“Need more?”
Joe, totally lost in thought about the final plans for the coffee shop, glanced up. “What did you say?”
Piper held a coffee pot. “Do you want a refill?”
“Uh, sure.” Before he could move the cup, she was leaning over his shoulder to pour the steaming brew.
For a week now, he’d been making himself at home in the Poppin’ Fresh Bakery. He even had his own unofficial table that substituted for a desk. He was surprised by just how much business Piper got all morning long.
And the patrons were nice—real nice—to him. To say he was surprised was an understatement. Apparently, he should have listened to Piper. She knew what she was talking about. Some of the young ladies had even left him their number. He said he’d call when he started interviewing for positions at the coffee shop. That made them smile before Piper ushered them out the door.
“Sorry about that. I hope they weren’t bothering you.”
“No. Apparently, the word’s out that I’ll be interviewing soon.” He held up numerous strips of paper. “They keep leaving me their numbers.”
Piper rolled her eyes. “Please tell me you know better than that.”
Joe’s gaze moved from her to the papers and back to her again. Oh no! “You mean they’re interested in me?”
Piper smiled. “Now you’re catching on.”
“In that case, here.” He shoved the pieces of paper to the end of the table. “I’m not even sure they’re all out of school.” He shuddered. “Thanks for the save.”
“No problem.” Piper topped off his mug and straightened. “Are those your drawings for the coffeehouse?”
“Yes.” He didn’t like anyone looking at them except for the crew. He wanted to keep it under wraps...for now. He wanted to pique the residents’ curiosity and draw them in for a look. Still, it might help to know what Piper thought of his layout. He’d done the interior design all by himself. In his mind’s eye, he could envision Fill-It-Up Joe down to the tiniest detail.
“Looks like you...um, spent a lot of time on the drawings.” Her voice was stilted.
That certainly wasn’t the ringing endorsement he’d expected. Anxious to hear what had her so hesitant, he asked, “So what do you really think?”
He craned his neck so he could see her face. Color infused her cheeks, making him wonder if it was their closeness that had put the roses in her cheeks or if it had something to do with his drawings. He was hoping it was his presence that had her worked up.
“The layout...it’s, um, great if you’re going for a very simplistic look.”
“You act like there’s something wrong with a simple approach.”
She shook her head. “No. Not wrong. But...”
“Spit it out. What’s wrong with my shop?”
“It doesn’t exactly say, Come on in, get comfortable, and enjoy your latte.”
“You mean it isn’t anything like your bakery with these cutesy tables and frilly curtains.” Hurt flashed in her eyes, and he immediately regretted his thoughtless words. “Sorry. Your place is really nice. It’s just a little more feminine than what I want.”
The lines bracketing her lips and eyes smoothed. She looked around at her own creation, and pride reflected in her eyes. “I can see where you’d think that. And I wouldn’t expect you to do the same. But that doesn’t mean you have to make your décor stark and cold.”
Stark and cold. Ouch! He looked at the sketches again. He thought they were sleek and functional. Was Piper right? Was his vision wrong? His gut churned. Every bit of his savings was riding on him getting this right.
Piper pulled out a chair and sat down. “If you want some ideas of how to warm things up, I could help. After all, I did the bakery all by myself.”
While he hesitated, figuring out what to do, she leaped into action. She pulled the sketches across the table so she could look over them. She hemmed and hawed. He didn’t have a clue how to interpret any of the sounds she made.
“You might consider adding a couch here.” Piper pointed to a spot on the drawing. “And a comfy chair there.”
Joe recalled how his ex-wife had initially scoffed at his plans for the coffeehouses. She thought for sure he’d lose his shirt. But as the business garnered her attention, she’d made a little change here and a bigger change there until there was nothing about the business that resembled his original dream. Right before his eyes, it had morphed into something unrecognizable—from the décor to the menu. He wasn’t about to let Piper do the same, whether her suggestions were well-intended or not.
Joe cleared his throat. “Thanks, but the drawings are exactly how I want them. I’m not planning to have people camp out at the tables. That’s one of the reasons I agreed to help revitalize the park. People can take their coffee and mill around over there.”
“What do you have against people hanging out in your coffeehouse? Your customers will be expecting to have space to read the paper or browse the Internet while enjoying their coffee before needing a refill. You don’t want to just shove them out the door, do you?”
He frowned. She had valid points, and he didn’t like it. But he needed to think this through—on his own. But he didn’t know how to gently push aside her help without angering her.
