Sugarcoated

by Erin Nicholas

  Not at all.

  Except for her friend being unhappy.

  That bothered her far more than thinking about the money the Lancasters had made over the years or Didi stealing Letty’s recipe. Yes, that had been a betrayal of their friendship. But it was her friendship with Jane that was Zoe’s concern now.

  She wanted her friend happy and fulfilled. She didn’t want Jane stressed and worried. She didn’t want Jane driving to another city for work. She didn’t want Jane losing sleep. She also loved seeing Jane getting a little feisty and more involved. Jane tried hard to keep work just work. She really did just want to go, do her job, and go home. There was nothing wrong with that. Zoe supported it fully, if that was how Jane would really be happy. But Zoe suspected having a bigger mission at work, something more to do when she was there than—as Jane put it—push buttons and pull levers, would make her even happier.

  Zoe’s phone dinged with a text just then.

  Very distracted by all her thoughts, she glanced down. It was Aiden.

  I’m going to be late again. I’m so sorry.

  As much as she wanted to see him, she didn’t mind. She knew she couldn’t leave Jane right now.

  It’s okay, she sent back. Jane needs more jar pie and wine anyway.

  I’m glad you’re able to provide for her. See you later.

  She sent him a heart emoji in return. Then she sat back, feeling strangely satisfied. She was happy to think it was her strawberry pie that made Jane feel better. Jane claimed it was even better in the jar. Zoe wasn’t so sure about that, but Jane wasn’t eating Strawberry Swirls from Hot Cakes, was she?

  But Zoe knew it was her and Josie, just being there for her, that was actually helping. And that mattered even more than baking the perfect cake or pie.

  Maybe Letty and Didi had screwed up. Didi shouldn’t have stolen from Letty, but maybe Letty should have talked it out. Listened. Realized that a true friend was more important than butter and sugar.

  Zoe couldn’t really judge all that, but she did know that if Jane wanted and needed Hot Cakes to be okay, then Zoe wanted Hot Cakes to be okay.

  “I, um, wanted to tell you I’ve heard everything you’ve said about Hot Cakes not being my competition and… I agree.”

  Zoe continued to cut heart shapes out of the rolled-out cookie dough, but she knew Aiden heard her.

  It was him, Phil, and George in the shop. Aiden hadn’t gotten home until late again last night, but Zoe was sound asleep by then anyway. She’d had more wine than she probably should have, and she’d been up talking to Jane and Josie until nearly eleven. But it had been worth it. Jane had decided she didn’t regret stomping into the office to talk to the new boss and that it was a good thing he saw her as feisty and willing to stand up for herself and the other employees.

  Of course, this morning, a little hungover, very tired, and pre-lemon-scone-sugar-rush, Jane had been less optimistic that being feisty was the right move. Zoe and Josie had given her a pep talk and a couple of extra scones to share with her new boss. They’d lifted the ban on employees buying from Buttered Up, so she didn’t even have to put Jane’s breakfast in a plain paper bag today. That had been nice.

  “You agree?”

  She lifted her head to find Aiden watching her from his usual seat by the window.

  “I do. We offer very different products, and what they do with their business doesn’t really affect mine either way.”

  He was up out of his chair and around the counter in a second. “I’m so happy to hear you say that.” He moved in close but didn’t touch her.

  She looked up at him. “Yeah. Well, I realized I do want Hot Cakes to succeed. Jane needs it to.”

  “So do a lot of other people,” he said.

  “Yeah. I know.” She went back to pressing the cookie cutter into the dough. “I hated you thinking I didn’t care about that. I’ve just been so conditioned to think of Hot Cakes as synonymous with the Lancasters that I don’t really think about the other regular people working there. What happened with Didi and Letty wasn’t their fault at all.”

  “It wasn’t really Whitney’s either,” Aiden said.

  Zoe looked up with a frown. “Now you want me to be best friends with Whitney?”

  He shrugged. “Not best friends. Maybe just not adversaries?”

