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Chapter Two

I woke up as soon as the sun came up. It wasn't my choice, the sunshine from the window was intense. I sighed and stretched, my stomach rumbling loudly.

I got off my mattress and walked to the fridge. When I opened it, I found that I didn't have any food. I had forgotten to grab cereal and milk when I was at the store.

I sighed and thought about breakfast. I remembered that Billy had said there was a diner on this street. I decided to get dressed and walk down the street for some breakfast.

I pulled on my jeans and sweater before heading out of the door. I walked down the street where Billy had pointed. Bloor street wasn't that big, so I was hopefully that I'd find the diner quickly. I was starved.

I only had to walk for about seven minutes before I found the diner. It was called the Nellie's diner, and it looked like there was only one other person dining. I was glad they were open. I was starved.

When I walked in a bell rang and an older man standing by the counter looked up.

"Good morning, take a seat anywhere." He said.

I sat at the counter in front of him, looking at the menu he handed me.

"You want some coffee?" He asked.

"No thanks, but could I have some orange juice?"

"Absolutely," He walked behind the kitchen and brought me a cup of orange juice.

"I just moved here; I bought the building a few blocks from here."

"No kidding? You bought that old place? It's been closed for so long." He said.

"Yeah, I move in yesterday. I'm opening up a bakery." I said.

His eyebrows raised slightly, "Oh man, I'm already diabetic. That's dangerous for me."

I laughed, "Sorry, I love baking and I figured I was going to pursue my dream."

"How old are you?" He asked.

"I just turned eighteen two days ago."

"No kidding," He said as he wiped down the counter, "Are you from New York?"

"No I was born in Washington state."

"Oh wow, what a trip. You're here by yourself?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "I think I'll have the pancakes with a side of sausage."

"I'll get right on that," He walked back behind the kitchen and started cooking, but I could still see him through the opening.

"So, when are you planning on opening?" He asked.

"I'm hoping to open in three weeks. I cleaned the whole place out yesterday and painted. I just need to replace and order some things."

He nodded, "Are you renting out the apartment above? Or are you living in it?"

"I'm living in it. I figured I could cut costs if I just stayed in the apartment upstairs." I said.

He nodded and flipped a pancake, "What are you planning on calling your place?"

"I was just going to call it like Bella's Bakery or Swan's Sweets. Kind of lame, but I'm not really sure right now."

"Bella's bakery sounds good. I'm guessing that's your name?"

"Yep. Bella Swan. And your name is?"

"Everyone just calls me Jenks." He said, "I've lived here for the passed twenty years with my wife Nellie. And our daughter, Lucy."

"Does your wife work in the diner too?" I asked.

"She died about four years ago. Cancer."

"Oh I'm so sorry." I said, "What about your daughter?"

"She moved closer to New York city. She works in the NBC building as an advertising expert or something."

"Wow that's really cool."

"Yeah," He said, "You know, if you don't have a sign printed up for your store yet, my Lucy can get you a sign printed up for half the cost. A big sign to put on top of your building."

"Really?" I said, "I would love that! I never even thought about a sign."

"Well, what's your number? I'll give it to her, and she'll call you. She loves helping out local businesses."

"That would be so amazing." I said as I gave him my number.

"She'll probably call you on Saturday. Her work is so demanding she hardly gets any free time."

"Tell her that I'm so grateful, and I really appreciate it." I said.

"Have you met Billy and Jake?"

"I met them last night. They came by my shop to see who was moving in."

"Yeah, everyone around here is very nice and we're a very close community. We look out for one another. Billy's the handyman around here. He pretty much takes care of the little things around here. He's pretty good."

"He's coming over tomorrow to put in some new floors in my downstairs bathroom. He said it was his treat. He seemed really nice, and so did his grandson."

"Oh yeah, Jake's a good boy. We all kind of look out for him. His parents died a while back and he's been with Billy since then."

"Wow," I said sadly, "I can relate to how he feels. I lost my parents too. That's kind of the reason I moved here. I needed to get out of my town. Away from all the memories."

He smiled kindly as he walked from the kitchen and set down my food.

"Well, I'm a pretty good read of people. And I think you're going to make a great addition to the street."

I smiled at him, "Thanks."

A few more customers walked in and Jenks went and served them. I dug into my pancakes and nearly melted. They were so good and just perfect. And the sausage was just tasted amazing. This might be my go to place now when I need a bite to eat.