“What sort of business experience do you have?” Piper asked, her gaze narrowing in on him as he focused on the pen in his hand. “Running another coffee shop?”
He bobbed his head, not trusting himself to open his mouth. He still had so many emotions tangled up with what had happened with Denise and George. Not only had they both cheated on him and stolen his money, but most of all they’d stolen his dream. And what was a person without their dreams?
“What happened to your other coffee shop?”
His body tensed. No way was he going down that road—not with her. Not with anyone. He didn’t want Piper to look at him differently. In that moment, he recalled how his father had looked at him, as though he was weak and gullible.
The breath caught in Joe’s lungs. He hadn’t recalled those painful memories in ages. He thought he’d at last succeeded in banishing them. He’d been wrong.
His burning lungs insisted on air, no matter how uncomfortable it was for him. He let out the breath. All the while, he could feel Piper’s steady gaze studying him. Why did she have to be so inquisitive?
He couldn’t stomach having Piper look at him like his father had. This was his new beginning. He couldn’t mess it up. The past need not be revisited—none of it.
“I need to go have a word with the crew.” Joe got to his feet. “I’ll see you later.”
He didn’t wait for her to say anything as he scrounged up his stuff and headed for the door. Outside, with the sun on his face and a light breeze blowing, he was at last able to breathe in a full breath of air into his tightened chest.
He needed to be more careful around Piper. He wasn’t going to let her get too close, no matter how much she pleaded with those mysterious jade eyes. Nothing good would come of it.
♥♥♥
The bell above the door chimed.
“I’ll be right with you,” Piper called from the back of the bakery.
This was Hannah’s day off, and Alison had called in sick. Piper was left rushing back and forth covering the front counter, the kitchen, and the phone. Business had picked up so much that she could afford to hire a third person, but first she had to find time to write up the job description to run in the Whistle Stop Telegraph.
As the phone rang—again—she reconsidered her plan. She’d hire two more people. With the additional help, she could do what she really loved—designer cakes.
After taking an order for two dozen blue cupcakes decorated with a red, white, and blue superhero theme for little Billy Sanders to take to school the next day for his birthday, Piper rushed to the front counter. “Sorry about that, I’m short-handed today. I—” The words caught in the back of her mouth when she realized the identity of her customer.
“Hello, Piper.” The young woman lifted a pair of sunglasses and rested them atop her head. A friendly smile lifted her red lips. “I thought we should talk.”
Piper blinked, not quite believing her eyes. The woman who’d broken up her engagement was standing in her shop. Oh no. What was she supposed to do now? Breathe in. Breathe out. Act normal. After all, it was all in the past. She’d moved on. “Hello, Laney.”
“I’ve never been in your shop before.” She glanced around. “It’s truly lovely. I see now why people rave about it.”
Piper hoped they raved about her assorted baked goods and not the décor. But she wasn’t one to brush off a compliment. “Thank you.” The best thing she could do for her peace of mind was to hurry Laney on her way. “What can I get for you?”
The smile faded from the young woman’s face as her gaze lowered to the yellow and white skirt of her dress. “I want to apologize. You know, for all of the nastiness that happened—”
“You mean your affair with David?”
Pink stained the other woman’s cheeks. “Yes, that. It all just ballooned out of control. I’m so sorry you found out the way you did. Well, I guess we both found out about each other that night.”
What? Had she missed something? “Are you saying you didn’t know David was engaged?”
“I had no idea. If I had, it never would have happened. I swear.”
Piper didn’t want to believe her. It was so much easier to think of Laney as a lying, cheating, conniving hussy. But Laney wasn’t from Whistle Stop. She lived farther north, on the outskirts of Albuquerque. It was quite possible David had duped both of them—quite possible indeed.
So where did that leave them?
Piper clearly recalled walking into David’s apartment and finding him in bed with Laney. The woman had looked at her in surprise before demanding to know who she was, but at the time Piper hadn’t thought anything of it.
It’d been quite an uncomfortable moment for all of them. The worst part being that Piper had never seen it coming. She’d been so wrapped up in keeping her bakery running while trying to find someone to buy it, as well as making elaborate wedding plans fit for the son of the mayor, that she’d never had any downtime in which to wonder why David had never been around anymore.
She’d spent all of her time turning herself inside out trying to be the perfect bride for him. And while she’d been starving herself to fit into a size-five wedding gown and sacrificing the business she’d built from the ground up, he’d been off doing who knew what with whomever. The dredged-up memories left a bitter taste in the back of her mouth.