  “Why do you care about that?” she asked. “Have you forgotten what she did to my brother?”

  Aiden gave a short laugh. “As if I could.”

  “It’s okay for me to not like her for that, isn’t it?” Zoe lifted the cookies onto a baking sheet with a spatula.

  “You have a lot in common, you know,” he said.

  Zoe looked up again. “What do you mean?”

  “She’s just trying to keep her family legacy alive too.”

  Zoe opened her mouth but then shut it and swallowed. Okay, he had a point. Another point. Dammit. Finally, she gave a little nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She picked up the huge cookie sheet and turned toward the kitchen.

  “Thank you.” His smile was wide and bright. “I’m so glad you’ve given this some thought, Zoe. That means a lot to me.”

  She cocked her head. That was a strange thing to say. “It means a lot to you? Why?”

  He seemed to realize what he’d said. His grin died. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  She set the cookie sheet back down. She didn’t like the way he’d said that. “Okay.” She felt nervous suddenly.

  The bell over the front door jingled, interrupting them. She sighed and looked over.

  It was Jane. Again. And she wasn’t alone. She had a Hispanic woman by the hand, clearly pulling the woman through the door behind her.

  “Jane?” Zoe asked. “Are you okay?”

  She didn’t look okay. She looked worried. Again.

  “Aiden, I need to talk to you,” Jane said, barely giving Zoe a glance.

  Aiden started around the counter, frowning. “Of course. What’s wrong?”

  George and Phil even put their papers down.

  “This is Maria,” Jane said, putting her arm around the other woman’s shoulders. “We work together.”

  “Hi, Maria,” Aiden said, offering his hand.

  The woman took it tentatively.

  Zoe wiped her hands on a towel and moved closer, still behind the counter, but near where they were standing just inside the door.

  “How can I help?” Aiden asked.

  Zoe felt warmth spread through her chest. He would help anyone who came to him. She hoped Maria felt as comforted by his confident presence as Zoe did.

  “Maria’s daughter was taken to Dubuque to the hospital last night,” Jane said when Maria looked at her. “They think she has meningitis.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Aiden said. “But I don’t understand how I can help with that.”

  “She came into work this morning even though her fourteen-year-old is in the hospital with a serious condition,” Jane said. “Because she’s out of sick and personal days, and she can’t afford to be docked pay or possibly even fired.”

  Aiden shook his head. “Oh, hell, you should absolutely go, Maria. Your daughter should be your only focus here.”

  “I told her she should just go and worry about the consequences later, but”—Jane looked at Maria again and gave her a little one-armed hug—“she doesn’t feel like she can, and I totally understand that. I’m a little more able to say that since I don’t have any direct dependents. I can’t really get fired either, but it’s a much bigger problem for Maria.”

  Aiden took a deep breath. “You need to go be with your daughter. You should never have to put work above your family.”

  “I can’t lose my job,” Maria said. “My husband’s paycheck isn’t enough. We have three kids. My older daughter is with my little one.”

  Jane nodded at Aiden. “Her oldest daughter is a junior in high school. She’s missing school today to be with her sister because her mom can’t be.” Jane sighed.
“Please tell us how to handle this. Do you know if there are employment laws or anything that could protect her job in this situation? I know I need to learn this stuff, but I thought coming to you would be faster than looking it up.”

  Aiden didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then he said, “I’m not sure, but I’ll make a couple of calls. But—” he said firmly, looking at Maria. “I can assure you that your job will be there tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Whenever you come back, when your daughter is healthy again. Don’t worry about that at all. In fact…” He turned on his heel and headed back to the table where his computer and phone were still sitting.

  “Aiden, what are you talking about?” Jane asked.

  “Just a second.” He rummaged in his computer bag and pulled out what looked like a checkbook. He bent over it, scribbling, then tore the top check off and brought it back to Maria. He handed it to her. “This should get you a couple of hotel rooms close to the hospital. If you need more, please let me know.”

  Jane and Maria looked at the check then at each other.

