Freedom to Surrender [Freedom, Colorado 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Melody Snow Monroe

  Tatum had questioned her when he could meet her folks. She knew both her mom and dad would grill him about when he planned to get married, and while Tatum seemed ready to settle down, she was still uncertain about Drex.

  For now, it was safer to leave the future alone.

  “Hey, Drex?” That was Hammer calling to him from the garage.

  He searched behind him to sure make no eyes were on them before quickly planting a kiss on her lips. “Later.”

  She sighed her contentment then shut down her computer before heading out. As she reached her car, her cell rang. It was Sharon, USave’s brilliant baker. She didn’t call often.

  “Hey, girl.”

  “I have good news and bad news. Want to catch a bite to eat while I pass something by you?”

  From her excited tone, Ashley couldn’t say no. “Sure. Where?” There were only a few options in Freedom.

  “How about Rocky Mountain Café?”

  “Perfect. I just walked out of work. I’ll head on over there now.”

  “Meet you there.” Then she hung up.

  It seemed wasteful to drive three blocks when it was a nice night, so she strolled toward the café. She couldn’t imagine what had Sharon so excited.

  Not surprisingly, Ashley arrived first and snagged a table near the window, her favorite spot to sit and people watch.

  Thelma, the owner, who was a real dear, rushed over. “Haven’t seen you in here in a while.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been kind of busy.”

  Thelma grinned. “Don’t tell me that garage mechanic and the deputy have been keeping your hands full. Or should I say your mouth full?”

  “Thelma Louise Andrews!” The woman had to be close to sixty. Ashley’s cheeks heated, though she should be used to having the whole town know her business by now. “Maybe.” That was about as noncommittal as she could be and still remain polite.

  Thelma grinned. “What can I get you, hon?”

  “I’m waiting for Sharon, but how about an unsweet tea?”

  “You got it.”

  Thelma spun on her rubber heels and disappeared behind the counter. Sharon plowed in less than three minutes later, spotted her, and rushed over.

  “Thanks for meeting me.”

  “Sit, and tell me all about it.”

  She took a big breath. “I don’t know if I mentioned that my grandma lives up in Casper.”

  Ashley shook her head. “I don’t remember if you did.”

  She waved a hand as if it didn’t matter. “My family never was real good about visiting, but when I found out my grandma had cancer, I would visit her when I could. It’s a long drive, and Nana appreciated whenever I took the time to come up.” She leaned closer as if to impart a secret. “My mom and she never did get along.” She inhaled again. “Long story short, Nana passed away a month ago. Today I got a check in the mail for twenty-five thousand dollars.”

  “Holy shit. What are you going to do?” It wasn’t enough to quit her job, but it would help in case anything happened.

  “Well, you know how much I love to bake.”

  “That I do.”

  “And you’ve talked about opening your own bakery forever.”

  Ashley wasn’t sure where she was headed with this, but before she could ask, Thelma came by with her unsweet tea and a Coke for Sharon. Apparently, she was a regular.

  “You both need a minute?”

  “Yes,” they said in unison.

  They sipped their drink as if they needed the fortification. “Here’s what I was thinking,” Sharon continued. “I love to bake and can make a mean pie. Not as good as your apple pie, mind you, but ever since the fair, I’ve had a steady stream of requests.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I’m not surprised. Here’s the bottom line. What do you say we brainstorm how the two of us could go into business together to open our own bakery in town?”

  Her heart beat so fast she wasn’t sure she could think straight. “You’re asking me?” Her mind swirled with the possibilities.

  “Why not? You’re good with numbers and stuff, and I’m totally business challenged. I’d be willing to put up the twenty-five thousand for your expertise. Naturally, I’ll bake right alongside you. What do you say?”

  “Wow. I’m speechless. I thought someday I’d be doing this but not this soon.”

  Sharon’s shoulders slumped. “Bad timing?” The corners of her lips turned down.

