The Perkins family owned the largest chain of convenience stores in the Midwest. They’d been in business with the Lancasters, carrying Hot Cakes products, since Gordon had taken over from his father about the time Whitney’s father, Eric, had taken over Hot Cakes from his father.
She had to convince Gordon that everything would be fine. That new didn’t mean bad, that change didn’t mean that quality would go down or prices would go up or that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy a good relationship with the new owners. He was already frustrated that there were four men to contend with instead of one. And that none of the four particularly liked to golf.
Grant and Aiden had decided she should lead the meeting since Gordon knew her. They would be there too, to meet him and his team and to reassure them that everything was going to be even better going forward. But she had to be there. She was a Lancaster. Gordon would not be as friendly with anyone else.
She supposed that meant Didi would be coming with her to the meeting.
On one hand, that could be amazing. Didi was, after all, the founder of Hot Cakes. The original Lancaster behind it all.
As long as she was having a good day and didn’t start telling Gordon about cat yoga or Magnum, P.I. or her kicking ass at Warriors of Easton or anything else that would make Gordon question the validity of the other things she might say about how well the company was doing.
“Didi!” Cam called up the stairs. “Come on!”
Didi turned and started out of the room.
“Wait!” Whitney went to follow her, but tripped on the bottom of the sheet. She yanked on it, gathering it up above her feet, wadding it in her hands and ran after Didi.
Cam was standing at the bottom of the staircase texting and Didi was a third of the way down.
“She can’t go with you.”
He looked up from his phone. “Why not?”
“To the hospital? Where your family is with your mother?” Whitney shook her head. “No, she can stay with me.”
“Do you want to come later?” Cam asked Didi as she got to the bottom. “You’re all dressed up like you were coming now.”
“Oh, I’m coming now. I told Henry I’d be right there.” She held up her purse. “I have books.”
Whitney couldn’t help but smile at that. She would guess Alice in Wonderland was in there. And that was a great choice. It would maybe help keep Henry’s mind off of what was going on with his mom. It would also be comforting to Didi.
Cam nodded at Didi as if that made perfect sense. He looked up at Whitney. “She can come with me now since she’s ready. I need to get right over there.”
Whitney wasn’t going to argue with him. He was right that he needed to get there as soon as possible and Didi was already crossing the foyer to the front door. “Okay. Is… what’s going on?”
“They think a heart attack.” His voice was thick. “They’re doing tests now. I talked to Aiden. He and Zoe are there.”
“Oh, good.” That did make her feel better. Aiden was a natural leader. He’d take charge and make sure they got the answers they needed.
Except… this was his mother too. Not biologically, but he was a part of the McCaffery family. He wasn’t just there supporting his fiancé and best friend. He was probably scared to death too.
“So…” Cam glanced at the front door.
“Go,” she said quickly. “Of course. Go. Let me know what’s going on when you can. And if you need me to come get Didi.”
“I—” He frowned. Then nodded. “Okay.”
She watched them leave. The door shutting behind them made her heart ache. She wanted to be there for him. With him. She wanted to go to the hospital and sit and hold his hand. She wanted to… help.
But Cam would be the helpful one. He was the one that took care of everyone. He’d take care of their dad and Henry and Zoe and… Didi.
And he’d have help taking care of Zoe. Aiden was there. He and Cam could support each other. The way brothers would.
Then she realized that Grant and Josie would be there too. Josie had been close to Zoe their entire lives. She’d be scared about Maggie and would want to be there. Which meant Grant would be there to support her. And Cam, who was one of his best friends and like a brother.
Jane and Dax would be there too. Jane was close to the McCafferys and Dax would want to support her and Cam.
Yes, Cam had plenty of people around him for support and help. He didn’t need her. Especially when she would be no help there. She had no experience with this. Her grandfather had died of a massive stroke. He’d been there one minute and gone the next. There had been no medical testing or procedures, or hospital stays. If there had been, her family wouldn’t have looked to her for coordinating anything anyway. She knew nothing about heart attacks and procedures and tests for that. She’d be no help there at all.
But staring at the front door, she realized that there was something she could do. She would be helpful at Hot Cakes.
She could run this meeting with Gordon Perkins for the company.
That was what she could contribute. She could manage things at Hot Cakes while they were all out of the office and focusing on Maggie.
She could reassure Gordon that everything was fine and that he not only wanted to continue working with them, but that he wanted to be the first to introduce the new snack bar to the public in his stores. He’d want to put up huge displays in all his stores and do big promotions and really push this out to the public.
That was exactly what Hot Cakes needed as the next step with this new product. A big partner in their public launch. Gordon Perkins would be perfect.
Whitney could make this happen. For her bosses.
For her friends.
* * *
Three hours later, Whitney strode into the executive office suites of Hot Cakes in a bright, cherry red pencil skirt. The red color was out of the ordinary for her. She’d ordered it online on a whim last week. She’d been waiting for the right moment to show it off to Cam.
