Sweet afternoons

Chapter three

A/N: Just wanted to say, 200 reads? I'm absolutely flattered that people are reading my book and the comments have been so encouraging too, thank you so much!!

By 2:30 pm the lunch rush had passed and the bakery was all but empty.

It was a little unusual for it to be that empty, however, it made a nice change from the constant rush we had in the mornings. Considering how few customers there were, I told Nadine and Alex they could leave early. Nadine easily accepted my offer, declaring that she had lots of work to do. Alex, however, said that she wanted to stay. I didn't protest, it was her decision after all. Instead, I offered Nate the chance to leave early. He had been working since early this morning so I assumed he would be happy to go. It turns out I was wrong. Despite the fact that Alex and I were perfectly capable of taking care of the bakery, Nate still insisted he needed to be there.

"Why would I give up the chance to spend some more time with you lovely ladies?" Nate joked after I had given up trying to convince him to go home. I knew how stubborn Nate could be. Besides, his charm usually meant he got what he wanted. Even I found it hard to say no to him.

Nate, Alex and I cleaned the many free tables in the bakery, as well as the counter and the backroom surfaces. At 3 o'clock, when Alex's shift officially ended, Lukas called to tell Alex he was there to pick her up. Alex said her goodbyes and practically rushed outside to meet her boyfriend. She was always so excited to see him and that didn't change over all the time they'd been together.

That left just Nate and I as the only ones in the bakery; the remainder of the customers had left in order to beat rush hour traffic. With not a lot left to do, I took a seat at a nearby table and scrolled through my phone.

I was grateful to have such a quiet afternoon, despite the fact that it meant the bakery wasn't making as much money. Most days of the week were very busy; it was very rare to have such a long period of time without any customers. As much as I loved my job, I sometimes felt like I, along with Nate, didn't get as many breaks as we should. Of course, that was my fault for not hiring someone else, but it was hard to find a full-time employee. Most of the people looking for work were busy high school students.

'Sweet afternoons' was actually a rather popular place, many local people visited often as well as some people from outside of town. I loved being able to recognise so many of our customers and was so grateful for all the popularity of the bakery had gained. Sometimes I just needed slow days to be able to relax and not drive myself crazy.

"Lena! Hey, Lena!" I was awoken from my slumber-like state of mind by the voice of Nate and a familiar-sounding tune. My brain couldn't comprehend where the tune was coming from so I turned to Nate for help and to see what he had called me for.

"Your phone is ringing, can't you hear it? It's making my ears bleed," Nate exclaimed, acting as if he were in serious pain. It suddenly clicked in my head that the loud tune was my ringtone and was coming from the phone that was right in front of me. I had no idea how I'd missed that.

It was such an annoying sound and really irked me, I desperately needed to change it before I took my frustration out on the phone.

"Answer it Lena, or this could be the end for me!" Nate screamed dramatically from behind the counter, pretending to faint.

I blinked rapidly and realised I had just been staring at the screen and not answering the call. Pressing the green button, I put the phone to my ear hurriedly, forgetting to check who was calling me. "Hello?"

"Lena! I thought for a second you weren't going to answer," my eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion as I heard Alex's voice being broadcasted into my ear. She didn't often call me, especially not when we'd just seen each other.