Buns for the Professor
Buns for the Professor
Samantha Kozy
Contents
Buns for the Professor
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
Thank you for reading!
Chapter 1
Sophia walked into Piekarz bakery with a nervous excitement. She loved the smell of rising yeast in all its forms, loved the regular customers who came in for the same paczki, a polish donut, every morning. Most days followed the same routine, she waved a good morning to her father, who was helping a customer through their choice of donuts and returned her wave with a nod and a warm smile.
Sophia's grandparents, Earl and Adelaide Piekarz, moved to America over sixty years ago and immediately opened the bakery their family had been running ever since. Somehow, to Sophia's dismay, they chose to settle down in Storrs, Connecticut, the kind of town you need to leave in order to do anything interesting. There was, however, the University of Connecticut in the next town over, Storrs. Sophia’s father and his siblings had all worked at the bakery growing up, but he was the one who took the family business over when her grandparents retired. Mostly retired, that is. They still come in once in a while to check on their “favorite child,” which they joked was the bakery itself and not their actual son, Richard, that ran it.
Sophia ducked behind the counter and into the backroom to start some of the day's cake orders. Most were already baked, she just had to decorate them, but there was a three-tier wedding cake she was not looking forward to. Oh, she loved her job and making art pieces out of her assignments, but wedding cakes could be a nightmare. She'd had enough bad experiences with overly particular brides or grooms to make the process a stressful one. But like any other day she put her headphones in and headed off to her corner of the kitchens she called the den of frosting.
The lunch time rush brought an influx of customers that was too much for her father to handle alone, so Sophia helped by getting each order ready while he manned the cash register. It was mid-August in this college town and with most of the students away for the summer they rarely had such an afternoon rush. As they got closer to the start of the school year, they noticed what could only be students and professors coming in more often and as the population on campus increased, so did business.
It was one of these customers that caught Sophia’s eye; she was more than happy to help her father just for the chance of seeing him. He was a tall, slim, gorgeous man with short curly black hair and permanent stubble on his chin and cheeks. He always wore a button-down shirt with the sleeves pushed up, exposing the tight muscles of his forearms he had caught Sophia eying more than once, and sometimes wore sunglasses that made him look like he stepped out of an aviator’s photoshoot.
Her only interaction with him had been in retrieving the pair of cinnamon rolls he asked for every time, but the smile he always gave her made her legs feel weak and his beautiful brown eyes locking onto her own sent a warmth through her body. Jeez, you know it’s been too long when a man's smile can do that to me, she thought to herself. But under the gaze of those eyes, she didn't think any woman in town would feel differently. The man became a regular, albeit a silent, and somehow still charming, one. Today, he came in later than usual, just as people were thinning out, and by the time he reached the counter, there was no more line and Rich took a break.
“Two cinnamon rolls?” Sophia asked as he approached.
His eyebrows rose almost imperceptibly, and he chuckled to himself, running a hand through his hair. “Am I really that predictable? I've only been here a few times, but the cute bakery girl already knows my order.”
The combination of his smile and that 'cute' comment put Sophia off guard, but she stammered a response, “Well you do order the same thing every time, makes it pretty easy.”
“I didn't realize you paid such close attention to me,” he said with an easy smile that made Sophia’s cheeks turn red.
“Oh, I don't! I mean, I can't help but notice people that stand out. Most of the customers that come in over the summer are middle aged and, often time, grumpy. We don't get many college students around this time,” she said, guessing that was what he was.
He laughed, “I'm messing with you, Sophia. Nothing wrong with being good at your job.”
Ok, well he didn't correct me so my guess must be right, she thought, but something he said made her pause. “Wait, you know my na-” He evidently knew what she was going to say and answered before she could finish by pointing a hand at her chest.
“Well yeah I just looked here,” which made Sophia suddenly conscious of how much cleavage she was showing. It wasn’t much, she wore a black polo t-shirt with Piekarz Bakery splayed across the chest. With none of the buttons done, the plunging neckline showed the crease between her breasts. She reached a hand up reflexively and gave her neckline a tug upward, but then he finished his sentence with, “at your nametag,” with a wicked smile that said he saw the assumption she was making. There was something behind his eyes however that said she wasn’t wrong to assume he’d been looking.
Sophia’s own eyes widened, and she worried she was making a fool of herself; my face must be darker than red velvet, get it together Soph!
“Oh right, of course!” she said, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice, and moved to get the man's order.
As she rolled the bag of cinnamon rolls closed, he spoke again, “I'm Adam by the way. I know your name, so it's only fair I tell you mine.”
“How chivalrous of you Adam,” he held his hands out in a gesture that said ‘of course’ and she continued, “what year are you in at Uconn?”
“Well, I'm in the third year of pursuing a PhD. The first couple years were at the Stamford campus so I'm new to the area. Wanted to try out all the cafés, bakeries, any place that serves food, really. Your buns are best by the way,” he said with a wink.
