A tinge of the old pain rose up inside me. I needed their mother there. I needed her so badly I couldn’t stand it. I tried not to think about Cara’s death. It just made things worse, but every time I saw Mona with the boys, it reminded me how much I missed her.
Cara was so happy when she got pregnant. She’d always wanted a child, and she was going to have two. She made up the nursery and poured over baby books like they were scripture. She had dedicated her life to those boys. It made me feel guilty thinking about it. She died knowing that she would never get to hold the boys or sing to them the way a mother should. It was her biggest regret—and mine.
Mona set Abel down. “You’re tired. I can tell. Can’t you take the day off?”
“No, I should get going.” I checked my phone. I should’ve been out the door by now. Instead, I was standing around like an idiot staring at my nanny. If I didn’t get it together, I was going to have a terrible day, and nothing would get done.
I shook myself out of my daze and finally tore myself away from the nursery. The boys would be fine with Mona. I just wished that I could do the things that she did with them. It bothered me all the way to work. Was there something about me that they didn’t like? Was it just the absence of a woman’s touch? Could they even sense something like that? They were infants. I should’ve been the one that they listened to, not Mona.
When I got to the office, I decided to take the back entrance, hoping it would help me get past some of the staff members that were undoubtedly trying to hunt me down. I walked through the double doors and quickly ducked into the stairwell so I could call my receptionist without anyone seeing.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Ange, you think you could keep everyone away for a couple hours? I just need to relax and get things situated.”
“Uh,” she said and laughed awkwardly.
“Come on. If you find a way, you can take an early lunch. The twins kept me up all night.”
“Two lunches, and it’s a deal.”
“Is it that bad?”
“I got sixty-two messages for you in the past hour.”
“Jesus,” I said and rested my head against the wall. “All right. You know my priorities. Move everything else out and clear me at least an hour.”
“I think I can do that.”
“And go get us something, coffee and donuts or whatever. Use your company card and get something for yourself.”
“Thank you.” I could hear her smiling through the phone.
“You’re very welcome, my dear.” I hung up and started walking up the stairs to the office. I wanted to have my own personal entrance and elevator so I could go up to my office without being seen, but the building was leased, and it came as is. There was nothing I could do about that.
Fortunately, it looked like Angela had managed to clear out most of the reception area. That was progress. “Hello,” I said as I walked in and greeted her with a smile. She was on the phone with somebody.
“I’d be more than willing to take a message for you.” She paused to listen and handed me a folder with my messages inside. “No, I’m sorry, but he’s not available right now.” She glared at me. “Well, you’re just gonna have to call back later, then. I’m sorry.”
I walked into my office. There were matters that needed attending to, and I was already behind. I needed to have a clear head if I was going to manage a company, and that wasn’t going to happen if my phone was ringing every two seconds.
I took some time at the computer to go over my messages slowly, glancing at the news every so often. Every one of the people that called me needed to be called back immediately, but some people were more important than others and quite a bit easier to talk to, so I went through the list in my own way, calling whoever I knew would give me the least amount of stress.
There was a knock on the door when I was on the phone with the head of the maintenance department. “I’ll call you right back.” I hung up. “Come in.”
It was Angela, carrying two bags of goodies and a coffee carrier with steam flowing off the top. “Here ya go.” She handed me one of the bags and a cup.
“Thank you. I really needed this.”
“Somebody from the testing department is here.” I looked over her shoulder to see Rick sitting in a chair smiling.
“Send him in.”
“You can come in now.” Angela walked back to her desk.
“How are ya?” I asked when he walked in.
“Good, good. Got a new optical display.” Rick took a seat.
“The Hawkeye?”
“Yep. Gonna go down and hook it up to Bessie this afternoon. You should come down and see it.”
“God.” I leaned back in my chair. “I can barely think straight. I feel like I’m going to die.”
“Is it the twins?”
“Yes, and it’s the most infuriating thing. They keep waking each other up. Soon as I get one to sleep, the other starts going. They’re ganging up on me, and it’s pissing me off because they won’t listen to me. When I pick them up, they scream, but when the nanny picks them up, they go right to sleep.”
“That’s because she’s a woman,” Rick said.
“That’s what Mona said. I didn’t believe any of that crap at first, but now I’m starting to think there’s something to it.”
“That’s why you need to get yourself a girl.”
“It won’t work. As soon as they find out I have children, they run away.”
“Okay, then forget about a woman for the kids. Get a woman for yourself. Have a little bit of fun. I’ll bet you haven’t gotten laid in months. Come to the club with me tomorrow night. You don’t have to go looking for wifey, but I’m sure you can get laid.”
“It has been a long time.”
“So?”
“Yeah, I guess I’ll go.”
“Nice.” Rick got up. “I’ll send you the feed from the optical display.”
“Can you send me some of the specs, too?”
“Course, man. I’ll catch you later.”
When Rick left, I looked down at my phone list. There were fifteen more people I had to deal with, and that was just for this morning. I had no idea how I was going to get through the day, but at least I had a night at the club and the inevitable hookup to look forward to.
