Back for Seconds (Lone Star Second Chances Book 1)

by Ginger Voight

  “Temporarily,” he acknowledged with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I realize now that I never nurtured you to find your own special niche. You were unfulfilled and I never even noticed. I guess I thought you were happy with the way things were because you never tried to change anything. Maybe you didn’t feel free to, and that was my fault. So I’m trying to correct that if I can.”

  Her hand closed over the key. It felt cold in her hand. “And what do you want in return?”

  “For my family to be happy,” he said. “Everyone can come home. You and the kids could work here together, building another successful Morgan enterprise.”

  She made a face as she put the key on the counter facing the mall. People walked past, tossing them curious glances as they stood in the darkened storefront. “And you get to keep your playmates on the side, is that it?”

  “For God’s sake, Joely,” he exclaimed. “How many times are you going to beat that dead horse?”

  “Depends,” she shot back. “How many times did you fuck her? Because I think I’m allowed ten for every one.”

  “What about you and that foreigner at your mother’s restaurant?”

  “Is that what this is all about? You’re jealous? You didn’t think anyone would want me, but now that someone does, someone younger and sexier and – God forbid – threatening to your precious ego, all of a sudden you want to pretend you’re some devoted husband?” They stood glaring at each other for a long moment. Finally Joely grabbed the key and thrust it back at him. “I’m not interested.”

  “You’re going to shoot yourself in the foot because of spite? Do you have any idea what this could mean for your business?”

  “Yes, I do,” she said. “I also know what it could mean for my business to give you that kind of control over it. You blew my life apart, Russell. What part of that do you not understand? Now you’re asking me to trust you again and all I can think is at what cost?” She shook her head. “I’m doing this on my own or not at all. Now please, take me home.”

  He took the key. “I’m going to take you to your mother’s house, but that is not your home. Your home is in Fairway Oaks. With me. With our family.”

  Neither of them said a word on the way back to Old Elmwood. He didn’t get out of the car. He didn’t even turn off the engine. She wordlessly slipped from the seatbelt and slammed out of the car and headed up to the front porch of her mother’s elegant old home.

  Russell’s eyes narrowed as he watched her disappear inside. He put the car in reverse and peeled out of the drive.

  He didn’t stop until he got to Lillian’s Place where Xander greeted customers right inside the door. They faced off against each other before Xander reached out a hand in greeting, with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Nice to see you again, Doctor,” he said. “To what do we owe the honor?”

  Russell didn’t mince words. “I’d like to speak to you privately if I may.”

  Xander eyed him suspiciously. “Regarding?”

  “My wife,” Russell stated.

  Xander handed off host duties to a nearby employee before he led the way to his office upstairs. Neither man spoke until the door shut behind them. “Make yourself comfortable,” Xander suggested as he walked around the desk to his chair.

  “I will be brief,” Russell told him, opting to stand. “It has come to my attention that you have been selling Joely’s homemade cookies through the restaurant.”

  Xander nodded. “We have.”

  “You are probably unaware then that is against the law.” Xander’s eyes narrowed as he stared up at Russell as he waited for him to continue. “Cottage laws allow people like Joely to sell certain baked goods, like cookies, from their home. But restaurants like Lillian’s Place are prohibited from selling home-baked goods. I would think that a restaurant manager would have known this.”

  “Joely isn’t just any third-party contractor. She’s got a vested interest in this restaurant, which will default to her ownership should either Lillian or Granny Faye retire. We simply allowed her to work from home so she could take care of the kids. She could easily be making these same cookies here at the restaurant.”

  “But she isn’t. The law is the law. Technically Joely shouldn’t be selling her wares through your storefront. It could present quite a few problems for the both of you.”

  “Is that a threat?” Xander wanted to know.

  “I’m just saying it would be a shame to see this promising new business curtailed by some technicalities. She can still work from home, and sell her goods from home. She just can’t sell them here.”

