Sweet afternoons

Chapter eighteen

Time had begun passing by without notice. In between working at the bakery and seeing Andres, I hadn't felt this content in a long time. I was happy, healthy and motivated every day. All memories of the night with Ethan had faded with time and the anxiety associated with it had become small and manageable.

Nate, Alexandria and Nadine had noticed the change in me and didn't stop themselves from teasing me about it. Alex was by far the most severe with her jokes, claiming responsibility for my newfound relationship and hinting that she should be the maid of honour at our wedding. The thought always made me blush heavily since our relationship was not nearly at the stage of marriage.

After some time, Andres and I had a real discussion about his work especially in regards to the bakery. It was a sensitive topic since it had caused so many misunderstandings between us in the past, but it was relieving to finally feel like it was completely resolved. Not to mention that his business was offering us a great opportunity.

I discussed it with Nate, since he was my partner and educated about business, and he was thrilled about the idea. We were being offered the opportunity to expand the bakery into different states with a percentage going to Andres' company. There were risks involved, of course, since we would be allowing someone else to run these outlets on our behalf. But seeing the success of the company was enough to put most worries to bed.

Before things were official, Andres' had to meet with Nate and me in a professional setting to agree on and sign the contract.

It was definitely strange to be having a business meeting with my boyfriend.

"This is the weirdest date I've ever been on," Nate joked as he sat next to me, across the table from a very professional looking Andres. There was a collection of papers in front of us that had been pulled from a leather briefcase and laid out neatly.

Shaking my head at the joke, I sent him a playful glare. Andres, however, had found the sentence far more amusing than I had and let out a long laugh. "Shouldn't I be saying that? Or is there something going on here that I should know about?" He questioned, matching Nate's tone.

The insinuation that Nate and I were secretly dating made me choke out a giggle, but when Nate offered a response I was moved to full-on chuckling.

"Yeah, I've got a thing for CEO's." The two men were laughing like old friends while I watched in feign disappointment at their childish behaviour. Truthfully, it was endearing to see them act this way.

After letting them have their moment, I interrupted their bonding. "We should probably get back to the contract."

"Right, so once you've both read it you can give me any feedback you have and, if you're happy, sign it to be sent off," Andres tone was back to professional as he explained the process to us briefly. I was admittedly underprepared for something of this severity, since never in my imagination had I assumed our small business would ever reach this point.

Picking up the contract, I flipped through the pages slowly and read the paragraphs carefully. One particular page I landed on held various locations for potential bakeries. California, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts...all states that were quite commonly known as being tourist destinations.

It took me by surprise that the company wanted to expand the bakery to such popular places and for a moment I wondered if Andres was favouring the bakery because of me. Looking up at him, dressed smartly with a neutral expression, pushed that through from my mind. This man was the epitome of professionalism and I didn't want to discredit him by assuming he would let an ounce of bias into his work.

After reading the whole thing, I handed the paper to Nate. We exchanged looks "This is..." I started quietly, not sure how to begin.

"Amazing!" Nate finished, overrun with excitement. He was the embodiment of joy, his face smiling madly while looked at me with wide eyes. "We'll be all over the country in no time! What if we become famous? Maybe we'll get on TV."