  “Not really. I mean, I have a job.”

  Sharon grabbed her glass with both hands. “Me, too, so here’s what I was thinking. We could open on the weekends only.” She leaned back and a small smile came to her face. “Here’s my vision. We have a place similar to Starbucks, only we have pies. They only have a couple of different cookies and pastries anyway. We’d have free Wi-Fi too, lots of tables and sofas that we could get from the secondhand store, so it would look bohemian.”

  Her mind began to spin. “That’s so cool. Because it’s different, we wouldn’t really compete with Starbucks.” She held up a finger. “And we could offer exotic teas and fresh milk to go with the pies.”

  “And ice cream.” Sharon clapped her hands together and grinned. “One of us could be helping the customers while the other might be baking in the back. We could cater, too.”

  “This sounds so fantastic.” Except when she was with her men, she hadn’t had this kind of rush.

  Sharon sipped her drink. “What’s our first step?”

  Now she wished she’d take more business classes. Her mind shot to Drex. He’d brought a small parts store national and might be willing to offer advice. Anything more than verbal help, and she wouldn’t accept it. “We need to look at our start-up costs.”

  “Shouldn’t we see if we can find a prime location first? I have no idea what storefronts are going for these days.”

  That would be part of the ongoing cost. “Sure.” Ashley giggled. “Let’s eat and then wander the streets.” Vacancies were always popping up in town, but she didn’t know which ones, if any, could easily be retrofitted to handle a large kitchen. Ovens drew a lot of power.

  When they finished their meal, they walked around the town, starting in the center and working their way outward. “We need to decide on the limits of our search,” Ashley said after twenty minutes. “When we open full-time, we want people to stop in after lunch and maybe after dinner, so we should keep it to the four-by-three-block radius of the town.” There wasn’t much outside that area anyway.

  “I agree.”

  Ashley pulled out her phone, ready to take down the addresses of the places for rent. To her surprise, there were only two that looked like potentials.

  “I say we stay away from the block Starbucks is on,” Sharon said.

  “That’s actually the perfect place. It’s like the concept behind the food courts in malls.”

  “I never understood that.”

  She hadn’t either until she’d read about it in school. “If a group of people don’t know what they want, they head to an area and then decide.”

  “I’ve gone to Starbucks a few times and couldn’t find a seat.”

  “If we were nearby, the overflow would come to us.” Ashley smiled. “I think the storefront on Madison and Clark is perfect because it’s next to Crispy’s Pizza, across from the High View Bar and Grill, and behind Starbucks.”

  Sharon clapped. “Do you want to call or should I?”

  “I’ll call.” There wasn’t a For Lease sign in the window anymore. “I hope it’s not rented already. I swore the sign was in the window just last week.” She placed her face to the glass and looked inside the dark room trying to see some evidence of renovations. “Looks the same.” Ashley stepped back to find the address. “I’ll give Sheriff Braxson a shout. He’ll know if Ralph Templeton still owns the place.” Nothing seemed to escape Brady’s attention. She didn’t want to call Templeton until she knew he still had possession of it.

  “Sounds good. Tomorrow, as soon as I get
out of work, I’ll shop for appliances and stuff so we have a starting point for how much the ovens cost.”

  Ashley couldn’t believe how quickly things were coming together. “After I find out the rent from the owner, we’ll discuss our budget.”

  They walked back to the USave parking lot where Sharon had parked her car and they hugged. “I can’t wait until we actually get started,” her friend said.

  “Me, too.” Ashley rushed the block and a half to her car. By the time she arrived, the shop was dark inside. That was too bad, as she wanted to tell Drex her good news.

  Compared to when she’d left work, her energy level had tripled. It was a good thing because she had a few pies to bake. She climbed in the front seat and pumped her fist. She really was going to have her own bakery.

