Just Shy of Heaven
Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Chapter 3
Zander spent Sunday cleaning his apartment, baking up a storm, and taking care of Bearclaw. He did all of that so he wouldn’t have to think about his date with Tobias. Whenever he did start thinking about out, he broke out in a sweat and started shaking a little. It all still seemed like some sort of strange dream to him, except for the fact that he still had the napkin with the other man’s number written on it. He’d tucked it away in a carved wooden box on a shelf in his living room for safekeeping, but he kept opening the box to take a peek at it, just to make sure that it was still there. And it always was! He felt amazed every time he opened the lid and saw it resting on the velvet-lined bottom of the box like some precious treasure. Which it was.
He had trouble sleeping Sunday night, which meant that he felt horribly tired when he got up at four o’clock in the morning to go to work. That was the only hard part of being a baker - the hours. He felt like a zombie as he shuffled in the back door of the bakery a half an hour later and drowsily greeted his group of helpers, who had arrived before him and had already started several large batches of dough in the huge mixers that lined the walls of the kitchen.
Zander got to work right away, tying on an apron and starting in on making the various baked goods that they needed for later in the morning. These included various types of Danishes, coffee rings, donuts, muffins, scones, and every other kind of breakfast pastry imaginable. He worked quickly and efficiently, his slim hands shaping and kneading the dough dexterously. A good cup of strong coffee(brewed in the back since the front staff hadn’t yet arrived) helped to clear the fog of weariness from his brain, and he began to hum contentedly to himself as his helpers popped sheets of uncooked baked goods into the huge ovens around him.
He began to sweat in the heat of the kitchen, and streaks of flour ended up on his forehead and the end of his nose. But he reveled in the smell of the freshly-made things being pulled out of the ovens, as he imagined how happy people would be eating them. Zander loved his work. He seriously couldn’t imagine doing anything else with his life.
The front staff trailed in at six-thirty. They began to brew coffee in the huge urns out front, they turned on the espresso machine and started it percolating, and heated up water for people to make tea. They also filled the silver cream pitchers on the tables with real cream, real half-and-half, and real skim milk for those customers who didn’t want the calories of the rich cream. They also filled the glass shakers on the tables with very fine pure cane sugar and pure golden honey that could be dripped onto pastries or stirred into tea. At the same time, they came into the kitchen and began to ferry the luscious pastries and donuts out to the display cases in the front. They all greeted Zander, and he smiled in return as he continued with his work.
At seven o’clock on the dot, Anne turned the Closed sign to Open and unlocked the door. The first of their customers came streaming in for their morning coffee and food, yawning as they tried hard to wake up before heading to their own places of work. The place filled up rapidly, every table taken and people standing around at the counter as they drank their coffee or tea and ate their pastries and donuts.
Zander started when his wristwatch began to beep. He’d set it for seven-thirty on the dot, so that he’d take his coffee break right on time. He felt his stomach muscles flutter in nervousness and anticipation as he made his way to the front, his fingers tight around his coffee mug. His eyes scanned the shop, and for a moment he thought he was going to be disappointed. Then a familiar form materialized from the crowd, approaching the counter. Tobias saw him and smiled, an expression that made Zander’s tummy clench inside of him. Tobias lifted his hand and waved at Zander, before he turned away to give his order to Anne.
Zander felt his breathing falter. He watched Tobias as he greeted Anne and told her what he wanted. Silly of him, but he felt almost jealous of the way that Tobias talked to her, even though it was only him being polite like he normally was. Then Anne handed him his espresso and a cream cheese Danish, which he took with a smile and a word of thanks. He turned away from the counter, and Zander felt rather woeful as he waited for the Man in the Suit to leave.
But instead of departing as he normally did, Tobias turned and met Zander’s eyes again. He came over to the coffee urns and leaned over a little, and while he didn’t try to yell over the noise he did mouth to Zander: ‘Call me’, before he smiled and nodded and left the bakery. He gasped, his whole body flushing with heat(including his face, which was beet red), and his fingers spasmed on his coffee mug, sending it to the tile floor. He gasped again on shock when it broke, hurriedly kneeling down to pick up the pieces and glad that there hadn’t been a lot of liquid in it since he hadn’t yet refilled it.
A towel appeared, and Anne handed it to him. He gave her a grateful look as she leaned over. “You okay, Zander?” she asked.
He nodded silently. He was more than okay! He was, both literally and figuratively, in seventh heaven right now! Tobias had smiled at him, had nodded, had mouthed at Zander to call him…what more could a shy, virginal baker ask for?
