Cast of Characters

Mollie McGovern - female lead, 32. Owns and operates a bakery (Bliss) in downtown St. Paul in a renovated building. Size 14, feels bad about it, but not bad enough to do anything about it. Moved back 3 years ago to be near friends and family and to open the bakery. Medium height, green eyes, chocolatey brown hair. Divorced from Parker, 37. Arranged marriage of sorts, lasted 3 years.

Daniel Spicer - male lead. It Junior VP for large corporation with offices in Minneapolis. Recently engaged (see Gillian). Tall, 6'2", brown, almost black, hair, blue eyes. So nicely successful and still young (31). Loves fiancee, but still remembers one who got away. Just bought and moved into loft in neighborhood where bakery is.

Jules - 29, sister to Mollie. Tall and rail thin, tho no boobs. Hasn't found her calling in life, doesn't date great guys, but totally there for her sister. Only person who ever met Daniel in Mollie's current life.

Bakery - in newly renovated part of St. Paul. Warehouse space. Red brick walls, high ceilings. Lofts above the building. New and up and coming area. Mollie has gorgeous penthouse with views of river and of downtown.

Chapter 1

The morning rush is in full swing as Madie grabbed a tray of delectable chocolate croissants and sailed from the kitchen into the front of the bakery to refresh the case.  The smell of the croissants were reminding Madie that she hadn't eaten since she grabbed an odd shaped scone off a pan at 5 this morning.  She glanced at the clock and figured she had about 45 minutes before things slowed down and she could refuel.  She could hold on for 45 minutes.
 
She placed the pan of croissants on a nearby counter then bent over and slid open the case to grab the mostly empty pan of croissants when she heard a chuckle that had haunted her for 13 years.  She immediately froze, afraid of attracting any attention, until she realized that she was right in front of a glass bakery case and not in the woods, wearing camouflage.  Slowly, so as not to attract attention, she straightened up and turned to go back into the kitchen, refreshing the croissants not so important anymore.  Naturally, she clipped the edge of the croissant pan and it went tumbling down in a noisy clatter.  So much for not attracting attention!

She reached the door, and she couldn't help glancing at the line near the cash register.  There, staring right at her were the most incredible blue eyes, alight with recognition and shock.  Madie paused for a second, again not by choice but she couldn't get her legs to keep moving, just long enough to watch his beautiful lips, lips that she has fallen asleep remembering the feel of countless times, watch them move and then she heard him gasp "Madie, is that you?".

That's all it took for Madie to fly through the door, then the kitchen, to the door at the far end and straight through it.  From there she ran to the staircase and kept running until the reached the 4th floor and her door.  She rarely locked it, THANK GOD, and she threw it open and proceeded to bend over, gasping for air.  'I should probably work out more and eat less baked goods' she thought to herself, because what else could you do when the one you would never forget randomly showed up at your place of business one random Wednesday morning?

She started to take stock of the last few minutes and blushed.  Why did she decide that today had to be the day to wear her raggedy black-now-gray yoga pants? And how come she had wanted to mess around with the raspberry filling in the donuts, therefore getting it all over her sleeves and making her hands look red and rashy? Seriously, how hard was it to blow-dry her hair in the morning and make herself look a little attractive? Because, as her mother liked to say, you never know who is going to walk through the front door.

Granted, even her mother wouldn't have been able to guess it would be Daniel.  Oh my gracious, Daniel.  Daniel was in Minnesota.  Daniel was in her freaking bakery.  Not only was he in her bakery, but she had run away from him the first chance she got.  Well, at least that wasn't anything new for them.  Made had been running away from Daniel from the first day that they met...