  By the time she got home, changed, prepared the pies, and finished baking them, it was close to one in the morning, but she didn’t mind. Her eyelids had needed toothpicks to keep them open until the pies were done, but this time it felt as if she was one pie closer to her dream.

  As she headed into the bedroom, she realized she should turn down a few people, explaining that she needed to spend time to start her business.

  The next morning, she snuck into work almost ten minutes late. Uh-oh. Carl was at her desk filling out information in his little black book. Guess he noticed she wasn’t on time.

  “Hey, Carl.” She tried to sound as upbeat as possible, as she nodded to his work. “You know I’m always willing to show you how to enter the customer information directly into the computer.”

  Thankfully, he looked up and smiled. “That’s why I hired you.”

  His eyes looked so hopeful. She wanted to say she might not be in his employ for much longer, but because she hadn’t even found a place to rent for her bakery, she’d leave that conversation for another time.

  “That you did.”

  He scooted back and limped into the garage. His face seemed a bit more drawn than usual this morning, which saddened her, but she didn’t feel right asking him why.

  As she sat in her chair, she glanced through the window to catch sight of Drex. She was dying to tell him about what had transpired but wanted to tell both him and Tatum at the same time. She’d debated calling the men last night, but since she had so much work to do, if she got on the phone, she might not have had time to bake the dang things.

  An idea struck. Only once since she’d started working at the garage had the three of them taken a lunch hour together. Before she asked Drex if he’d be willing to go out to eat, she called Tatum.

  He picked up on the second ring. “This is a surprise.” From the echo and road noise, he was in his car.

  “Well, I have good news, and I wanted to share it with you and Drex in person. I was wondering if you’d be free to meet me for lunch?”

  “What is it? I know you can’t be pregnant.”

  Her heart nearly stopped. Would that have been good news? She hoped they were at that stage in their relationship to discuss making it permanent, but she wasn’t one to push the issue—at least not yet. “No. Though I’m surprised one of those condoms hasn’t burst. They don’t make them big enough for you two.”

  He cracked up. “You think I should double bag it the next time?”

  She loved when he was silly. “Funny. So are you free?”

  “Sure. Where and when?”

  The Rocky Mountain Café was always so crowded at lunch. “How about Crispy’s Pizza at eleven thirty?”

  “That’ll give me enough time to check out a call I just received and have time to drive back.” A static-filled voice sounded over his car radio. “Gotta take this, angel.”

  “Call if you can’t make it.”

  “Will do.”

  There was always a chance that Tatum would be called away to do another job. Now she had to see if Drex could stop in the middle of what he was working on and join them for lunch. She stepped into the warm garage and found him on his back on the driver’s side seat of a truck. She gently nudged his foot.

  “Hey, handsome,” she said with a big grin.

  “That my sweet darlin’?”

  “Shh.” Even though half the town seemed to know they were together, so far neither Hammer nor George had given them grief over it. Carl, she was pretty sure, knew.

  He sat up. “What can I do for you?”

  She loved the shine in his eyes. “I have a big surprise, and I wanted to share it with you and Tatum.” She rushed on before he could ask what it was. “I’m meeting Tatum at eleven thirty at Crispy’s. Can you join us?”

  “Does an engine run better with synthetic oil than regular?”

  She had to think about that for a moment. “That mean a yes?”

  He tapped his head. “Yes.” He ran his gaze along her body, heating her up. “Now if you’d stop looking so damned sexy, I can get back to work and be ready to escort you out of here in a couple of hours.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She saluted then slipped back into the office, trying to keep her mind on work until their lunch date. After she managed to log in all the data, she spent the remaining few minutes creating a spreadsheet that would list her start-up costs. She didn’t have an issue with asking Drex to look over her finished business plan and give her suggestions, but she didn’t want him to draw one up for her. If Carl had been a bit more business savvy, she would have asked him for his guidance. She drew the line at asking Drex or her dad for financial help.