  “Oh, we can stay at the hospital. And they have a Ronald McDonald House,” Maria protested, handing the check back.

  Aiden held his hands up, refusing to take it back. “Leave those rooms for people who can’t afford the hotel.”

  Maria started to cry. Jane looked up at Aiden, her eyes wide. “Aiden, I didn’t mean for you to do that. We just need some coaching.”

  He let out a long breath. “No, you don’t. All you should have to say is, ‘I need time off because my daughter is sick,’” he told them.

  “Well, sure, that would be ideal, but that would require bosses that felt the way you do,” Jane said.

  Aiden nodded. “Good thing you have that now.”

  Jane lifted both eyebrows. “You think the new guys feel that way? How do you know?”

  “Because I’m one of them.”

  18

  There was total silence in the bakery. Total. For several long seconds.

  Then George set his coffee cup down on the table with a small clack. And Phil said, “About time you told them.”

  Aiden glanced over. “You knew?”

  “We’ve been here every day listening to you on the phone. We figured it out.” Phil looked at George. George nodded his agreement.

  Aiden pushed a hand through his hair. Well, okay, so Phil and George had known. But he was certain no one else had.

  Until now.

  “Wait, what?” Jane demanded.

  Aiden nodded. “I’m one of the new owners of Hot Cakes. Me and my partners from Chicago. The guy you met is Oliver. There’s also Dax, Grant, and”—he took a deep breath—

  “Cam.”

  “But…” Jane shook her head, frowning. “All the time you spent telling me how to talk to my new bosses…” She blinked several times. “You were one of them?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You were telling me how to talk to you about all this?”

  “Yes.”

  Jane opened her mouth. Then she looked at Maria. The other woman had tears tracking down her cheeks, and she was clutching the check to her chest like he’d just given her everything she’d ever dreamed of.

  People shouldn’t feel that way. People shouldn’t be so desperate that a one thousand dollar check made them look so amazed and grateful. Dammit. He was happy to give the money. Even if he hadn’t been Maria’s boss, he would have written her that check. But the idea that this woman now worked for him and had been terrified of asking for time off even though her daughter was sick made his gut clench. Yes, of course people needed to be at the factory on a regular basis to make the Hot Cakes products. That’s how it worked. People ran the factory. But that was the part that got to him. People ran the factory. And there were more important things in their lives, bigger things that would happen, things that made their lives worthwhile, that had nothing to do with the factory.

  “When were you going to tell us?” Jane finally asked softly, looking back to him.

  He swallowed. “Soon. I’ve been wanting to tell you all for a while. From the start. But…” He didn’t want to look at Zoe. She was going to be so angry and hurt. But she’d told him, just a few minutes ago, that she understood Hot Cakes was not her competitor and that she wanted it to succeed. Maybe she would see what he was doing as a good thing. Maybe she’d be fine…

  The sound of metal pans crashing together and then hitting the hard tile floor of the kitchen told him she was no longer at the bakery counter. And that she was not just fine.

  Jane grimaced. “Right. She wouldn’t have taken it well.”

  “No. And…” He was finally going to admit it out loud. “This is one game that isn’t going according to the playbook. At all.”

  “No TD on your first long pass of the game this time, huh?” Jane asked.

  “Not even close.”

  “Well, just be sure you’ve got your nut cup on when you walk into that kitchen.”

  Zoe’s best friend didn’t seem all that sympathetic really.

  Aiden sighed. “You want to coach me on this one?”

  Jane shook her head. “Not sure how. I think just… apologize?”

  “I’m not sorry for buying the factory and keeping it open.” He really wasn’t.

  In spite of the challenges he hadn’t expected and the stress of the last few days, he felt good about what he was doing. Hot Cakes needed him. He was going to do right by these people, and it was going to be damned fulfilling. Even if he didn’t make a lot of money and people were suspicious for a while, he wasn’t sorry about taking over Hot Cakes over. He needed to help Zoe see that.