Chapter Four
Zoe
I felt a warm band of sunshine across my cheek and smiled softly. Damn, that felt good. Then my eyes slammed open, and I shot out of bed. The sun was out, which meant I was late. Most of my business came from the morning coffee rush, which meant I had less than an hour to open up the shop if I wanted to make money today.
After a quick shower, I walked into my bedroom to find my phone. It wasn’t in there, and it wasn’t in the bathroom, either, which meant that I’d have to go around searching the entire house for it.
I needed to call Chloe. Since I was running late, she would be at the bakery before me. I’d given her an extra pair of keys for the shop, and I had to call her right away to make sure she had them with her this morning. That way, she could start prepping for the morning rush instead of waiting outside for me to show up.
Everything would be fine if I could just find my damn phone. It wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room. I even looked through the couch cushions. If I didn’t hurry up and find that thing, I was going to be out fifteen hundred dollars, all because I slept in too long. That could not happen.
“Ugh,” I groaned and walked back into the dining room. There was a lump sitting under a stack of sale papers in the middle of the table. I pushed the papers aside frantically. The phone was underneath them, and it had a full charge. I offered up a little prayer of gratitude. Finally, something was going right for me.
I dialed Chloe’s number. There was no way she’d ignore my call, not now. It didn’t ring. Instead, a mechanical voice came on the line saying, “We’re sorry. The voicemail box you’ve reached hasn’t been setup yet. Goodbye.”
“Where are you
?” I texted Chloe and set my phone down to wait for a response while I finished getting ready. Then I walked back in to check my phone. Nothing. The screen was still blank. That meant that Chloe had slept in, too, and we were going to lose quite a bit of money this morning.
I entertained the notion of taking the time out of Chloe’s pay. She deserved it. She’d been late twice in one week, but I couldn’t hurt her like that. We were both struggling together, and Chloe predated the bakery. We’d been friends since high school, so she deserved a lot more leeway than that. I decided to let it go. This was my fault, after all.
I was the one who stayed up all night looking up recipes. I had the perfect apricot streusel recipe ready for that afternoon, but with all of the work I had to do, I probably wouldn’t get a chance to make it.
I tried calling Chloe a couple more times while I was wading through traffic. There was no answer. She must’ve left her phone off of the charger all night. I was going to kill her and put her head on a stake in the kitchen with a sign that said, “Problem Employee.”
This wasn’t just the morning coffee rush. Monday was our biggest day, when people finally climbed out of their hangovers and went back to work. They’d come in, stiff-faced and ravenous, and start barking orders. I was supposed to be helping them right now. Instead, I was six lights away, about ready to get out and walk.
When I pulled in, I didn’t waste a single second. I hopped out of the car, opened the front gate, and walked to the back. Normally, I liked to get there early so I could take my time and make sure things looked nice. Food service was all about the ambiance. Nobody would eat here if it looked like a run-down cafeteria, so I took pride in the shop. I set out flowers and made sure cakes and pies were always on display. I wanted people to feel welcome here. I didn’t want them to just order their food and leave. I wanted them to stick around with their friends and talk over coffee and muffins, or sit in one of our booths with a newspaper all morning.
I wanted Zoe’s to become a meeting spot, where couples would sit and eat together and where kids would go after school. Then people would remember it. It would become part of their daily routine, and they’d keep coming back for more.
I needed that loyal customer base if I was going to maintain a steady stream of income for the bakery, but that kind of stability took time. Time I wasn’t sure I had. Most days, just keeping the lights on and the doors open seemed impossible. Everything with the shop hung by a thin, fragile thread, and every day was a struggle to keep it from breaking. There was no such thing as certainty in this business, no way of knowing what the next day would bring. I wasn’t comfortable with that.
I kept hoping that something would happen. There would be a parade just outside the shop, or one of the chain stores would close. Then people would come rushing through the door all of a sudden, money in hand. But that was just a fantasy. Nobody was going to find out about my shop unless I found a way to tell them about it. That would take years of long, hard work. I could do the work. I just wasn’t sure I could keep the place open long enough.
It wasn’t like my bakery was doing that badly. We were located downtown, right in the middle of the office district. This was prime real estate for a bakery like mine, and we did a decent amount of business. I just couldn’t stop worrying about everything. I tried to calm myself down and munch on a muffin while I waited for customers, but I just wound up staring at the door praying that somebody would come in.
Every shadow that passed by was another potential customer, another reason to look around and make sure that everything was okay. I made sure there were no crumbs on the counter, and I wiped the tables down again, even though I knew they were already clean. Eventually, I was forced to admit that everything was perfect. I went back to the register and took a bite of my muffin. Some of the cream cheese icing came off and stuck to my top lip. I was searching for a napkin to wipe it away when a man wearing a business suit walked in.
“Oh God,” I said, turning around in the hopes he wouldn’t notice. I grabbed a napkin and scrubbed at my face, but it was too late.
