Tuesday's Story #7

It took Shelby a decade's worth of hard work before she could refer to the retail lot that housed the bakery as theirs. It was a twist of fate now that she thought back; the former landlord had notified her that he had met with some financial difficulties and urgently needed to sell the tenanted unit below the market value to any prospective buyer and to be prepared to surrender vacant possession when the SPA was stamped, and without much thought or hesitation, Shelby countered that as her shareholder and her had toyed with the idea of purchasing a unit for the bakery, they'd like to sign the Offer Letter soonest possible with a cash purchase to fasten the procedure.
    The first couple of years dabbling in the industry had been tough; she and her shareholder, although they had day jobs in separate fields, had to rotate their shifts around their schedules and in addition to spending hours in their kitchen experimenting with trial-and-error recipes of their own, there were publicity advertisements that needed to be dealt among other necessary things. For her, she was thankful that the hectic lifestyle had given her some solace as being in this lonely town with no familiar friends almost depressed her but for the shareholder; well, he almost laid down his steady relationship to focus and expand both careers until his girlfriend promised him to provide him with a certain amount of space and freedom.
    Even though the business had been steady for the last seven years, with the exception of the cashier, who was to report to duty at any minute, it never occurred to the business partners to remain behind-the-scenes and let the hired assistants to run the show.
    While she slaved in the kitchen, producing more of the tempting and creative goodies that the bakery was known for, the shareholder shoved his backpack underneath the table and craned his neck into the kitchen.
    "Morning, Shellie."
    "Hey, Brandon," Shelby replied, looked at him and noticed the nervousness written in his eyes. "What's up? Is something bothering you?"
    "You really want to know?"
    "Yeah."
    "The whole idea of marriage has been swimming in my girlfriend's mind these couple of weeks but I really don't know if I want to settle down now."
    She suddenly stopped kneading the dough and ensured that she had heard him right. "Bran, have you talked to her about it?" she finally spoke up, continued where she left off. "This affects her as much as it affects you."
    "No. Not exactly. I've told her that we'll talk about it after she returns from her trip abroad. I'm using that time to really think of our current standing."
    "But don't allow it to bother your mind during work."
    He pretended not to hear her and shot a glance at the wall clock, which read fifteen to ten. "And here we go, another day at work."