A smile blossomed on Sophia’s face, ok he’s definitely flirting with me, she thought but figured she would play it cool and replied without missing a beat, “Ooh well, smarty pants over here, don't let me get in the way of your research,” she held his bag out to him. As he grabbed it, his hand brushed over Sophia’s and lingered for just a moment but the warmth of his fingers brushing against her own sent similar heat through her chest.
“Oh I don’t know if that’s such a bad thing, you might be just the distraction I need,” he said in a deep, husky voice, and his smile only grew wider when she jerked her hand back and her face reddened. Satisfied, he turned and left, only saying, “See you next time, Sophia!” over his shoulder on the way out. She didn't have enough time to compose herself to answer before he walked out the door. Sophia took a deep breath and watched him walk down the street. That could be trouble. Here I am trying to go back to school and improve myself, I doubt I'll have much free time between working and studying, all I need is a guy coming in and messing it all up...But for that guy, maybe I'd make an exception.
Sophia spent most of her free t
ime these days on the couch eating snacks and streaming tv shows. Getting all her school supplies was easy enough, just some notebooks, pens and index cards. The worst part was the expensive textbooks but at least the school made them easy to find, so she prepared well in advance. Sophia even made a point of reading the first chapter in each book but studying any more than that could wait for later. She worried about losing all her free time to schoolwork so Sophia binged all she could in what she considered her last free month.
Chapter 2
A week after their first real interaction, Adam came into the bakery again. This time it was near closing and the shop was almost empty. Sophia was busy washing off the tables when he walked in. He didn't even bother pretending to be there for the food; instead he went straight for her. A wide grin on his face, he said, “They've got Cinderella doing all the dirty work, eh?”
Sophia replied in a sarcastic tone, “Somebody’s gotta clean up all your crumbs, Adam. If that makes me Cinderella, what does it make you?”
He grinned. “Whoever you want me to be, baby.” Butterflies. Even cheesy lines like that make me nervous these days? You must be desperate, Soph. So be it, just say something funny, guys love funny.
“I-in that case how about you be a janitor and help me clean the place up?” Ok maybe a little rude but that works, she thought. Adam apparently disagreed, he burst out laughing. He actually grabbed a mop and started washing the floor! Sophia stopped was she was doing and gaped at him.
“What? Isn't this what you wanted?”
“I didn't actually expect you to do it,” she stammered.
“Well, I'm full of surprises. How about I help you clean up and you can pay me with-”
“A couple cinnamon rolls?” she finished for him and he nodded. A weird offer, but she always had a hard time refusing an offer for help, so she agreed.
They worked together that way for a half hour before all was finished. Sophia’s father noticed the stranger helping her clean and gave her a confused look. She waved him off and pushed him back into the kitchens with assurances that she’d lock up for the night.
She kept looking up at Adam while they cleaned, but he stayed focused. Sophia pinched her arm, is this really happening right now? This random, perfect guy just walks into my life and starts mopping the damn floors.
When they finished and packed away all the cleaning supplies, Sophia grabbed a few extra cinnamon rolls for Adam and some snacks for herself. As she handed him his bag of baked goods she said, “I don't mean to kick you out, but it is time to close. All I gotta do is lock up and go home.”
“Well I won't stop you, but how about I walk you to your car, this place can be pretty dangerous at night.” Sophia knew that wasn't true, but couldn't bring herself to object.
They exchanged few words but dawdled, not wanting to leave. She would never have admitted it to Adam, but she did feel safer next to him. Comfortable in his companionship, whether or not they spoke. Along the way, Adam seemed distracted by the stars and even pointed out a couple planets.
When they got to her car he spoke up, “So, how do you feel about our first date?”
Sophia couldn't help but laugh, “Oh is that what it was?”
“Of course! There was an activity. I rarely suggest mopping floors on the first date but I'm willing to try new things. We had dinner, kind of, and even a starlit stroll to cap it all off. Sounds a lot like a date to me.”
She glared at him with narrow eyes, unsure how serious he was being. She brought a hand to her chin and thought about it. “I guess it’s not the worst first date I've been on,” she said.
“I can work with that. Now, the second date might not be great, but the relationship really turns itself around by date 6 or 7.”
Sophia laughed, “I have to wait that long?” She leaned her back against the car door and gazed up at Adam. The streetlights behind him created a yellow aura surrounding his body, Yep, he's an angel.
“Now that I think about it, there is one way to speed things up,” he said with a mischievous smirk.
“Oh yeah and what's th-” before she could finish her sentence, Adam leaned in and kissed her. The kiss didn't even cut her off, it was the shock of him leaning in that made her catch her breath. His lips pressed softly against her own and he wrapped an arm around her lower back. I didn't realize how badly I wanted this, she thought as she melted into him. The stars, the bakery, school, they were all gone and all that was left were their lips, if he hadn't been holding her up, Sophia was sure her legs would have given out.
