Flour Girl (Bucky x reader Bakery AU)

Part 3

"Is he gone?" you asked in a whisper.

Wanda looked at you warily. "Yeah? Why, who was that?"

"Jimmy Barnes."

She gasped. "As in..."

"Barnes Bakery, yup. He's the owner's son, back from college I guess," you uttered, leaning heavily on the counter as all the anger left you. It was too late to reply now, anyway.

"I heard about him! I guess he has a degree in business now and wants to help out his dad. Jimmy, huh? Too bad. He was cute," Wanda said with a shrug.

You huffed out a sigh. Of course he's cute. He probably knows he's cute, too. The jerk. "Um...I'll be in back. Let me know if you need anything and I'll come help close up in a while."

"Mmkay," Wanda chirped as she wiped down the counter.

Back in your office, you stared at the paperwork before you, but couldn't get your brain to focus as thoughts tumbled. He thinks I'm destined to fail? Ugh! How dare that pretty boy with a business degree tell me that my hard work will be for nothing?

A short time later, Wanda asked for more cinnamon rolls and as you set a timer on your phone for the oven, you had a thought. A little random pick-me-up couldn't hurt.

FG: Did dillweed ever fix the order?

Your finger hovered over the send button as you hesitated, then pressing it before you could overthink too much. Three dots appeared. Guess he hadn't ruined his current phone just yet.

B: Yeah, he did. Had to chase him down along his delivery route, but I twisted his arm.

The three dots remained after the first message so you waited for him to finish typing.

B: Not that I don't appreciate it, but why message me now? Weren't you all "Stranger Danger"?

The last phrase made you smile as you let go of the events of the afternoon and chose to text this stranger once again.

FG: I am still wary of all strangers, including you. But I had a run-in with someone just now who made me want to....Well...I probably shouldn't say. Plausible deniability. You know. I could use a distraction.

B: I can distract with the best of them. You can message me anytime. What did they do?

Chewing on your lip a moment, you figured out a general way to explain your frustration without too many details. He was still a stranger, after all.

FG: Just some uppity know-it-all who passed judgement about me and my work. Condescending ass....

B: What a dick. I'm sorry.

FG: Yeah, well. He doesn't know what he's talking about, so his rude opinion is not at all valid.

B: That's right! You go, girl. Or something.

By this point you were full-on grinning down at your phone, the afternoon's events all but forgotten. Glancing at the clock, you saw that it was near closing time. You were almost sad to say goodbye, which was weird. One more message and it was time to return to reality.

FG: Thank you. What does B stand for, anyway? Brian? Bernard? Bozo the Clown?

B: *laughing emoji* I asked you first.

You chuckled at that.

FG: Touche'. I better go. Later, dude.

B: Bye, Franny.

Locking your phone, you straightened the last of your paperwork and headed up front to help Wanda. All the little cleaning tasks didn't seem so bad as you blasted music and danced along. Crawling into bed that night, you set an early alarm and thought back on the crazy events of the day. It was quite the rollercoaster, but you were just grateful that it ended on a high note. Tomorrow was another day, you thought as you got comfortable on your pillow with a hint of a smile on your lips.

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Part 4 coming later this week!! 

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Ahhh!! So??? What did you think of Jimmy showing up at the bakery, out of the blue? He definitely has some strong opinions about the baking business! Don't you hate it when you can't come up with the right witty response in the moment? So frustrating!! That text conversation, though... Who's the mysterious man? He's definitely a lovely distraction. ;) Please let me know your thoughts on this part! I adore you guys!! <3