Chapter 8 - A New Recipe
The neighborhood outside the bakery window buzzed with the lively chatter of spring pedestrians and the smell of roasting espresso beans from nearby cafes. Inside, the warm scent of baking cinnamon rolls filled the air, wrapping around them like a comforting embrace.
Lily bounced down the stairs from the apartment above, holding a school binder and stopping short when she saw Roman holding her aunt's hands. The young girl broke into a massive, knowing grin.
"Am I interrupting something?" Lily teased, raising an eyebrow.
Clara blushed furiously, pulling her hands away just a fraction, though she didn't step back from Roman.
"Go finish your homework, Lily," Clara said, though there was no heat in her voice.
"I'm already done!" Lily laughed, grabbing a fresh cinnamon roll from the display case. "Bye, Roman! Bye, Aunt Clara!" With a wave, she darted out the front door toward school.
Roman chuckled, turning his attention back to Clara. The playful warmth in his silver eyes melted into something much deeper, much more permanent.
"So," Roman asked, leaning in close. "What do you say? Do you want to close up shop for a week and show me how they bake sourdough in Naples?"
Clara looked at him—at the man who had walked into her bakery as a threat, who had stood against his own violent past to protect her, and who had returned every single morning just to be near her.
She reached behind the counter, grabbed a small handful of white flour from an open sack, and lightly flicked it straight at his chest.
Roman blinked in surprise as a small cloud of white dust settled across his clean white shirt.
He looked down at his chest, then back up at Clara, a slow, breathtaking smile spreading across his face.
"You really never learn, do you?" he murmured.
May you like
"I'm a baker," Clara smiled, her heart soaring. "It's an occupational hazard."
Roman laughed—a bright, unrestrained sound that echoed through the sunlit bakery—and pulled her into his arms, kissing her right there in the warm morning light, surrounded by the flour, the ovens, and a future they had built together.
