest thing I had to a best friend and the only thing holding this place together—chuckled at me. "I'll start on the cookies for the school fundraiser if you take the pies for the Batcher reunion."

I took her by the biceps and squeezed her before pecking her on the cheek. "Eeek! What would I do without you, Nels?" My excitement was matched by her snickering and she rolled her eyes.

"Now you have to wash your hands again," she chastised me as I pulled away.

When I opened Bake My Day I worked such long hours and got almost no time with my son. Now that he was getting older, it was so important to me to have time with him. Nellie had swept in the first time I put out a "now hiring" ad in the paper and it was a match made in heaven. I wished we had time to be closer, but the bakery was so busy all the time, she was right. We needed more help and both of us needed a few days off.

The bell over the front door rang again and I moved on autopilot in that direction. Our high school help wasn't coming until later, which left me to man the counter between throwing batches of pies or muffins into the ovens. Today's lineup would keep me busy well past three this afternoon when Ethan came in to do his homework, though my mind was never far from him. He'd been feeling under the weather lately, and I'd been restless worrying about him.

I walked up to the front counter and instantly recognized the handsome face I was staring at. Tall and dapper, Dr. Nicholas Edwards towered over almost every person he stood next to, including the few older ladies who saw him enter and quickly packed up their table and walked out. Dubbed "Dr. Scandal Claus," he had a dark cloud that followed him everywhere hewent, though he'd never graced the doorstep of Bake My Day in the eight years I knew him.

"Hi, uh…" My hands shook a little so I clasped them and rested them on the glass counter which displayed the varieties of confections we had available for sale this morning. His eyes scanned the menu board hanging over my head, drawn in colorful chalk every Sunday when we redid the menu for the following week.

"I'll have uh…Do you have scones?" he asked, and his eyes lowered to meet my gaze.

What I had was anxiety—gut-churning, hand-wringing, pulse-racing anxiety. Dr. Edwards was a man like any other man, but to me he was a very intimidating man, for so many reasons. I glanced around nervously at the other customers who had purchased their donuts and muffins. A few of them were staring. I knew what they were thinking. After that scandal involving his patient's death, he'd lost almost everything.

His practice went belly-up, and he only recently reopened one. I'd heard every single dirty detail there was about this man, and while I had a few of my own to share, I was thankful the ones I hid deep inside my heart had stayed secrets. I smiled politely at him as our eyes met, but my mind was a tornado of activity.

"No, unfortunately we don't." I tried to keep my voice steady, but my palms were sweaty and my heart was racing. I got a gut-sick feeling he was going to recognize me, and I'd spent the past eight years being thankful that despite living in this same tiny town of less than twenty thousand people, he and I hadn't crossed paths.

"Alright, give me a blueberry muffin and a black coffee…How about the purely peppermint flavor?" He squinted and cocked his head to the side as he pursed his lips, as if he was trying to place my face. I backed away quickly.

"Coming right up," I told him and I darted into the kitchen. When I ran into the steel prep table I splayed my heated palms on the cold stainless steel top and pressed my eyes shut, willing my world to stop spinning.

"You okay, boss?" Nellie asked. She was standing on the opposite side of the table stirring her cookie dough, and I was so flustered I couldn't respond.

No, I was not okay. I was shocked and almost paralyzed with a fear I hadn't felt in years. I didn't know what I looked like to her, but it must've been bad, because she set her bowl of dough aside and walked around the prep table to peek into the dining room past the register. When she turned around she whistled softly and stood next to me.

"Scandal Claus strikes again, huh?" She crossed her arms over her chest breaking her own rule of not touching anything during food prep. She'd wash her hands before she got back to work, but clearly she understood my reaction, just not the reason for it.

"Yeah," I breathed, letting her equate my nerves with the social stigma associated with the man on the other side of the wall. Nellie and I were friendly, but she wasn't in my inner circle far enough to reveal what was really troubling me. I hadn't let anyone into that circle but my own mother, and she lived four states over.

"Gah…Why did he have to come in here? He's like a bad omen or something. We've been doing so well. You saw what happened to that car dealership that sold him the car. They got boycotted and lost so much money. I hope people don't think we want him here." I could feel her frustration in the way she said the words but staring down at the piles of flour and pie crust crumbs I needed to wipe off the table, I felt something very different.

Nick never deserved the treatment this town gave him, or the treatment I gave him, which he never even knew about. People were horrible; they destroyed him with gossip and negative publicity. He never had a chance to defend his name or prove he had nothing to do with that patient's death, and I was no better than any of them. I stood back and let it all happen and distanced myself and my son from it all so I wouldn't get sucked into the vortex of negativity. Bake My Day was so new. I couldn't let his darkness destroy my future.

"I need to get his muffin and coffee." I pushed off the table and sucked in a breath to bolster my nerves.

"You sure you want to do that? Maybe you should just ask him to leave."

I winced at Nellie's coldness and the fact that she was acting like everyone else in this town. I knew she wasn't like that. She was just very sensitive to the fact that this job supported her livelihood, and if Bake My Day went down because of people talking about him showing up here, she'd lose her apartment and maybe her car. She needed this place as much as I did. She spoke in fear, not because of the town's gossip.

"We have to do the right thing, Nellie. Even if it hurts." I winced inwardly at my own words because I'd been the one who'd done the wrong thing. A very wrong thing.

I turned on my heel, went to the muffin case, and put on some gloves. I picked a large blueberry muffin with white cream cheese icing drizzled over it and placed it into a white paper sack. Then I poured a cup of purely peppermint coffee into a cup and placed a lid on it before sliding a cardboard insulator sleeve around it, then I returned to the counter.