Chapter 2 - Bread and Billion-Dollar EmpiresThe first ten minutes were wonderfully grounding. Ethan ordered coffee while Victoria kept her wine. Daniel had described Ethan as just a local baker running Proof Bakery on Morrison Street.
"Do you enjoy it?" Victoria asked, cutting through the awkward small talk.
"Yeah," Ethan replied honestly. "Margins in food are brutal. I have two employees, and I can't pay them what they deserve. But baking requires patience. You put something together, then you wait. You can't force it to become what it's supposed to be faster than it can. I needed to learn that."
Victoria’s posture softened. "Most people say they enjoy things when they mean they’ve made peace with them. You sound like you actually mean it."
Ethan smiled, telling her about his six-year-old daughter, Sophie, who had demanded homemade croissants after seeing them in a cartoon, leading him down a four-month rabbit hole of learning laminated dough—only for her to eat two and ask for cereal. Victoria laughed, a genuine, unscripted laugh that surprised even herself.
By the time their main courses arrived, the apology had blossomed into an effortless conversation. Victoria carefully revealed pieces of her corporate life at Sinclair Capital. Men usually reacted to her scale with fragile ego or shallow flattery, but Ethan listened with quiet respect.
"That's a lot of families depending on your decisions," Ethan noted thoughtfully.
"It is," she admitted. "At scale, it becomes abstract. Knowing how to keep it human is the real challenge."
When the bill arrived, Ethan reached for it without hesitation. Victoria caught his arm gently. "It’s on my tab, Ethan."
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"No," Ethan insisted softly, meeting her eyes. "Daniel made the mess, but I sat at the table. Let me get this."
As they stepped out into the damp night air, Ethan opened his umbrella, holding it squarely over Victoria while letting his own shoulder get soaked. Standing by her sleek town car, Victoria looked at the lopsided daisies in her hand and realized it was the best date she had ever been on.
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