  “Through me,” Xander surmised. He leaned back in his chair. “So the problem isn’t so much that Joely is selling cookies made from home. It’s that she might be fucking me that really bothers you.”

  Russell chuckled. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re a distraction, Mr. Davy. Someone she used to tend a battered ego.”

  “That does happen when one’s husband fucks around with someone half his age.”

  Russell scoffed. He wasn’t about to be shamed by the likes of this loser. “And now we’re even. She’s done with you. She was done with you the minute she left your little getaway in Dallas to race home to her family. The only tie she has to you is this cookie thing, which as we both know is tenuous at best.”

  Xander stood from his desk and walked around to face Russell. “This cookie ‘thing’ is brilliant business idea, something she developed all on her own. She’s on her way to being a huge success. If I have my way she’ll be a household name within a year and a millionaire within two. This is just the beginning for her. Her days as a happy homemaker, taking care of your kids and cleaning your house, keeping your life in order, are over.” Russell’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Xander, who smiled triumphantly. “That’s what really kills you, doesn’t it? She doesn’t need you anymore.”

  “Whether or not she needs me is not the issue,” Russell told him. “We are bonded forever through our children. That’s far more important than some cookie fad that can’t possibly last. So do yourself a favor,” he added as he stepped closer towards Xander, putting the men practically nose to nose. “Cut your ties now, before it gets ugly. Because it will,” he promised. He left the threat dangling in the air as he turned on his heel and departed the office.

  Xander landed on the edge of his desk, his mind spinning. That was where Lillian found him when she raced upstairs to see what had been said between them. “What did he want?”

  Xander sighed as he gestured to the chair. “You might as well sit. We’ve got a problem. A big one.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Joely knew something was wrong the minute Lillian asked to speak with her privately that night when she got home. Her mother was rarely pensive. She could roll with the punches better than anyone Joely knew. But the look on her face was grim as Joely joined her in the formal living room after the kids had gone to bed. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m afraid we won’t be able to sell your cookies at the restaurant anymore.”

  Joely practically wilted onto a chair as she stared at her mother in disbelief. Quickly she did the math in her head what a loss this would be to her income, especially her $10,000 goal. “What? Why?”

  Lillian took a deep breath. She wanted to tell her the truth, how Russell was now blackmailing all of them to keep Joely and Xander apart, but Xander had advised her not to. He suspected that Russell was trying to bully Joely back home by taking away all her choices. They simply had to provide her another one, he reasoned. Why sow more seeds of discord in that relationship if they didn’t have to? “It was brought to our attention by an outside source that, because of your preparing your goods at home, you need to follow the cottage food laws of the state.”

  Joely blinked in confusion. “What are cottage food laws?”

  “In Texas, you’re allowed to make your baked goods from home and market them in certain venues, such as farmer’s markets and the like. Commercial rest
aurants are prohibited. We don’t consider you a separate entity from the restaurant and never have, but the laws might.”

  Joely felt her stomach drop. All this time she had been operating outside the law? All she had done was sell some freaking cookies.

  “You can still sell your cookies from home. All those orders you’ve taken for special parties and specific customers are still good. You just can’t sell them at the restaurant, through mail order or online.”

  Every single piece of information hit Joely like a punch in the gut. She thought back to Russell’s offer to rent her a commercial kitchen. Suddenly it all made sense. “Who brought it to your attention, Mom?” From the way Lillian swallowed hard and looked away, Joely had her answer. “That son of a bitch!”

  Lillian rose to her feet to join her daughter where she sat. “Look, we have options. This doesn’t have to be the end of anything.”

  Joely couldn’t stop the tears even if she wanted to. “How can you say that? You know how much money I was making at your restaurant.” Just saying the word ‘was’ felt like another physical blow. Was it really all over? It had been too good to be true.

