“More like who spilled my secrets to my next-door neighbor,” I responded in kind.
“I didn’t know it was a secret, Amber. Everyone in this town knows what happened to you. Besides, he might be a man, but he’s not obtuse. He was the one to bring it up. I apologize if trying to put his mind at ease upset you.”
“I’m messing with you, Brady. I know he could ask anyone on the street, and they could answer him without even thinking about it. I appreciate that at least you were discreet.”
He smiled in a way that softened his eyes and smoothed out the lines of his face as he leaned on the bench, his hands still full of flour from his dough kneading. “I’m always discreet, but he was so worried after you fell the other night that I felt like I should at least try to put his mind at ease a little bit. I’m glad you’re not upset.”
I winked and returned his smile. “I could never be upset with you, Able Baker Brady, but I would appreciate if you’d let a bitch have a little bit of mystery about her, eh?”
He snorted and saluted me, flour floating through the air from his fingers. “You got it, sarge.”
I laughed aloud and realized how long it had been since the bakery was filled with our laughter. That used to be the only sound you heard other than the drumming beat of the mixer or the timer going off on the oven. Now, there was a pervading silence to the place I worried we couldn’t fill. Taylor passed me on her way back to the front and patted my shoulder.
When I got to the office, I was surprised to see the disarray. “What’s going on here?” I asked Hay-Hay as I sat in the chair across from the desk, piled with papers.
“I thought about what you said last night, and you were right. I can’t just kick you out of here and expect you to be okay with that. What I can do is make this office functional, so you have a place to manage the business better. My crap is always strewn around here, which makes it hard for you to find anything. I have to do better.”
I motioned at the paperwork while I sipped at the coffee Taylor had brought for us. “Seeing this, I know you’re right. We do have some work to do if we want to get this place running smoothly again. It’s been neglected for too long. The majority of that is my fault.”
“No, you were just stretched too thin, and that’s on both of us. Should we have seen this sooner and done something about it? Yes. The problem is, we were both so damn busy doing our jobs that we didn’t have time to stop and think about how to make life easier.”
“You must have found the time somewhere.”
She shook her head and looked to the ceiling. “No, I was forced to see the light, too. I, um, had a scare,” she said, looking around me to check the doorway.
I leaned forward and stared at her under my eyebrows. “A scare?”
Her eyes rolled to break contact with mine. “A pregnancy scare,” she clarified.
I hopped once in my seat and squealed. “What? And you didn’t tell me?”
She held her finger to her lips. “Shh, geez. I said it was a scare, not that I was. I’m not, for the record.”
My shoulders slumped back into the seat. “I don’t know how to feel now. I can’t wait for you and Brady to have a little one!”
“And we will, when the time is right, and things here are in a better place.”
“But, the scare forced you to see the light?”
Her head nodded up and down in such an exaggerated manner it would have been funny if it weren’t for the fact it wasn’t. “I lost it, Amber,” she said, lowering her voice. “I was a week late, hadn’t even taken a test yet, and he found me sobbing in the bathroom. It all crashed down on me, I guess. After the test came back negative, and I could breathe again, he forced me to talk to him about my reaction. He knew it didn’t have anything to do with the idea of being pregnant, but rather the idea of being pregnant right now. It was at that moment I knew the business was running us instead of the other way around.”
I rubbed my forehead and agreed with a nod. “I came to the same conclusion last night at about three a.m. while staring at the ceiling. That’s why I’m here now. I decided you were right, to a degree, last night. I can’t keep going like this. So, I made some decisions.”
She leaned forward on the desk with her hands folded. “Okay, one of them better include having your leg looked at again, or we’re done here.”
I forced my eyes not to roll and tipped my shoulder up. “I’ll call later and see when I can get in. In the meantime, I’m going to start sorting out this,” I said, motioning around at the mess around me. “I can’t—” My voice broke, and I rubbed my temple, trying to swallow back the tears. I cleared my throat and tried again. “I can’t work out front for a few days. I hurt too much.” A tear ran down my cheek until I wiped it away.
She was around the desk and hugging me before my hand fell to my side. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to make it worse, but I’m desperately worried.”
I nodded over her shoulder. “Me, too. That’s why I’ve avoided the doctor. I can’t any longer, though. I’m in bad shape. I don’t want to make things harder for you, but I’m scared, Hay-Hay. My knee looks atrocious today. Last night, I could still walk with only a cane, but this morning, I can’t do anything without the crutches.”
She leaned back and motioned for me to show her. “I had to wear a dress because I couldn’t even get pants on.” I pulled the dress up, and her eyes widened.
“Brady!” she yelled in a voice that told me how scared she was.
“Don’t bother him,” I hissed. “There is absolutely nothing he can do.”
He skidded to a stop at the door and didn’t get to ask what she needed before his eyes landed on my knee. “God almighty, Amber.” He took a step in the door. “You have to see a doctor.”
“I will,” I promised, my head nodding. “It wasn’t like this last night, so something has changed.”
Haylee looked up at Brady. “Would you get some ice for it? She can ice it while she’s sitting here. It won’t help the underlying problem, but it might make it feel better.”