The morning rush finally petered out, and Zander and his crew ate the breakfasts that one of them had gone and fetched from a diner nearby. Then they got to work on the cakes, pies, rolls, breads, and other baked goods that they’d sell during the rest of the day until the bakery closed at six o’clock. Zander finally finished up the last bit of frosting on a luscious Black Forest cake at twelve-thirty, and threw his flour-covered apron into the laundry bin before clocking out and leaving the bakery to go home for lunch. The good thing about having such an early shift was that he was done for the day when other people were just going on their lunch breaks, with many long hours at work ahead of them.
He pulled out his cell phone as he walked up to his apartment with several bags full of groceries draped over his arms. He stared at it hard, remembering Tobias mouthing that he should call him. He had already programmed the number into his phone…all he had to do was tap the screen and it would dial the number for him. His mouth went dry as he entered his apartment and set the bags on the countertop that separated the kitchen from the tiny living room.
With a shaking finger, Zander tapped the phone to call up his list of numbers. It was pretty short - just Tobias’s number, Jake’s number, and the numbers of his two sisters and his parents. He bit as his lip as he stared down at it, then he hit the number hurriedly and tried to fight off the urge to close the phone and hang up before it had even started ringing. He put it to his ear instead, closing his eyes as he struggled with the almost overwhelming urge to hang up and hide the phone under a couch cushion so he wouldn’t be tempted to try again.
The phone rang five times, then was picked up. “Hey, this is Toby,” he heard a familiar voice say.
He couldn’t say anything! Zander was frozen, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. He felt panic and horror overwhelm him. Silence on the other end, then Tobias said calmly: “From the heavy breathing, you’re either some kind of stalker or this is Zander. Is it you, Zander? At least try to say ‘yes’, okay? You can do it.”
His gentle, non-patronizing urging gave Zander the courage to croak: “Yes,” softly into the phone.
“Ah, great. I’m glad you called me. I wanted to ask you something about our date…do you happen to have a nice suit of any kind?”
Zander was so surprised by this question that he managed to speak normally for once. “No, I don’t,” he said. “Why?”
“Well, this place that I want to take you is pretty high-class, meaning that they require all their male customers to wear a suit coat and a tie. If you don’t have anything like that, then we’ll have to get you a suit to wear.”
Zander’s mouth quivered. “I-I don’t have enough money…” he began helplessly, feeling terrible.
“Hey, did I ask you about money? I’ll take care of it,” Tobias told him firmly.
“No!” he cried in horror. Zander already felt bad enough; it would be so much worse to feel like a beggar because Tobias had had to buy him a suit to wear on their date.
“Zander, calm down. I’m not going to buy you a suit, I’m going to rent you one. And you can pay me back what it costs to rent it. Okay?” Tobias said soothingly.
Zander just stood there on shock for a moment. Tobias understood! Tobias seemed to understand everything about him instinctively, without being told. “I-I…yes,” he breathed after a moment of pulling himself together. “That would be good.”
“Great. What time do you get off of work tomorrow? I could come and pick you up, and we’ll go to a rental shop. If that’s okay with you,” Tobias said.
“Twelve-thirty. I get off at twelve-thirty. And w-we could go,” Zander said. “After work, that is.”
“Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, and I’ll come pick you up tomorrow afternoon. We could eat lunch or something together while we’re at it. I can’t wait,” Tobias told him. “I’ll see you then, Zander.”
“Okay,” he choked, then the line went dead and he lowered the phone so that he could stare down at it dumbly. He was going shopping with Tobias tomorrow! And they were going to lunch! Hey, wasn’t that as sort of date too? Oh, God, he was going to have his first ever date tomorrow! What should he wear, should he get a haircut, oh God, oh God, oh, God…
He finally called Jake at work, needing to talk to someone about his utter nervousness where tomorrow was concerned. His friend listened at tentatively while he spilled out the whole story, then he laughed. “Wow, Zander, this dude is perfect for you,” he noted when Zander was finally done. “I mean, he doesn’t get annoyed when you panic and can’t even talk to him, and he’s persistent too. I like him already, even though I haven’t met him yet. You have to bring him over to meet me one of these days so I can shake his hand.”
“Then…You think it’s okay that we’re sort of going on a date together tomorrow?” Zander asked timidly.
“Zander, my son, I think it’s going to turn out to be the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Now don’t worry too much about this, or get so worked up that you freak out. Everything’s going to be fine. Just keep repeating that to yourself, okay? Everything is going to be fine.” Jake said patiently.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” Zander said softly.
“Right. Call me later if you’re still worked up, and find something to do to take your mind off of it right now. Bake something, that always helps. And congratulations, Zander. You might just have your first ever boyfriend.”
“Thanks, Jake,” he whispered, then hung up the phone. He meandered into the kitchen, determined to take Jake’s good advice and bake something to take his mind off of his worries and anxieties. Bearclaw meowed and jumped on the counter, and he stroked her striped back idly as he decided on a delicate and rather complex chocolate almond mousse. That was sure to take up all of his attention for awhile to come, which was always a good thing…
Chapter 4