  One of her father’s best friends was Clay Harper, the owner of the appliance store in town. Though tempting, she decided not to ask her father to speak with him, even though she bet she could get a discount. If he used his connections, she wouldn’t be doing the venture on her own. Some might say working with Sharon implied she wasn’t doing this on her own, but she’d have to disagree, as they were equal partners.

  The knock on her door a few hours later startled her. It was Drex. “I thought you’d have been bugging me to go.”

  She jumped up. “I was lost in thought.”

  He moved toward her. “This must be some surprise.”

  When he closed the gap between them and leaned forward, she held up her hands. “Ham-mer.” She nodded behind him. The man was looking right at them.

  “Shit. Maybe we should just strip naked and do it in front of everyone. I’m tired of keeping our relationship a secret.”

  She laughed, but the word relationship hit her heart hard. Soon, she’d have to talk with them both. Pushing aside that thought, Ashley plastered on a smile and forced her mind to embrace her new venture. The image of her bakery surfaced and boosted her spirits. “Keep dreaming, big boy. Let me get my purse.” She lifted her bag from her desk drawer. “Let’s go find Tatum.”

  They walked the block and a half to the restaurant. When they entered, Tatum waved. He already had their drinks ordered.

  She wanted to plant a big kiss on him, but that might not be kosher for the deputy to be seen smooching in public, especially since the place was packed with schoolchildren. When the kids headed back to school, the adults could reclaim the town.

  She sat while Drex remained standing. “I’ll place our order. I don’t think Carl would appreciate us both being out too long.” He nodded toward the counter. “What do you want, darlin?”

  “Whatever you’re having.”

  He leaned over. “I so love a woman who’s willing to bend to my will.”

  She only managed a light punch to his gut before he moved away. Laughing, he jogged up to the counter.

  “You’re in a good mood,” Tatum said.

  “I am.”

  As soon as Drex ordered, he rushed back. “Tell us what’s going on.” The gleam in his eye sparkled bright.

  “Tatum, do you remember meeting Sharon? She’s the baker at USave.”

  “Sure. She entered a pie in the contest alongside you.”

  “Yes. Well her grandmother passed away and left her some money. She asked if I wanted to open a bake
ry with her.” She leaned back knowing how excited the men would be for her.

  Both grinned. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Tatum said. “We need to have a real celebration. No offense to Crispy’s Pizza. Tell us more.”

  She told them about their initial plans and who was going to do what. “We’ve also found the absolutely perfect place that we want to rent. I just need to find out the name of the owner so I can find how much the owner is asking.”

  “Where’s that?” Drex asked. His demeanor had turned cautious for some reason.

  “Actually, it’s right next door.” She told them about why she thought it was the perfect location.

  Tatum asked about hundred questions, but Drex sat there quietly. The guy behind the counter called their order number and Drex jumped up. He delivered the food and then held up his drink.

  “How about we celebrate big this weekend? Maybe go someplace special? Starting your own business is a milestone.”

  That was incredibly thoughtful. “I’ll have to watch every dime from now on, and I don’t want you to keep paying. It’s not fair.”

  He leaned forward. “But I have the money.”

  “Don’t forget you’re Everyman now. Someone is bound to get suspicious if they see you throwing money around.”

  He leaned forward. “I’m beginning to think I may not be cut out to be ordinary.” Drex dragged a hand down his chin then drank from his glass. He leaned back and smiled. “Then I guess we’ll have to take you to heaven from our place.”

  That was the best thing she’d heard all day.

  Chapter Nineteen

  As soon as he and Ashley returned to the office, Drex stepped outside and made the phone call he’d been planning for a while.

  “Templeton.” The man sounded a bit harried as if he was juggling ten items at once.

  Ralph Templeton worked in Boulder as an investment banker. Years and years ago, the Templeton family had purchased the building next to Crispy’s. Drex already had his eye on the place and had spoken to Templeton about it. Ashley had been right. It was a great location. Now that she was ready to change careers, he made his move.