Page 16 of The Secret Heir Next Door

“Great, we’ll come in right about closing time, and you can meet Abby before she and I go to dinner.”

“Perfect,” she breathes. She looks down at her watch. “I can probably whip up some cake samples for her, too, really fast.”

“Cake samples?”

“Yeah, unless you had something else in mind?”

“No, I assumed you’d have someone else bake the cake.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s one of my favorite parts of planning. My Gran used to be one of the best bakers in Sierra Madre. Award-winning cakes. I can’t tell you how many Hollywood celebrities only wanted her to bake their cakes.”

“And you run a candy store?”

“I’m a woman of many talents, Mr. Pierce, which you would see if you stopped looking down your perfect nose at me.”

“I’ll let Abby be the judge of that,” I say with a smile before I start out of the store.

“Does she have any allergies?”

“No,” I answer quickly.

Actually, I don’t know the answer to that.

I shoot a text to Deirdre quickly and ask. Luckily, I was right.

Damn, if it’s not sexy as hell that Serena goes right back at me. She’s not rude either, just confident and I love it.

As I walk back to my office, I admire her tenacity. She's putting everything on the line for this. She doesn’t have any reason to trust me, and yet she does. I don’t know if I should be impressed or feel sorry for her.

“Uncle Logy!”Abby shrieks as she runs to jump into my arms.

She is her usual spirited self, bouncing with energy as her mother looks like she’s ready to pull her hair out.

“Every time I get the twins down, she wakes them up. I’m exhausted.”

“She wakes them up on purpose?”

“Well, I can’t prove that. She’s four, but…she’s a handful, and I just need a break. Thank you for taking her, even if it’s just for a bit.”

“I’ll try to do more. I’m sorry, Dee. I’ve been so focused on the company I’ve let a lot of stuff slide.”

“Everyone has a life, and sometimes we bury ourselves in the mundane so that we don’t have to deal with reality.”

She’s right. Ever since my brother-in-law passed, I’ve not picked my head up out of the sand.

“I tried to put her in a cute little dress, and instead, well, you get Spiderman.”

“I see that,” I laugh.

“I try to get her to be a girl, but…I’m tired of fighting with her.”

“Maybe we can come to a compromise at some point and get her in a tutu or something.”

“Shit. I didn’t think of that. All I could think about was mom judging me because she’s dressed like a little boy.”

“Mom is old school,” I shrug. “I think she’s adorable.”

“The therapist said it’s just a phase, and she’ll outgrow it.”

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