Today was the right moment to wear it though. She was ready to be in charge. That was what the skirt said to her. That’s what mattered. She didn’t need to say that, or show it, to Cam.
The red heels made her happy as well. Rather than getting them for the extra inches they’d add, she’d gotten them because of the sassy straps and the big red bow on the toe. Those were also for her.
The crowning touch was the black blouse with white polka dots. She’d seen it on the webpage and immediately wanted it.
No, none of this was the red wiggle dress of Piper’s Whitney had tried on in her office the night Cam had said her tits looked amazing. But this was her. This made her feel confident, like she was bold and confident and stretching her wings.
Dammit, she liked the pencil skirts and how they made her look and feel.
Yes, she also liked the color red.
“Hang on. Ollie’s on his way.” Piper rose to her feet as Whitney approached. Then she stopped and looked Whitney up and down. “Wow. You look amazing.”
Whitney smiled. “Thanks.” Then she tipped her head. “Ollie’s coming?”
“He’s going into the meeting with you. We both are.”
“You… are?”
Piper smiled, but she looked like it was a bit of an effort. “Of course. We’re the only ones here, but we’re here for you while everyone else is at the hospital with Maggie.”
Whitney felt her heart squeeze hard in her chest. She’d been trying to concentrate on the meeting and not on what was happening in Dubuque.
Gordon Perkins, his son Matt, and his business partner, Stephen McDonald, were driving in. They were from Minneapolis but had been doing a tour of their stores throughout Minnesota and Iowa and were planning to go on into Indiana. They’d visited their Iowa stores, finishing with the six in Dubuque yesterday. They didn’t have a store in little Appleby but had been willing to stop by for this meeting while in the area. She had to focus here and make it worth their stop.
&nbs
p; “And everyone thought I needed help?” Whitney asked. Ollie and Piper both knew the basics about the new snack bar, of course, but the details that Gordon and his team would need would come from Grant and Aiden. Or Whitney.
“Oh, we’re purely moral support,” Piper said, shaking her head. “Mr. Perkins and his team should be here in about thirty minutes. I made coffee here and ran over to Cedarville for muffins since the bakery is closed this morning.”
Whitney took a deep breath. She hadn’t even thought about that. How had she not thought about that? Of course, Buttered Up hadn’t opened this morning. Zoe and Josie were both at the hospital. The main person who filled in when they couldn’t be there was Maggie.
She felt a pang in her heart. God, please let her be okay.
She focused on the bakery. Not only was that a problem for them business-wise—obviously they couldn’t make money if they didn’t sell anything today—though that was less of an issue with both Zoe and Josie being engaged to millionaires—but it was a problem for the waste of the food inside the bakery and, well, it was a problem for the town. Not a horrible, natural disaster type of problem, of course, but if there were a way to have the bakery open, it would be best for everyone.
She thought quickly. “Can you check with Paige?” she asked Piper. “Maybe she could go over and open the bakery. At least for a little bit?”
Paige also filled in once in a while for her sister and Zoe. She liked to add zucchini and carob chips and almond flour and other healthy things to the recipes which drove Zoe a little nuts, but Paige wouldn’t be baking today. She could just run the register.
Piper nodded. “Oh, that’s a good idea. I’m sure she would. It’s a little later than they usually open, but we could put something up on the town Facebook page and send out a text to the community list.”
Whitney frowned. “There’s a community text list?”
“Yeah, Drew told me about it. It’s for announcements like the school closing because of snow. Things like that. But they also use it for things like announcing retirement parties for people. Funeral services. Birth announcements.”
See, that was why small towns were so great. “Do you think this qualifies?” Whitney asked.
“I think everyone will want to know that Maggie is in the hospital and that the bakery is open so people can go support the McCafferys,” Piper said, already typing into her phone.
Whitney thought about that too. The McCafferys were beloved in Appleby. That was just a fact. Her family had feuded with them for half a century, but that didn’t mean the rest of the town didn’t realize how loving and sweet and generous they all were.
She sighed. Wow, things had really been messed up for a really long time. She was so grateful that Aiden had started breaking those walls down and that now she and Cam could maybe help further the healing.
“You know what?” Whitney said. “I’m good here. If Ollie stays and represents the new partners with Gordon Perkins and his team, I think we can handle this. Could you go help Paige at Buttered Up? Then I could come over and help after this meeting.”
“You would help at Buttered Up?” Piper asked.
She nodded. “I actually did once before. When Aiden proposed to Zoe and swept her off her feet, literally, I got behind the counter and waited on customers. It was a great way to show the town that things were changing between the two businesses.”
“And this is all about the two businesses?” Piper asked.
Whitney blew out a breath. “No. Not anymore. This is about me supporting the McCafferys. But there are only so many ways I can do that. I can be here and make this meeting successful and I can then go help at the bakery and make that work.”
Piper hesitated. She opened her mouth. Shut it again. Frowned. Then said, “You could also just… be there. At the hospital.”
Whitney shook her head. “There are plenty of people at the hospital. But if I’m not here, there’s no one who can do this meeting and if we don’t go to the bakery, there’s no one there.”
