Country Romance - Carolyne Aarsen Page 0,51

the park, togue askew on his head. In the second one he hit the ground, sending up a cloud of snow.

The caption said the boy was Todd Corbett.

The name meant nothing to her, but it was so cute she had to smile.

She wondered how old he was. If he would be in the same grade as Dean when he started school.

An unexpected sorrow pierced her heart. Dean would live here. Go to school here.

Wyatt would be taking care of him.

She shook off the thoughts, folding the papers, skimming the news as she did.

Then she frowned when she saw another article. It was about a bakery in town that had been closed for the past half year. A series of photos depicting the bakery through the years. Three generations of Chernowyks had run the bakery. Victor, the brother of the last owner, expressed regret that no one was willing to take it over.

A note on the bottom mentioned the listing was in the advertisement and sales section.

Adele flipped through the papers, wondering if she had used that page for the kids.

But she found the correct page and her eyes skimmed the listings.

Her heart gave a little skip when she saw it.

Bakery for sale.

It stated that the equipment came with the building but could be sold if needed. The listing was long, laying out all the equipment. Adele ran her finger down it, surprised at the wealth of supplies that would come with. The ovens were older than the one on the auction site she and Leah were looking at, but it came with more supplies.

She couldn't stop the faint lift of excitement when she saw everything listed. A baker's dream.

However, there was no price. Interested parties were to contact the real estate agent.

Adele shot a quick glance at the clock. She had time before the office closed. An hour before Wyatt returned.

The kids were busy downstairs.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she snatched her phone and dialed. The phone rang and rang and rang.

Hang up. You have a plan with Leah. You can't back out of it.

She let it ring one more time then hung up, shaking off her second thoughts.

But before she threw the papers away, she ripped out the ad, folded it up, and put it in her pocket.

Wyatt hunkered down against the storm, adding more split wood to the pile he'd been building up for the past hour.

With the storm blowing as steadily as it had, the odds of the power going off grew. And he didn't want to split wood in the dark.

Now he was done. A decent pile of wood nestled on the deck, in the lee of the porch overhang.

He moved the snow machine closer to the shelter of the house and turned it off. Snow would probably bury it tomorrow, but this way it would be handy if he needed to get anywhere on the yard. He shivered, glancing back at the snow still slanting sideways across the yard. Thankfully, the snow fences he had put up in the cattle yards were working, and he got through the drifts to put out more straw for the cows. But he sure hoped this weather would ease soon.

Filling his arms with wood, he stamped the snow off his boots as best he could, then stepped inside, dropping the kindling and the wood into the cradle in the porch. He had been busy all day, struggling between feeling guilty that Adele was taking care of his kids and the need to get the tractor up and running again.

But even as he was working, his hands busy, his mind kept shifting to Adele.

He dropped the last piece of firewood onto the pile, took off his coat and coveralls, then walked into the house, his eyes lighting on Adele. She sat at the table, staring off into space, frowning.

She looked worried, and he wondered what she was thinking.

He felt as if they had been walking carefully through the past few days. Trying to balance their situation with their changing feelings.

"Oh, hey. You're early," she said, looking up at him, her smile settling into his heart.

"Yeah. I was done, so I thought I would come to the house."

"Of course. I didn't mean..." She paused, her hands fluttering as she stood. "I was just...you said you'd be here at six."

"Sorry."

"No. No." She sounded flustered. "You've been working all day. Of course you would want to come in the house." She stopped there, shaking her head. "Now I'm sorry. I