He promised he would and left the office, while she hugged me again, rubbing my back and rocking me gently. “You took care of me last summer, so let us take care of you now. I wish I had understood what was going on, but now that I do, I’m not going to let this go on. I’m mad at Phyllis for not putting her foot down sooner.”
I laughed, but the sound was more sad than amused. “Don’t be mad at her. She tried. So did Dad. They can only do so much when I’m a grown-ass adult.”
She leaned back and smiled, but it was forced. “Don’t try to pretend that I don’t know the dynamics that go on there, Amber. They didn’t push you to do anything because their guilt doesn’t allow it. I wish they would see, even all these years later, that it wasn’t their fault. You can’t predict Mother Nature.”
I gave her the palms out. “You’re preaching to the choir. All I know is, I still have to find a way forward with my physical health and the business. I took the first step before I came in here.”
She tipped her head to the side. “How?”
Brady came back with a bag of ice wrapped in a bar towel. I accepted it from him with a smile and held it to my knee. I prayed it would numb the explosive ache that was overwhelming me quickly. I wasn’t sure how I’d even finish this conversation without throwing up. I needed to go home, but first, I had to finish addressing my business situation.
“I asked Taylor about working in the back full-time,” I said, picking up the conversation. “I promised her if she helped me get the new employees trained, that she could move to the back with no guilt.”
“Did she agree?”
“Faster than you agreed to marry Able Baker Brady.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “I guess we better get an ad in the window then.”
I held up my hand to stop her. “Taylor is calling a friend of hers who was just laid off. The woman is looking for full-time work. If we could get her full-time, up Monique’s hou
rs, and hire one more part-timer, we’d be in good shape. Taylor said she knows a couple of people looking for part-time work, too. With any luck, I can do interviews later this week and get them started. In the meantime, I’ll ask Monique about picking up more hours. I can’t take Taylor from you guys right now to cover my front hours. You need her worse than I do.”
She nodded and sighed. “Especially with all the summer orders.”
I rubbed my hand on my thigh and eyed her, unsure how to say the only solution I could find last night. “I thought about our discussion, and I know you’re right. It’s time for me to take control of this place. The only way I can figure to do that is to become the manager over everything but you and Brady.”
“Meaning?” she asked, confused.
“I don’t work in the front anymore except for emergencies or to cover vacations. I’ll do all the scheduling, marketing, ordering, paperwork, payroll, and be the face of the business for the community. I’ll make deliveries and meet with brides and those looking for special occasion cakes and buns. That gives you breathing room to bake without spending hours every week doing everything else.”
She clapped once and grinned. “Thank you! You don’t know what a relief that will be. Both for my schedule and my worry about your leg. I know you don’t want to admit that you have to slow down, but you do.”
I nodded and gave her a lip tilt. “Bishop reinforced that opinion last night. I know you’re both right. That doesn’t make it any easier to do.”
She held my hand and patted it. “I understand. I remember what it was like last year when I couldn’t bake. I knew it was temporary, and it was still frustrating. Yours isn’t temporary. That’s what makes it that much harder. You saw Bishop last night?”
I shook my head at her. “Yes, but we aren’t talking about Bishop right now. We’re talking about business. That’s why I’m here. I’ve decided I’m going to load all of this nonsense up,” I said, motioning at the paperwork on the desk. “Then I’m going to take it home and spend the next week sorting, shredding, storing what we need in bank boxes, and bringing the rest back here for the file cabinet. When I finish that, I’ll get all those digital accounts set up that we keep saying we need to do, but never find the time to get done. That will keep this paper explosion from happening again. I’ll also set up a new way to keep track of everything on the computer, so we all know where to find anything at a moment’s notice. Once all of that is finished, I’ll start planning new campaigns and marketing ideas. We’ll have a meeting once a week to keep everyone on task and up-to-date. How does that sound?”
“Like you’re a lifesaver,” she said, her chin trembling. “I’m already overwhelmed, and I knew I was going to have to get this all done somehow, too. If you take all the paperwork, Brady and I will redo the office. It will be your office when you come back. I’ll allow you to work from home as long as you keep that leg up while you’re doing it, and you make an appointment to see the doctor.”
I crossed my heart and winked. “That’s my plan. I’m hoping by taking time off my leg that it will improve drastically.” She opened her mouth, and I stuck my finger against it to keep her from speaking. “I’m still going to see the doctor. I have to find some relief from the pain. It’s wearing me down to the point I can’t control my emotions. I nearly lost it last night with Bishop when the storm took us by surprise.”
“Oh, no,” she sighed. “I wondered if you were okay.”
“We were outside by the fire, so I had to go into his house since mine was too far away. As the storm got worse, he figured it out pretty quickly. I guess Brady said something to him about the accident. Anyway, he took me downstairs where we stayed until the storm passed, then he walked me home.”
She rubbed my shoulder compassionately, the same way she has done since the accident happened. “You weren’t too embarrassed?”
“I most certainly was,” I said on a laugh. “It was too late to do anything about it, though. He asked appropriate questions, and was more than understanding about it. Then we talked about his daughter and—”
“His daughter?” she asked, leaning back in surprise. “He’s got a daughter?”