“But being there for people… it’s about being there, Whit,” Piper said. “You don’t always have to do stuff or be accomplishing things or working.”
Whitney felt a shiver of… something… go through her. She was pretty sure it was that she wanted to believe Piper. But that she didn’t quite.
Cam took care of her by taking things off her plate, making it so she didn’t have to worry. That’s what she was doing here. Or trying to do here. She wanted to take care of Cam.
“It’s a work in progress,” she finally said.
Piper nodded. “Okay. Well then, I can go to the bakery with Paige and Ollie will be in there with you and… when it’s over we can go from there.”
Whitney nodded and looked down at the files in her arms. This she knew. This she was comfortable with. This she could pull off.
Ollie joined her in the conference room a few minutes later. “’Mornin’,” he greeted. His smile was a lot less bright than usual.
She understood. “Morning.”
He took a chair as his phone chimed. He pulled it out and opened the message. Whitney felt her heart kick. Was it news about Maggie? How was she? How was everyone else?
“They found a blockage in three vessels,” Ollie read. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “She’s going in for surgery.”
Whitney felt her throat tighten and she forced herself to swallow.
“Dammit.” He laid his phone on the table and took a deep breath. “Poor Cam and Aiden.” He looked up. “And Zoe, of course. And Steve and Henry.”
Whitney nodded. She knew he hadn’t meant to leave the rest of the family out. But Cam and Aiden were two of his best friends. Of course they were in the front of his mind.
“Who’s—” She had to clear her throat and try again. “Who’s texting you?”
“Grant.”
Her air swooshed out. She’d hoped it was Cam. That would mean, in her mind anyway, that he was taking some control by relaying the information and keeping people informed. But of course it was Grant. He was the calm, cool one. Of course Cam wouldn’t be calm and cool right now.
She imagined him pacing the waiting room, growling at everyone, and snapping at staff when they couldn’t give him the answers he wanted right now. Then again, she could also picture him sitting with his arm around his dad or holding his sister’s hand or taking Didi and Henry to the cafeteria for brownies at 8 a.m. as a distraction.
She would really love to know for sure how he was and what he was doing.
“Has Cam said anything more to you?” Ollie asked, leaning forward. His eyes were tired. He looked worried. Very worried. And Ollie never looked worried.
She shook her head. “I haven’t heard from him.”
Ollie was clearly surprised by that. “Oh. I just assumed he’d be wanting to talk to you.”
Yeah. Well, he was surrounded by people who could support him and make him feel better. Who had been a part of his life over the past nine years and knew Maggie well and loved his mother as much as he did.
“He knew I was covering this meeting,” she said, lifting a shoulder. “Maybe he didn’t want to distract me.”
Or maybe he figured you wouldn’t want to be distracted.
The little voice that whispered through her mind surprised her. She wasn’t here because she wanted to have this meeting. Not exactly. She was here because she was trying to help her partners… well, her bosses. Her friends with something they couldn’t handle themselves right now.
But it was something she would have done in the past too. For different reasons. To prove herself. To take the chance to make a business contact without her bosses breathing down her neck. To further the business just to, well, further the business.
Her throat tightened again and she felt the backs of her eyes sting. She blinked rapidly.
Ollie’s phone dinged again and he looked at it. “Dax,” he said, swiping the message open. “They’re doing a bypass. Surgery could take four to fi
ve hours. And she won’t be awake for another two or three after that.” He shook his head. “This is going to be a long fucking day.”
Whitney agreed. And watching Ollie now made her chest ache. No doubt Dax and Grant looked much the same. Maybe worse. Their girls were worried and emotional too so they’d be supporting them as well as Cam. And then, of course, there were Cam and Aiden. Their mother was going into a major surgery. It would be hours before they knew how things were going to turn out.
Whitney had to blink again as her eyes stung and her throat got scratchy.
She didn’t know exactly what Cam was doing but he was at the hospital and surrounded by people who loved him, who would make him feel stronger by being there and would make sure he had whatever he needed.
She trusted that.
No matter how much it hurt to not be one of those people.
“Did Grant or Dax say—”
Her question was cut off by the conference room door opening.
She took a breath and forced a smile as Gordon, Matt, and Stephen came in. She glanced at Ollie as she stood. He was also smiling and pushing to his feet. But she knew him. Oliver Caprinelli was upset. He wasn’t the business meeting type in the first place and it was clear it was bothering him a lot to not be at the hospital with his friends.
“Good morning, Gordon,” she greeted, pulling her attention from Ollie.
“Hello, Whitney. Good to see you again,” the older Perkins greeted her with a handshake.
“Hello, Matt,” she said, turning to his son.
“Hi, Whitney.” Matt Perkins was good looking, charming, and sophisticated. And knew it. He gave her a grin and a glance that went from the top of her head to the flower on the toe of her shoe.
She ignored him. She turned to Stephen. “Mr. McDonald.”
Semi-Sweet On You: Hot Cakes Series Page 29