She wanted him, and either there was dough rising in his pants or he wanted her too. Sophia pulled him closer and pressed herself against his leg, then pulled her face away and looked up at him, biting her lip. She didn't usually put out so soon, hell this wasn't even really a first date! But if this man was even half as perfect as he seemed, he'd be worth it. She reached down and rubbed her hands over his ribs, then grabbed his shirt and untucked it roughly.
Adam laughed and grabbed her wrists, “There'll be plenty of time for that later,” he said. When he finally pulled away, a touch reluctantly, Sophia blinked and had to rub her eyes to remind herself it was all real. When she opened them all she saw was Adam's confidant smile, he clearly knew of the effect he had on her. The smile faded a little, “I won't be able to come in next week, though. Classes are starting so I'll be too busy. Do you work next Saturday?” Sophia nodded. It was the most movement she could manage, the kiss left her paralyzed. Before turning to leave he leaned into her ear and said, “See if you can contain your excitement until then,” and with a wink he was off.
She squeaked out a breathless “You too!” and Adam left. Sophia got in her car and composed herself. This isn't middle school, Soph, don't let some boy you hardly know turn you into a puddle, even one that looks like a slender Greek god. Much as she tried to resist, Sophia couldn't help but admit it. She was falling for him.
Chapter 3
A couple days and many cake orders later, Sophia remembered that it was not another normal Monday. Her father peeked into the kitchen and came over when he noticed she was still there. Rich smiled and rubbed his hands together anxiously as he walked over. He tried to play down his excitement, but the excitement in his voice gave it away. “Ready for your big day, my little pastry?”
Sophia laughed, “I'll be a large pastry soon enough with all I've been eating here lately.”
He gave her a more serious look, acknowledging that she'd avoided his question, and then she continued, “But yes, I think I'm all set. Registered for classes, got my notebooks and pencils and calculator. I went through campus last week and found all my classes so if I get lost I only have myself to blame.”
Rich laughed a little and put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “I'm so proud of you. The best Paczki I ever made. I should have gone to school back when I had the chance, then I might really be rich,” he loved making that joke, grinned every time, “but I figured I'd been working here long enough that I knew all I needed. Then by the time I thought better of it we had you and I couldn't take the time away. Though I know you'll do better than I would have.”
“Are you sure you'll be alright here without me for a while?” She asked, hoping to get out of the more serious conversation.
He let out a short laugh. “Of course! I'm not as helpless as I look, don't forget I've been working here longer than you've been alive. Plus, I've got Maria and Carlos to pick up your slack.” He chuckled when Sophia gave him a worried look. “Don't you worry about us. Besides, what do you think we do on your days off?”
Sophia feigned like she was thinking for a moment, “Panic and throw dough at each other until some of it lands in an oven, by chance of course, and cooks into something edible?”
“Hah! Close enough but hey it's been working for this long so get out of here and let us work!”
Sophia cleaned herself up, packed her bag, and left, encouraging words from her father following her out the door. Leaves were just
beginning to change color as the last few days of August were winding down and school years were beginning across the country. Humidity was leaving the air and being replaced with the crisp scent of colder weather.
As she walked to her car and headed to the University of Connecticut for her first class in years, Sophia grew more anxious with every step. You always did well in school, she told herself, this is just more of the same. You'll be fine, just do your homework, study, ace the tests, and repeat. It's as simple as that. Though the thought calmed her mind, her body remained anxious. She had four classes and three of them she was sure would be easy enough. Introductory business classes and general electives, but she never realized how many of those electives, unrelated to her major, she'd have to take! I mean, Physics?! she thought, I don't think physics has much relevance to business management, especially when that business will be a bakery.
But whether or not she wanted to take the class, she needed a basic science and wanted to get it out of the way early. Physics was the only one that lined up with the rest of her schedule.
Sophia was able to calm herself down a bit during the walk to class by thinking of the lecture as watching a tv show. Just gotta sit there and pay attention. No pressure. For the first few weeks, that is, then there's a test. But even that was comparable to an important episode in a show. A season finale, a character death. If you hadn’t been paying attention, then the climax wouldn’t pay off, it wouldn’t make sense if you didn’t know why it should be important.
Besides, she wouldn’t need to participate or anything, just listen, take notes, and try to understand them. The TV show analogy got her distracted and thinking about a show she was currently watching, The Atavistic Cycle, which helped her relax even further.
Sophia found the physics building and her classroom easily enough. Since she got there early, she took an empty seat in the middle of the surprisingly large lecture hall and waited as it filled up. She quickly noticed how young the students looked and she felt old at the ripe age of 27. Sophia laughed at herself for feeling that way but couldn't help it, and she did so again when she noticed how almost all of them had laptops or tablets out on their desks instead of notebooks and pencils. A lot has changed, she thought.