It wasn’t until I was home that I realized that in all the confusion, I’d forgotten to ask Jackson Abernathy about English mastiffs in general, and specifically about Baby. I remembered when, for the first time since moving to New Bison, I entered the house and wasn’t greeted by Baby. Instead of having a two-hundred-fifty-pound dog standing on his hind legs and licking my face as I walked in, I found him lying on his dog bed. He barely lifted his head to acknowledge my presence and confirm that I was not an intruder intent on stealing all of his valuable treats. That experience was horrible. Today wasn’t much different and I made a mental promise to swallow my pride and talk to Mayor Abernathy first thing tomorrow.
Once we entered the house, Leroy went into cooking instructor overdrive. “First, we need to figure out what you plan to enter into the contest, and then we will tweak and practice it until you’re perfect.” He was a natural teacher and I knew once the renovations were completed and Baby Cakes Bakery was open for business, he’d make a great cooking instructor. For now, his culinary abilities were still limited to my kitchen.
We spent several hours talking about various recipes, eating pizza, researching, and debating what I should enter for the contest until the last thing I wanted to do was bake. It wasn’t until everyone left and I was alone in bed with Baby hogging more than his share of the bed that the panic hit me full force.
“What was I thinking?”
Baby opened his eyes and gave me his I have no idea what you’re talking about look.
I hopped out of bed and paced back and forth from one end of the bedroom to the other. “Leroy was right. I can’t cook. I can’t even use the mixer without making a mess. There’s no way I can hope to defeat a master chef.”
Baby yawned.
“Hey, wake up.” I shook him awake. “If I lose this bet, it impacts more than just me. It’ll impact you too.” I hugged him. “I should never have made that bet. If I lose, I’ll have to move. I don’t think I can keep you. It’s in Aunt Octavia’s will.”
Baby put his head on my lap and gazed up at me with his big soulful eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t do it on purpose. I was angry, and I wasn’t thinking straight. If I’d been thinking, I never would have agreed to anything that meant I couldn’t keep you.” I snuggled him close. “You believe me, don’t you?”
Baby stood up and gave himself a shake, flinging drool around the room like spaghetti. Then he hopped off the bed and headed for the door. When I didn’t follow, he looked over his shoulder, as though to say, Well, are you coming?
I got up, wiped up the drool, and followed Baby. He headed straight for the door. I let him outside, where he answered the call of nature. However, rather than immediately coming in when he was done, he stopped and gazed at me.
“What? I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me.”
Baby turned and went back to the same tree outside where he had just relieved himself. He hiked his leg, again.
“You’re right. Sitting around stressing about things doesn’t solve anything. It’s time to pee or get off the pot. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
This must have been what he wanted me to get because this time he came inside.
I was just about to close the door when I noticed a car that I didn’t recognize parked at the end of the driveway.
I reached for my cell phone and prepared to dial 9-1-1 when the passenger door opened and April hurried toward the house.
“I thought you were downstairs, asleep,” I said. “When did you leave?”
April avoided eye contact, and I knew without being told who had been in that car.
Inside, I folded my arms and stood against the counter and waited.
She sat down at the counter. Eventually, the silence grew too loud for her, and she took a deep breath and broke it. “Look, I know you only accepted that challenge because of me. You were angry, and you were defending me, but I can’t let you give up everything for me.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. We just talked.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
Baby walked over and placed his head in her lap.
She scratched the place behind his ear that made his leg jiggle until he couldn’t take it anymore and fell over on his side in ecstasy. It brought a smile to her face. “I can’t let you lose your bakery, or your house, and I absolutely can’t let you lose Baby.”
“April, you can’t go back to him.”
“It wouldn’t be forever. You’ve been here three months. There’s only nine months left, and then everything is all yours. Less than one year. It’ll just be nine short months. Then, I can leave, and he can’t hurt you.”
I walked over to her and hugged her. “That’s the sweetest and yet dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I love that you’re willing to do that, but I can’t let you.”
She tried to object, but I stopped her. “I couldn’t stay here knowing the sacrifice you’d be making. I appreciate it, but no. I’ll figure out another way.”
“How?”
I smiled. “Well, I could always just do things the easy way.”
“What’s that?”
“I could just win the competition.”