“Am I interrupting?” the man asked from behind me with laughter in his voice.
I was blushing when I turned back to him. “Sorry. What can I get you?”
“That muffin looks pretty good. A little messy, but good. Is that cream cheese icing?”
“It is.” I was beet red now.
“Perfect. I think I’ll get that.” A playful smile curved his lips.
“Okay. One ginger spice muffin. Anything else?”
“That’ll be all.”
I took a glance at him before I walked in back to get his muffin. He was tall and blond, cute, but a little lanky for my taste. I brought his muffin back out. “Here ya go.”
He paid with his card and signed the receipt with his phone number. When he turned to leave, I scratched it out and put the receipt in the till. It was a boost of confidence, but he wasn’t my type.
Shortly after he left, Chloe finally made her appearance. She was wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses when she walked in.
“You’re late,” I announced and came around to give her a hug.
“I know.”
“Let me see those sunglasses.” I stepped back and glared at her.
“Why? They’re just sunglasses.” Chloe pulled away and started to walk to the back. I followed her.
“Those aren’t just sunglasses. If they were, you’d have left them in the car like you always do.”
“Oh, come on. I can’t change my style up a bit?”
“You got shit-housed last night.”
“I did not.” She was carrying an energy drink.
“Tell me what happened. Come on. I’m dying for actual human conversation.” I laughed.
“You sure it’s not because you’re mad that I came in late?”
“That too. But honestly, Chloe, I’m dying. All I can think about is this friggin’ bakery.”
“Oh, I know.” Chloe took her apron off the hook and tied it on. “I’ve been telling you that a long time now. All you ever do is worry about the shop, and you refuse to do anything else with your time.”
“I won’t budge.” I went into the walk-in and pulled out a crate of blueberries while Chloe struggled to get the cauldron-sized mixing bowl out from underneath the sink.
“That’s your problem,” Chloe called out. “You’re so focused on your career that you’re ignoring everything else.”
“This was not the conversation I was hoping for.”
“And that’s why you’re lonely,” Chloe said when I walked out with the blueberries.
I pulled a bowl down from the shelf above the sink, along with a box full of sugar. “I found a recipe that I want to try out.”
“Really?” Chloe let me change the subject.
“Yep, apricot streusel.”
“I don’t know. It sounds a little weird.”
“Not if you do it right, it’s not.” I pulled out my phone to show Chloe the recipe.
“That does sound good.”
“But we can’t make it,” I said.
“Why not?”
“Because we’re going to be baking scones all day.”
Chloe wrinkled her nose. “It’s cause I’m late, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but it’s okay. I was late, too.”
Chloe laughed. “I refuse to believe that.”
The doorbell rang, so I walked out to help the customers. Two twins stood in the shop, both with black shaggy hair. They looked like they were in their early twenties. One stared at the menu, and the other stared at me with a grin from ear to ear.
“Hi. How can I help you guys?”
The twin staring at the menu on the wall over my shoulder looked down. His eyes had caught something. I took a quick glance back. Chloe was giving him a seductive smile. They were closing in now, coming closer to the counter. The twin who’d been smiling at me leaned in. “Just two coffees.”
“That all?” Chloe asked.
<
br /> I glared at her.
“No,” the other twin said. I waited for him to ask for something else. Instead, he pulled out his phone. “You should give me your number.”
She blushed. “Give me one good reason?”
“A good night out, maybe more. It’s worth the risk.”
The other twin nodded, letting his eyes roll down my body. “We’re heading to the club tomorrow night. You guys should come with us.”
“I don—”
“Definitely.” Chloe pushed me aside to get to the register and pulled off two pieces of receipt tape. She handed one to me, along with a pen. She wasn’t leaving me with any other choice. I could either be rude and lose a pair of customers, or I could put myself on the line for a man I didn’t even know.
“It’ll be fun. Come on.” Chloe handed the man her number.
“All right.” I wrote my number down and handed it to the other twin.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Clarissa,” I said, lying. “Yours?”
“Bryan.” He extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” I shook his hand. “You guys sure you just want the coffee?”
“I’ll try one of these apple scones,” Bryan said.
I bagged one up for him and walked back to the register where Chloe was leaning over the counter, talking to her twin quietly.
I cleared my throat.
“Oh, sorry.” Chloe stepped away from the register so I could get to it, and her twin followed her over the to the pastries. When he stepped aside, I saw Mr. Beetle look in through the window, smoking a rolled cigarette.
“Oh, that’s disgusting.” Chloe pulled a blueberry scone out for her twin and brought it up to the register. “He’s going to stink the whole place up.”
“You want me to get rid of him?” her twin asked.
“No, Brandon. It’s okay. But I’m not helping him.” She turned to me. “I want him gone.”
Banning a customer was against everything I believed in. He had real money, and I needed every cent I could get. “I’ll handle him.”
Mr. Beetle turned around to look inside again then threw his cigarette and leaned back against the wall.
Daddy Boss (A Boss Romance Love Story) Page 74