When I finished he walked over and grabbed my plate. I had pulled out my wallet, but he put his hand up.

"Don't worry about it, it's on me." He winked, "Welcome to the street."

I smiled widely, "Thank you! And please when I open come by and grab a brownie or something. On me. I'll make sure it's something you can eat."

He smiled, "That sounds great. Good luck with everything and come by and visit me sometime."

"Oh I'll definitely be back." I said as I hopped off the stool.

As I started to walk out of the door but spotted a donation box by the door. It was for the cancer society. I reached into my wallet and put twenty dollars into the box before walking out.

I was glad it was a bit of a walk back to my place. I felt so stuffed. I had eaten everything on my plate, which was a rarity for me.

I unlocked the front door and stepped into my soon-to-be bakery. I walked to the phone and hooked it up. It only took a few minutes. I had remembered installing a new home phone with my dad. And everything was already ready for it to go.

Once I hooked it up, I turned it on and waited for the dial tone. I was glad when it came on. I needed to make some calls.

I first called the place for the stove and ordered an industrial oven and a stove. The lady over the phone had said that for a bakery, I really needed a double convection oven for big batches of sweets. She gave me a deal with the added stove. It was one that had been sent back, but it was like brand new and hardly used. It ended up costing me close to 6,000 dollars, which was fine.

Afterwards, I ordered four display cases to go out front. That cost me around 8,000. Again, it was fine, I still had a lot left over to finish everything. Once I ordered the essential things I needed, I also ordered an industrial sized menu, which was around 4,000 itself. Next I got a specialty fryer for donuts and funnel cakes, which gave me a bunch of ideas. That was surprisingly the lowest, only costing me four hundred. I also ended up getting a beverage fridge to go out front. That was an impulse buy, but I figured if I had beverages, people would buy drinks too. And I bought a cash register with a card reader. An essential I had forgotten about until now.

Once my little shopping spree was over, and I spent probably close to 20,000, I put the phone down. I knew there was other stuff I needed to order, like cooking utensils, takeaway boxes, and ingredients, but I figured once I got closer to the opening I'd order the rest of the stuff.

As soon as I finished making a bunch of phone calls, Billy and Jakes walked in, holding a bunch of stuff.

"Hey guys," I smiled.

"Hey Bella," He said, "The store was a little slow, so we decided to come on by and get this done."

"No that's perfect I was about to paint the walls again."

Jake set the stuff down, "Can I help paint?"

"If you want, I don't mind." I said.

Billy shrugged, "That's fine Jake, just bring the stuff over here. Your bathroom is through there?" He pointed at the white door.

"Yep, just through there. I haven't gotten the chance to clean it, so don't judge me."

He laughed, "Oh don't worry about it."

He walked into the bathroom as Jake and I pulled the big buckets of paint out and set everything up. He was a pretty good helper, he just painted and hummed to himself. It was pretty cute.

It only took Billy about a half an hour to retile the bathroom. It wasn't very big, just a sink and a toilet. I looked at the floor and smiled.

"Thank you so much for doing this. I really appreciate it." I said.

He nodded and wiped his brow, "No problem. You ready to go Jake?"

"Can I stay and help? Please?" Jake asked.

"I don't mind," I said, "I have to run by the grocery store soon, that's beside your shop right? I can walk him back, if you don't mind."

"As long as you don't mind. I'll be at the store. Be good Jake."

"I will," he said.

"So, Jake what day is your birthday next month?" I asked.

"It's on the fourth." He said.

"Well, that'll be around the time I open. You'll be my first special cake order," I said, "We should have a chocolate cake tasting, so I can figure out which kind of chocolate is your favorite."

"There's other kinds of chocolate?" He asked.

"Yep. There's dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate. And a ton of mix ins. Ice cream, candy, caramel, hot fudge, fruit. The possibilities are endless." I laughed.

"You really like cake," He chuckled.

"I love baking. It's my favorite thing in the world." I said, "It's so relaxing. And honestly, it helped me get through so much. In my old town, I used to bake for everyone."

"Why did you move?" He asked.

"I just needed to get away from it. My parents both died and everywhere I went reminded me of them. So, I wanted a change and I figured pursuing my dream of opening up a successful bakery would be my start."

"Your parents died? Mine did too." He said.

"It sucks," I said, "I'm sorry that you lost your parents."

He shrugged, "I don't really remember it too much. But my grandpa is great. We always have fun. And he says he's going to give me the hardware store when I'm older."