  Lillian took Joely’s hands into hers. “Stop. Listen to me. There are two things we can do to fix this. The first, you let me invest into your company.” The minute she said it, Joely shook her head, and kept shaking it as she kept talking. “I give you the initial investment to get you into a commercial kitchen, and you’re all on the up and up by Christmas shopping season. You can pay me back with interest if you like.”

  “No,” Joely said as she rose to her feet and started to pace. “I’m going to do it on my own or not at all.”

  “Fine,” Lillian sighed. “Then you come to work at the restaurant. You set your own hours, do as much as you want to do producing the cookies for us, our own special offshoot of your brand, and then you can build Back for Seconds out of the kitchen here.”

  Joely spun around to glare at her mother. “And when am I supposed to see my kids, Mom? In order to make the kind of money I need to make to make this thing work, I’ll be working all the time.” It was what she had been doing, but she had made allowances that she could still manage parenting her children around her crazy schedule. There was no way she could bake till two or three o’clock in the morning at the restaurant, worried about her kids across town, if they woke up and she wasn’t there for them when they needed her… like if they were sick. An image of Hannah lying in her hospital bed flashed in her mind’s eye. Again she shook her head. It all seemed so hopeless. She could have Back for Seconds, but only at a price she wasn’t willing to pay.

  “The kids can come with you to the restaurant. You can work while they’re in school. Granny Faye and I can watch them if you need a late shift or two during the week. These are not impossible problems, Joely. Yeah, it’s not ideal but no business starting out ever is. You just have to ask yourself what you’re willing to give for it.”

  That was what Joely was asking herself right at that very moment. Lillian stood in her path to stop her pacing.

  “I’m behind you no matter what you want to do. So is Granny Faye and so is Xander.” Joely practically rolled her eyes at the mention of his name. Here she was trying to stay as far away from him, and the temptation he presented, as possible. Now she’d be right under his nose at least six days a week. “And the money isn’t a gift, by the way. You’re going to inherit everything when Granny Faye and I go.”

  Joely made a face. “Don’t talk like that, Mom.”

  “It’s true. It’s the reality. You get the restaurant and the house and all my assets. This would just be a little advance on what you’re due. But honestly, I think I’d rather see you work at the restaurant a bit. You have no idea what goes into running a commercial kitchen.”

  “No shit,” Joely muttered and Lillian gave her a stern look of reprisal.

  “So take this time to learn. That’s what it’s here for. In fact, all this may be a blessing in disguise. If you really want to make Back for Seconds work, to support you and your family, then this is your opportunity to educate yourself. Plus it’s a great way for your children to learn what goes into your business, since they, like you, will likely be the inheritors of it one day. You know they’re always welcome at the restaurant. We can make this a real family enterprise. All of us.”

  Lillian left her then, to give her room to think about it. Joely meandered into the kitchen, where a big plastic bin sat atop the table, filled with goodies that she could no longer sell at the restaurant. She landed in one of the chairs with a thud as she contemplated the possibilities.

  The next day she presented her options to the children, since they were the ones who would have to pay the ultimate price for her starting her own business. She already knew from her mother’s years running a restaurant that starting up a commercial business would take her away from her family more often than not. Whether she accepted her mother’s generous offer to rent her own space or worked at Lillian’s Place, she was looking at 50-60 hour weeks away from home at the bare minimum.

  All three of them sat around the table, processing the information she presented. Kari was the first to speak. “I think you should work at Nana’s restaurant. That way you can get some experience first.” It would also ensure that Kari wouldn’t be yanked from Lillian’s Place to front some store at the mall, selling her mother’s cookies. That might have been okay before Xander, but now that he was such a big part of her life, she wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. At least until he realized that he could fall in love with her despite their age difference. More time at the restaurant was just what she needed.

