A small crowd had gathered in front of 149 Main Street. I recognized many of the faces—Mom, Dad, Walt, Lloyd, Jimmy, Aiden, Miriam, Greg, the lady from Dunkin’ Donuts, even the guy from the delicatessen, still dressed in his white apron and biker shorts. And Zoe, who was on my right, wriggling with excitement, and Milo, who was holding my left hand. They had come up last night, as a surprise.
But there were some unfamiliar faces too, people I had never seen before. And I thought for a moment how unlucky they were, to see the beautiful building before them with its new roof and freshly painted siding, its new porch with a sturdy set of steps, and its freshly landscaped lawn, complete with rhododendron bushes and lilies-of-the-valley. They probably took for granted that the place had always looked like this.
It was the rest of us who were lucky, the ones who had witnessed the building before its renovation; the ones who had stayed in the broken-down mess of a thing until it turned into the proud, durable structure in front of us now.
And I was one of them.
The crowd erupted into cheers as Sophie and Goober appeared on the front steps. Sophie ducked her head shyly as the applause grew, but Goober beamed out at the crowd and hopped up and down. After a moment, the crowd quieted and Sophie lifted her head.
“Thank you all for coming today,” she said. “I’m so excited to be opening this beautiful little bakery, which, as some of you may know, is a lifelong dream of mine. And as long as I don’t mistake the flour for the salt, I think you’ll be very happy with some of the things that I have to offer you.”
Sophie’s face eased some more as a loud ripple of laughter came from the street. Goober began to swing her mother’s hand back and forth between them. “I could never have gotten here, though, without the help of my friends,” Sophie said. Her eyes began to tear up as she looked over at Walt, Lloyd, and Jimmy. I bit my lip. “The Table of Knowledge!” Sophie said, extending her arm, as the crowd cheered again. “Without whom this place would never have come together.”
She brought her hands to her mouth, forming a little steeple with her fingers. I could tell she was trying not to cry. I got a little teary myself. Walt, Lloyd, and Jimmy had outdone themselves over the last month or so, working every day until late at night until the place was finished. It was still as much their house as it was Sophie’s. Or so I liked to think.
“And my sister,” Sophie said. “My little sister, Julia, who came all the way up from Ohio and stayed with me all summer until we got this place done.” Her voice was strong. “Julia,” she said. “I love you so much.”
I waved to her and cried as Milo squeezed my hand.
Sophie bent down and whispered something to Goober. Everyone laughed as the little girl raced off the porch and stood anxiously next to a small sign covered with a black cloth. “Okay, Goober!” Sophie said. Goober reached up and pinched the edge of the cloth with two fingers. “When I count to three!”
“One! Two!” The crowd roared with her. “Three!”
Goober snatched away the cloth.
And there, in the sunlight, stood the Three Sisters Bakery.
I sat as close to Milo as the seat belt would allow. It was not close enough. His right hand was between us, holding mine tightly, while he steered with his left. I could smell the peppermint Cert between his teeth, and the heat from his skin warmed my palm.
“That bakery is gonna go through the roof,” Zoe said, popping up from the backseat. She leaned her long arms down between us and looked at me. “You know that, don’t you? Your sister is sitting on a total gold mine.” She shook her head and adjusted the barrette in her hair. “And I’m totally, totally digging the name.”
I grinned and glanced at her. “I still can’t believe you two surprised me like this.”
“We wouldn’t have been able to, if your parents hadn’t told us,” Milo reminded me.
“Yeah, how about that?” Zoe said, scooting forward a little more. “I almost shit a brick when your mother called. I thought for sure she was going to ream me out about something. And then she tells us about the whole deal about the opening, and that we could follow them up if we wanted to!”
Milo raised his eyebrows. “It was pretty nice of them.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “They’re good parents,” I said.
“Man,” Zoe said. “I woulda paid a million bucks to be a fly on the wall during the conversation you had with them about Pittsburgh.”
“It wasn’t nearly as dramatic as I’m sure you would have liked it to be,” I said, grinning back at her. “Besides, they both calmed way, way down after I told them about Plan B. They’re meeting us there, too, by the way.”