"Well that's great." I tossed the paint roller into the bucket, "I think that about does it. Are you ready to head back?"

"Yep." He tossed his own paint roller into the bucket and grabbed the stuff he and his grandfather had walked over.

His grandfather's shop was down the street. I got to see some of the other buildings that were on this street. And luckily, he was right between the grocery store and the consignment store. I was eager to go into both.

Billy was standing in front of the counter, talking to the man I had met this morning, Jenks. They were whispering about something but then stopped when Jake and I walked in.

"Hey guys," Billy said, "All finished?"

"Yep, I'm done painting." I said, "Next I tackle the bathroom. I think I'm going to paint it another color though."

"I have some used paint cans that still have plenty of paint in them. Enough for your bathroom. I can give them to you. They're just taking up space in the back."

"Sure, that'd be great." I smiled.

He brought out three different colored paints. One was white, the other an obnoxious yellow, and the last a pretty blue. I choose the blue.

"Thank you Billy," I said before turning to Jenks, "Nice to see you again Jenks."

"You too Bella," He nodded at Billy, "I'll see you later."

"I'll be over tomorrow around one to set up the fryer."

"Thanks again." Jenks said before walking out.

"I should get going too. It's getting late and I need to go grocery shopping." I said as I picked up the paint can and walked out of the door.

I walked next door to the grocery store. It was called Bloor's Pantry, which I thought was pretty cute. I walked in and was actually surprised by how lovely and quaint the store was.

It was small, but it sorts of reminded me of a French restaurant. There were baskets of fresh bread, rows of beautiful looking vegetables and fruit, a big flower stand. I absolutely loved it.

"Hello, welcome to the Pantry." A middle aged woman with dark curly hair said from behind the counter, "Just shout if you need something."

I smiled at her and picked up a basket in the front. There was a tall man in the back restocking cans. He looked over at me and smiled.

I couldn't help but grab a lot of stuff. I knew dragging the stuff home was going to suck, but all the food looked so delicious, I just couldn't help myself. My basket was stuffed by the time I got to the counter.

Chelsea smiled, "Did you find everything?"

I nodded, "I did. Your shop is very lovely."

"Well thank you. My parents opened it about forty years ago when they immigrated here from France and my husband and I run it now." She nodded towards the man who had been stocking food.

"That's pretty cool. I just bought the old building at the end of the street."

"No kidding," She said as she rung me up, "Are you opening a business?"

I nodded, "I'm opening a bakery."

"Goodness that sounds so amazing," She looked towards her husband, "Afton, she bought that old building on the end of street. She's opening a bakery."

He walked from the back, "Really? That would be nice."

I smiled, "Yeah, I love to bake, and I figured I'd go ahead and open a bakery. My name's Bella, by the way."

"It's nice to meet you Bella," Chelsea said, "So, when are you planning on opening? We have an order for a cake we'd love to place."

"I'm hoping to open in three weeks. I need to get everything in order first, but my goal is three weeks from now."

She looked at Afton and smiled, "That's perfect. My sister-in-law is planning a gender reveal party for us. She needs the name of a bakery."

"I'd be happy to make you guys a cake for it. When I open you can just come on by and I can show you my cake book."

"That would be great. We'd like for the inside of the cake to reveal the gender."

"Oh, that sounds fun. I've never made a gender reveal cake." I grabbed my several bags of groceries and lifted them off the counter, "I will most likely be back. Everything looks so amazing here."

"You're always welcome," She said, "And since you live on Bloor street, you get a twenty percent discount on your total."

"Wow, that's amazing. Thank you so much." I smiled.

She smiled and waved as I left the store. Everyone around here is so nice. I can't believe how nice everyone is. I mean, in Forks, everyone was pretty decent, but here, it was almost surreal how nice and close-knit everyone was.

I eyed the consignment store as I passed it, but I knew I couldn't go into it today. There was a little table on display in front of the window that was only forty dollars. I'd definitely have to come back for that because it was perfect for my little apartment.

I was winded by the time I got to my apartment. I would have to get something to transfer my groceries home easier, that was a workout.

I put all the groceries away except for the ingredients I was planning on using for dinner tonight. I decided to just go with spaghetti. That was easy and I loved spaghetti.

It only took me a half hour to finished the spaghetti. I made my plate and sat on the edge of my bed. It was kind of lonely, eating by myself. I stopped myself before I thought of anything else.