  Both Nash and Hannah echoed Kari’s recommendation. “I can help out around here,” Nash offered, almost shyly, as if he didn’t know if she would think him capable of babysitting his younger sister, or “manning” up to extra responsibility. It struck Joely then that as the middle child, Nash had become accustomed to being forgotten or invisible. His sisters had always been more demanding of the attention, whereas he had faded softly from the light, unwilling to compete with the eldest or the baby. Had this been the source of his depression all this time? Why hadn’t she been able to see this before?

  With their support behind her, she finally agreed to her mother’s Plan B. The very next week, when Hannah returned to school, Joely would start putting in hours at the restaurant, where she’d prepare “Lillian’s Place Presents: Back for Seconds, Joely Artisan Originals.”

  The only variable in her plan was the time she’d have to spend around Xander. It both excited her and scared her to death. She wanted to be around him but she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to withstand the temptation, especially whenever he cast his beautiful eyes her direction. She fretted about it all that Sunday night as she tossed and turned on her bed, unable to think about anything but how time alone together always resulted in some kind of intellectual foreplay.

  Worse, she liked it. She wanted it. She needed it.

  It made her second-guess everything every single minute it took her to drop off the kids and drive across town to Lillian’s Place. She spotted his car easily in the parking lot. Like Lillian, Xander worked 70-hour weeks. He was there early. He left late. He lived and breathed the restaurant business… which would now be Joely’s business.

  Her knees actually knocked as she walked up to the restaurant. The crowd there was ecstatic to see her. Everyone had missed her goodies while she had taken time off to care for Hannah. Many a customer stopped her to shake her hand, to inquire about Hannah, and to see when she’d have a new batch of cookies for sale.

  She smiled and promised that week they’d be back to normal production. She still wasn’t sure where she’d fit it all in, but she’d have to find a way. She was on her way to the kitchen when Xander intercepted her. “Good morning, Joely,” he said, with that voice that poured over her soul like warm butter. “May I speak to you for a moment?”

  Goose bumps broke out all over her flesh as she
involuntarily shuddered. Every single one of her salacious fantasies had started with those words – especially delivered with that predacious look in his eyes. She nodded and followed him on shaking feet upstairs to his office.

  He let her enter before he shut the door behind him. “First let me say that I’m glad you are still pursuing Back for Seconds. I was afraid you’d see this relatively tiny stumbling block as insurmountable. I’d hate for you to give up on something with this much potential just because it gets a little complicated.”

  Her eyes darted to his. She wanted to tell him she wasn’t easily scared away, but she had an inkling he wasn’t just talking about the business. Instead she said nothing.

  “There are a couple of things we need to go over before you start. Nothing major, just tying up some loose ends so we don’t get caught with our pants down again.”

  Again his glare was direct, and again she said nothing.

  “First of all, Lillian told me that you would like to set your own hours to fit around your obligations as a parent, not to mention your actual business from home. This is fine with me, but I would like to have that schedule in advance, so that I can know when you’ll be here.”

  She gulped hard. His tone was possessive, and it reminded her instantly of being on that bed beneath him in a Dallas hotel. “Of course,” she managed finally.

  “Good,” he said with a small smile. The echo of his telling her ‘Good girl,’ rang in her ears as he stood up. “The next thing we need to discuss is packaging, labeling in particular. Please,” he said as he gestured to his chair.

  She could barely breathe as she walked around the desk, past his hard body, to sink into his leather chair. He swung her around to face his computer monitor, bending down to navigate the mouse as his face hovered near hers. He opened up a photo editing program, where a label for her goodies had been created. “This is the front,” he explained as he clicked around the photo, showing her the different layers he had included. “For the items you make here, you’ll add Lillian’s Place Presents. For all your goods baked from home, you can just leave that off.” Within a few clicks he showed her how to make the changes. “The back of your packaging will now include a food label, for the items both prepared at home or here. I’ve already downloaded a software program to easily calculate that information for you.” Another few clicks and he showed her what she needed to do. “You’ll need to have these labels on anything you sell before you sell it, so you’ll need to spend a little time each day preparing them and printing them. You can use my office for this.”