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morning to the other customers.
    Mrs. Dotson paid and grabbed her bag. Before she walked away, she leaned over the counter, her five gold necklaces swinging forward, and called, “Excuse me, sir, but I’d like to welcome you. I’m Frances Dotson.”
    Elijah poked his head around the archway, and Anna’s legs became cement. The entire line of customers shifted so they could see to whom Mrs. Dotson spoke. A lopsided grin tugged Elijah’s mouth up to the left, and he stepped out of the back, all broad shoulders and easy on the eyes. He held out his grizzly bear-size hand to Mrs. Dotson.
    “A real pleasure, ma’am,” he said, in a decidedly Southern accent. “I’m Elijah, but you can call me Eli. Anna can call me anything she wants.”
    Anna gripped the countertop. Mrs. Dotson cut her eyes over to Anna, but didn’t release Eli’s hand. “Is that so? I imagine Baron would object.”
    Eli winked at her and leaned forward conspiratorially. “What he doesn’t know won’t kill him, and Baron is on the Naughty List at the moment.”
    Anna wobbled and something sounding like “ This is very bad,” stumbled from her mouth. Eli stepped over to her and put his hand on her lower back. Her blood surged hot, and all the clean air was replaced by the smell of cooking sugar.
    “How did you end up working here, Eli?” Mrs. Dotson asked.
    Without removing his hand, he ushered Anna behind the cash register so she could help the next customer, and Eli stepped aside so he could speak with Mrs. Dotson.
    “Anna and I went to college together, The Culinary Institute of America in New York. Our culinary styles are nearly identical, but nobody can bake like Anna,” he said, smiling over at her. “And I’m passing through, so Anna’s letting me help her for a while. Hopefully a long while,” he added.
    Anna’s hand hovered over a Morning Glory muffin as she turned to look at Eli. She knew he was lying, but it sounded so natural, and even more than that, it sounded like he believed what he was saying. When the truth of that sunk in, her hands began to shake. If Eli was truly something she created last night, then he was like a newborn. He didn’t have a past, a family, a history at all . And yet, there he stood, telling Mrs. Dotson they’d gone to culinary school together. She had to get him away from the people. She had to hide him somewhere, anywhere , until she could figure out what to do with him.
    Anna bagged four muffins and handed them over to Mr. Jones. “Will that be all?” she asked. She reached out to grab Eli, but he slipped away and headed straight for the coffee urns in the corner behind the counter.
    “Better keep an eye on him,” Mr. Jones said to her when he handed her exact change.
    Anna watched Eli carry the first urn to the backroom, and he made sure to smile at her when he passed. “I’m sorry, what’s that?” she asked.
    Mr. Jones leaned toward her, and his readers slipped down his nose. “I said you better watch that one,” he repeated, pointing toward the backroom with an arthritic finger. “If he can charm old lady Dotson, then he’ll be charming all the ladies in town by the end of the week. That includes you,” Mr. Jones said with a playful smile.
    “Me?” Why did her voice sound like she was doing an impersonation of Minnie Mouse? “I have a boyfriend, Mr. Jones. You remember Baron.”
    Mr. Jones waved a dismissive hand and grabbed his bag. “Just the same. That one has his eyes on you.”
    The bakery door opened and brought in the smell of burning logs and charcoal on a grill. Anna’s eyes fell on Thomas Harper, the local college’s biology professor. He smiled at her before falling into the back of the line. Normally, Anna would have been pleased to see his familiar face, but today wasn’t one of those days. Thomas, Baron, and Jakob were all good friends, and Anna enjoyed their morning conversations, but Eli added a whole new dimension to everything. She could hear Eli moving