Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) (20 page)

Her voice sounds frantic. “Please don’t tell me one of the ovens is down.”

“Not as far as I know.”

Natalie pauses. “Who is this?”

“It’s Anthony, your evil landlord.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it’s really me. The landlord you love to hate.”

Another pause. “I wouldn’t say I hate you.”

“But I’m not your favorite person, am I?”

The phone is quiet.

“Come on, Natalie, be honest. I can take it.”

“No, you’re not my favorite person.”

Anthony smiles at her bluntness. “You’re breaking my heart.”

Natalie laughs softly. Her early morning voice sounds a little husky and he kind of likes it. He pictures her sultry mouth close to the phone and feels a stirring of desire.

“So, why are you calling?” she asks.

“I figured I’d get my daily insult.”

She laughs some more, though he can tell she’s nervous. If he had to guess, he’d say few people made Natalie nervous. “Someone has to do it.”

“And you’re just the woman for the job.”

“Otherwise all you’d hear is how pretty you are.”

Anthony blinks with surprise. “That’s sweet. Do you really think I’m pretty?”

“Just like Cinderella.”

“I’m still looking for the glass slipper that fits, though.”

“Can you hang on a second?” He hears beeping in the background and what sounds like her putting the phone down. The beeping stops and he hears scuffling noises. It’s quieter than he’d expect a busy bakery to sound at this hour. Eventually she comes back on the line.

“Are you still in Hawaii?”

“Yeah, though tomorrow is our last night of telescope time.”

“What’s it like there? Is it just a room with a big telescope inside?”

“Not quite.” Anthony explains a bit about the Keck’s twin telescopes on Mauna Kea. “Each one is eight stories tall and weighs 300 tons.”

“Wow.”

“Definitely awesome,” he agrees.

“So what are you looking for?”

“Quasars. But my main research is with long gamma-ray bursts.”

“Gamma rays? Like
The Hulk?
”

“Yeah, except I’m not turning green and tearing the building apart.”

“Cinderella would never do that.”

“Of course not. I’m just a sweet old-fashioned girl.”

Natalie laughs. He really likes the sound of her laugh. She’s always so stern it’s a surprise to discover she laughs easily on the phone. Even though he’s not particularly attracted to her, he kind of wishes he could see what she looks like right now.

“So, what are your extenuating circumstances?” he asks.

“What do you mean?”

“When we spoke the other day, you said you didn’t normally go around calling people names, but had extenuating circumstances.”

“Oh.” She pauses. “I’ve been going through a divorce.”

Anthony nods in understanding. “That’s rough. I’ve been there myself, though it was years ago.”

“You’re divorced?” She sounds surprised.

“Yeah, I married too young and it was a mistake. It only lasted a couple of years. Though I don’t regret . . .” He stops talking because he very nearly told her about Serena.
It probably doesn’t matter. I don’t plan to get romantically involved with Natalie.
Still, he doesn’t say anything further.

“You don’t regret what?”

“I don’t regret getting divorced. We’re both happier as a result.”

“It’s complicated for me, since I have an eleven-year-old daughter.” She hesitates like she’s going to say something more, but doesn’t. Anthony figures she’s holding back a tirade about her husband.

“So how’s the boxing?”

“I like it. Though I should admit I haven’t been doing it very long, so I’m not really the badass I claimed to be.”

“Yeah? Going through a divorce, I imagine it feels pretty good to hit something as hard as you can.”

“It does.” Her voice grows soft. “I don’t usually make any New Year’s resolutions, but decided I’m going to make one this time. I’m pushing myself to try some new things.”

“That’s not a bad idea. I get the impression you work a lot.”

“I do.” She sighs. “I enjoy it, but I’m starting to see there’s more to life. Can you hang on a second again?” Anthony hears that same beeping in the background. There are more scuffling sounds. He wonders why it’s so quiet and he doesn’t hear anyone else working.

“Where are you?” he asks when she comes back on the line.

“At home.”

“Oh, I thought you were at the bakery. I figured you’d be working.”

“I am working. I work out of my own kitchen in the mornings, because we don’t have enough oven space to accommodate everything.”

Anthony is taken aback. “I didn’t know that. So you bake at home and then bring it into
La Dolce Vita?
”

“Are you really that surprised?”

“Of course. I never realized things were that tight.”

“I guess now you understand why we want that space next door so badly, and why I can’t stop insulting you.”

“Hey, you never told me any of this. This is a new variable.” Anthony’s already thinking of how he’s going to add it to his calculations.

“A new variable? That’s all you have to say?”

“How many mornings a week is this?”

“Five.”

“Natalie, you have to tell me these things. How would I know otherwise? Don’t blame me because you never mentioned it.”

“I shouldn’t have to go through all this. Any sane landlord would have leased us that empty space months ago.”

Anthony’s tightens his grip on the phone. “Look, why don’t you two just move your bakery to another location? I’ve had enough with all the static you’re giving me.”