Piper cleared her throat. “That’s all in the past.”
Laney’s gaze met hers. “Do you mean it? You forgive me?”
“Yes.” Piper wanted to believe in Laney’s innocence and let it go. Her ex, on the other hand, was a totally different story. “Now, what can I do for you?”
A timid smile pulled at Laney’s lips. “You are amazing. No wonder David speaks so highly of you—”
“He does?” Piper bit down on her lower lip, hating that she’d let her surprise get the best of her.
Laney nodded. “He’s always saying how much he admires you.”
Piper just couldn’t imagine David saying any such thing. She had the sinking feeling Laney was buttering her up, but to what end? Surely the woman didn’t want to be her friend.
“Laney, what are you doing here?”
“Sorry. I was getting to it.” She clutched her designer handbag. “You know how David and I are getting married soon?”
Talk about smiling while sinking the knife in and giving it a little twist. “What does that have to be with me?”
“We’ve decided to have the wedding here in Whistle Stop.”
“And what? You want to invite me?”
“Heavens, no.” Laney pressed a hand to her chest, showing off the enormous rock on her left hand. “I’d never want to rub our wedding in your face. I know how hard it’s been on you, what with losing such a great guy”
Really? A great guy? Somehow, that isn’t the definition she’d use in reference to David. “Okay. I give up. Why are you here?”
“I’d like to try to make things up to you. Maybe we could start over since we’ll soon be living in the same small town.”
Piper crossed her arms. Something told her this was going to be quite interesting. “And how do you plan to do that?’
Laney leveled her thin shoulders and lifted her pointy chin. “I’d like you to create our wedding cake.”
If there had been the slightest breeze, it would have blown Piper over. Not quite sure she’d heard correctly, she asked, “You want me to decorate your wedding cake?”
Laney’s blue eyes lit up as she vigorously nodded. “I thought it’d be perfect.”
For whom? Certainly not for her. She wanted to be as far from that wedding as humanly possible. As it was, she still caught people giving her pitying looks and shaking their heads. No doubt they’d already written her off as an old maid, especially since her social life was nonexistent.
“I’m glad to see you’re at least thinking over the idea. Just before I came in here, I was worried you’d reject the offer without even considering what it’d mean to you.”
“What it’d mean to me?” She wasn’t following Laney’s line of thought. Was this some twisted way of rubbing it in Piper’s face that she was a loser? Wasn’t it enough that Laney had stolen away her fiancé? Was she spiteful enough to want Piper to suffer more?
Laney’s expression wasn’t anything but friendly. “With my father having one of the largest chains of car dealerships in the Southwest, there will be people from all over coming to the wedding.”
“And?”
“Don’t you see? It’s going to be the wedding of the season. Your cake will be seen, and tasted, by hundreds of people. It’ll most likely end up in various society columns. This would help your business.”
It would. A splashy affair like Laney described would definitely get the word-of-mouth advertising started. The thought of being able to immerse herself in extreme cake decorating was so tempting.
“Why would you do this for me?” There had to be a catch.
“Because you took the high road even after what David and I did to you. I really admire you. I don’t think I could have taken it so well.”
Piper may not have publicly displayed her broken heart, but that didn’t mean the breakup hadn’t taken its toll on her. She had other ways of dealing with the pain, starting with pints of chocolate ice cream followed by a large supreme pizza with extra cheese. And then there were the cupcakes—they were always there to help drown the pain.
“No one should ever go through what I did.” Piper met her gaze head on.
Laney flinched. “You’re right. Please let me make it up to you.”
Free advertising in exchange for a fiancé and her reputation? Somehow, they didn’t seem to equate. And yet, there was a pleading look in Laney’s eyes that had Piper believing what the woman was saying. Did that make Piper foolish? Naïve? Gullible?
Or would it once and for all prove to the citizens of Whistle Stop that she was past the broken engagement? Would the pitying looks finally cease? And would the event really help her business?
“So, will you do it?” Laney clasped her hands together. “Pretty please.”
Piper really wanted to dislike Laney, but she just couldn’t muster up the emotion. The truth was, they’d never be friends, but Piper could do business with her. She’d show David and the whole town just how strong she really was.
“I’ll do it. Why don’t you have a seat over by the window and I’ll bring you some cake samples to choose from? And we can go over your ideas for the design.”
Laney smiled and nodded. “I knew this would work out.”
Piper sure hoped she was right.