“Yes, Athena. She’s eighteen and away at college in California. He was a teenage father.”
“Holy man,” Haylee said on an exhale. “Proof positive that you never know what’s going on in someone’s life.”
“He told me a few nights ago. He never married Athena’s mother or even lived with them, but he has taken an active role in Athena’s life. Considering he was sixteen when she was born, he stepped up and did the right thing by her.”
“For sure,” Haylee agreed, her head nodding. “As a foster kid married to a foster kid, I know where that girl might have ended up if he had walked away.”
“It sounds like her mom had very supportive parents who helped. Sam is a social worker now, and married to Athena’s step-dad, who helped raise her. They co-parent well together.”
“How does that make you feel?”
“How does what make me feel?”
“Bishop being a father.”
I gave her the palms out. “Uh, fine? It’s not like she lives with him. She’s an adult and goes to school across the country. Besides, I have no right to have any feelings about it. I’m his neighbor, not his mother.”
“I see,” she said as if she didn’t. “Did you explain to Bishop about your leg.”
“Yup, and my arm, and the situation as it stands. I also told him my best friend ripped the rug out from under me, and I needed to sort out what to do.”
“What did he say about that?”
“He said you were right to call me out. If I didn’t do something about my leg, I was going to require more than a short, forced time-out.”
Her brow went up. “Smart man.”
“I promised him I was going home to think it over. He walked me there, kissed me, and I went to bed. End of story.”
“What!” she squealed instantly. “Next time, lead with that!” Her laughter, dancing in the chair, and foot-stomping on the floor told me she was excited.
Brady came racing around the corner, nearly running into the wall when he tried to stop short. “What’s the matter?” he asked out of breath.
“Nothing,” Haylee said, finger-waving at him. “Sorry, I was just excited to find out I don’t have to do all this paperwork because Amber’s going to do it.”
Brady did a fist pump. “Excellent. Give me ten minutes to get my buns out of the oven, and I’ll help you load it all.”
“Buns in the oven, you say. I hear that was almost a thing between you two,” I said, snickering when Haylee groaned.
“One day, it will be a certain thing,” he said as he walked away.
Haylee leaned in and took my hand. “I can’t believe you kissed him already.”
I swallowed and looked anywhere but at her. “It just kind of happened. It wasn’t planned. The moment was there, so I took it. I mean, he was going to kiss me, all I did was encourage it.”
She made the out with it motion with her hand. “Was it completely panty-melting as expected?”
“Panty melting?” I asked with laughter in my voice. Her brow lowered, and she growled until I answered. “My panties didn’t melt off, but it was close.”
She clapped her hands like a little girl, excitement radiating from her. “I knew it! I’m thrilled that you guys are moving forward with this!”
“Moving forward with what?” I asked, confused.
“A relationship!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air.
I stood instantly and shook my head hard. “No. No, no, no. No relationship,” I insisted, stepping toward the door. “It was just an innocent kiss, Haylee.” I took another step backward and never found my footing before I was falling to the floor.
“Amber!” Haylee yelled, grabbing me before I fell onto the hard concrete. “Stop before you hurt yourself.”
She swung me back into the chair careful
ly and knelt, taking stock of me. Her hand went to my forehead and held it there. “You’re warm.”
“It’s warm in here,” I said, shaken by the near fall. I had to remember to keep my crutches with me at all times now.
“No, you have a fever.”
I looked to the ceiling because making eye contact with her would only make me cry. “I think the leg is infected or something. I don’t feel right.”
She yelled for Brady again while putting the ice pack back on my knee. He came running and stopped at the doorway. “We need to get her home,” Haylee said, standing up. “I don’t want her driving. She’s got a fever.”
I swatted at her, and my dress fell to cover my leg again. “I’m fine. I drove myself here. I can drive myself home. I’m not a child.”
Brady knelt in front of the chair and gazed up at me with his bright blue eyes. “We know you aren’t a child, but you can’t let this go any longer. You have a serious problem and one that’s going to cause serious consequences if you don’t have it looked at by a doctor. If you have a fever, then you have an infection. You can’t pretend anymore, Amber.”
I nodded once. “I know. I was already planning to call Dr. Newton today.”
Brady glanced at his watch and then to his wife. “I’ll cover the bakery. The clinic is open. Take her there. She needs a doctor, whether it’s the one she always sees or not. No more waiting or she’ll be in the ER. I’ll have Taylor drive over to pick you up, so Amber has her car once she’s done at the clinic.”
Haylee stood and untied her apron on a nod, then held her hand out for my car keys. I sighed. I had officially pushed my luck.
Eight
I lowered my head to the seat of my car and rolled it back and forth a couple of times. I was exhausted, and it was only two o’clock. Somehow, I had to find the strength to get into my house. It had been a long day already. Maybe I could just go to bed and hope things looked better in the morning. I glanced over at the seat where a bag from the pharmacy was sitting. Chances weren’t great for that.
Tart (The Fluffy Cupcake Book 2) Page 10