Natalie scoffs. “Are you kidding? I’d love to move! You don’t think we’ve tried to find another building? Unfortunately, we’re stuck with you.”

“Then get over it.”

“I’m a single mom now, too, and I need that extra income. I’m trying to keep my home, but I have to buy out my husband.”

“I don’t mean to be a dick, but that’s really not my concern. Maybe it’s never occurred to you, but I also have mouths to feed. I can’t afford to lease you guys that space next door and then discover you aren’t able to pay the rent.”

“I thought you were a college professor.”

“I don’t know what you think college professors make, but we’re not wealthy. Besides, I’m not tenured yet. So a large part of my income comes from that property.”

“So in the end, all it comes down to is money for you?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“What about giving someone a chance?”

“I’m not running a charity.”

“A charity?” Natalie pauses. He can hear her sharp intake of breath. “You know what? You
are
a dick!”

The phone goes silent in Anthony’s hand and he realizes she’s hung up. He tosses his phone onto the nightstand, though he feels like throwing it at the wall.

Donna pazza! Crazy woman!

NATALIE HAS ALWAYS
enjoyed the holidays at work, and it’s fun decorating the bakery for Christmas, filling the front window with angel cookies, fruit cake, and other seasonal treats.

On a personal level though, the holidays are depressing. All she can think about are past Christmases with her family, and how she’ll never have that again. To make matters worse, Peter somehow convinces Chloe to go over to Lena’s house the latter half of Christmas Day, which only depresses Natalie further. A couple hours after Chloe leaves, there’s a phone call from her. Natalie worries something is wrong, but Chloe quickly dissuades her of that notion.

“Guess what?” Chloe’s voice is high-pitched with excitement. “Daddy says he’s buying me a horse!”

“
He
what?”

“It’s my Christmas present! We’re going to start looking right away!”

“He’s buying you a
horse?
” Natalie repeats, stunned.

“We’re going to stable him, of course, but he’ll be all mine. Or she will,” Chloe amends. “I’m not sure if I want a stallion or a mare.”

Natalie is dizzy with shock that Peter would do something like this without consulting her. “A horse is a big responsibility. We talked about you getting one when you were a little older.”

“Daddy and Lena both say I’m old enough. You’re not saying no, are you?” Chloe’s voice takes on a worried quiver.

Lena says she’s old enough?
“Can you put your dad on the phone?”

Natalie listens as Chloe calls Peter to the phone. There’s some scraping sounds and then she hears Peter’s testy voice. “I know what you’re going to say, Natalie, but I don’t see the problem.”

“The problem is we agreed Chloe isn’t old enough to care for a horse yet.” They’d talked about how it would be good for Chloe as a teenager to have the responsibility, that she could even get a part-time job to help pay for the horse’s upkeep. Apparently, those plans have all been flushed down the toilet along with her marriage.

“We’ll find a good stable for the animal. As Lena pointed out, we can just pay the stable to care for the horse until Chloe is old enough to take over.”

Natalie grits her teeth. “This is a parenting decision we already made together. You can’t just change things without consulting me!”

“Have a heart, Nat. It’s Christmas. Do you really want to tell Chloe no?”

“And look like the bad guy? Of course not! How could you do this to me, Peter?”

He sighs as if she’s being unreasonable. “Don’t be ridiculous. No one is doing anything to you. Lena said you’d make this all about yourself, and she was right.”

Natalie wants to curse, but instead, takes a deep breath, trying to gain control. “This is just like that smartphone you got her. You think you can buy Chloe’s love and forgiveness, but you can’t. Those things aren’t for sale.”

“I just want my daughter to be happy. Why is that so hard to understand?”

She almost chokes on the words she wants to say, that if Peter truly wanted Chloe’s happiness he wouldn’t have left her for Lena in the first place.

Natalie tries not to dwell on her resentment against Peter, though it isn’t easy. Chloe is over the moon and looking at horses online every day. She’s at least glad to see her daughter’s enthusiasm, so she doesn’t say anything more against the idea.

For some reason, Natalie can’t stop thinking about her last phone conversation with Anthony. Fighting with him probably wasn’t the smartest way to handle things. There’s something about him that makes her reckless. And the worst thing is,
he
called
her
that second time and she suspects it was to show he’d forgiven her for the asshole comment.

“Are you still planning to add some Italian pastries to our menu?” Blair asks after Natalie has finished unloading her morning baking.

“Yeah, now that the holidays are over I plan to add some. I want to update our biscotti offerings, maybe do a weekly special. Also, I’m thinking about adding a panna cotta and a tiramisu. What do you think?”

Blair considers Natalie’s suggestions. “Sounds good. I wonder if we should ask Anthony for ideas. It might put us on his good side.”

“Let’s not bother him,” Natalie says quickly. “I’m sure he’s busy right now with classes.”

“They always say the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Of course, if that were true, men would be beating down our door.”