  “Maybe don’t lead with that,” Jane said dryly. “Hear her out. Tell her you love her.” She shrugged. “Tell her that I, for one, am happy it’s you.” She paused. “Though you could have told us.”

  “I needed to have a handle on things. I needed to know what I was doing first.”

  “You needed to be sure it was going to be a win.”

  He frowned. “What’s that mean?”

  “It means that you’re very good at being a hero, and you aren’t very good at not being good at things. You and Zoe have that in common.”

  “Well, that’s—” He thought about it. Then sighed. “True.”

  Jane grinned. “You’re a good guy, Aiden. But you need to figure out that people will give you points for wanting to do the right thing and for trying even if you don’t get into the end zone every single time.”

  He nodded. “Thanks. I’ll try to remember that.”

  “Now, go make up with Zoe.”

  His heart squeezed. Dammit. This was not how he’d wanted her to find out. He had not wanted to hurt her. This had all gone so crazy so fast. He’d been about to tell her just before Jane and Maria had walked in. Hell, he’d been about to tell her a dozen times since he’d come home. But he just hadn’t made the words come out of his mouth.

  That was on him.

  He hadn’t told her because of the touchdown-big-hero thing. Jane and Josie were both right.

  “Thanks.” He focused on Maria. “Go to your daughter. And please keep Jane updated, so she can let us know how things are going.”

  Suddenly the woman threw herself at Aiden, squeezing him tightly around the waist. “Thank you so much.”

  It took Aiden a second to recover, but he put his arms around Maria and hugged her back.

  This was important. This was big. This was what his mom would have wanted him to do.

  Zoe needed to be okay with this. He really needed her to be okay with this.

  But he was going to have to go into that kitchen and talk to her about it.

  He really didn’t want to go into that kitchen.

  Maria released him, smiling up at him like he was her best friend.

  His chest tight, Aiden watched Maria and Jane until the bell jingled over the door as it shut behind them.

  Now… the kitchen.

  He stopped outside the swingi
ng door. “Zoe! I’m coming in!”

  He wasn’t sure that giving her a chance to pick up a sharp utensil was a great idea, but he didn’t think surprising her was a good call either.

  “Um… hey.” Josie peeked out the door.

  “How bad is it in there?”

  “Hope you still have good athletic reflexes.”

  “What?”

  Josie didn’t answer. She slid past him and headed toward the register, presumably to watch the front while he and Zoe did… whatever they were going to do.

  Fuck. He shoved his hand through his hair and then pushed the door open. He didn’t see her at first.

  “Zoe?”

  She didn’t answer, so he stepped the rest of the way into the kitchen.

  He ducked as a cake ball came whizzing past his ear.

  She was standing at the worktable, a tray of cake balls in front of her.

  “Zoe.”

  He wasn’t as quick the second time. The cake ball hit him right in the chest.

  He let the door swing shut behind him. “Come on. Let’s talk.”

  “Talk? Now you want to talk? Tell me all about Hot Cakes and everything?”

  “Yes.”

  The next cake ball hit him in the cheek. He sighed.

  “You could have been talking to me about this for days! Am I the last person to know about you and Hot Cakes?” she demanded.

  “No. Hardly anyone knows,” he said. “We’ve kept it quiet.”

  “Why?”

  She was glowering at him, a cake ball smashed in her hand.

  “Because…” He hadn’t wanted the McCafferys to find out.

  Shit. That was going to sound bad.

  “Why, Aiden?”

  Something in her tone told him she already knew.

  “I wanted to have a chance to break the news to you and your family myself.”

  “And when were you planning to do that?” she demanded. “You’ve had plenty of opportunities.”

  “Right after I told you I was in love with you.”

  That seemed to catch her off guard for a second. She blinked then frowned. But she shook her head. “That’s a terrible answer.”

  “Seriously?” he asked. “You don’t think it was important that I lead with the main reason I was back in town before telling you I’d bought Hot Cakes—the thing you hate most in the world?”