Page 131 of Almost Love

It took them a minute and Ginny shook her head. “You did the one thing that people say you should never do?”

“I didn’t get her name tattooed.”Yet.

“What did you do?”

He shook his head. “Afterwards. Whether we sort things out or not, I’ll show you.”

“I’ve known Clem a while and having you in her life was good for her,” Daisy said with a smile.

“That’s what I’ve been saying about her in my life.”

Ginny faked a swoon, but flashed him a smile. “I’ll talk to Mack.”

“I’ll have flowers for you. Can you pick them up on your way?”

Oakley nodded slowly, eyes darting between them. “That’s it?”

“You love her, like…genuinely love her. You’re basically obsessed with her. It’s a fantastic feeling having someone love you that much,” Ginny said with a wide smile. Daisy nodded, her expression slightly distant.

“Thank you.”

“We’re doing this for Clem, so don’t fuck up again.”

He chuckled and nodded, glad that he had three of her friends on his side. Now all he needed to do was get her to give him some of her time.

CHAPTER 35

“I’m so glad you’re here this year, Chef Kinney,” the Mayor of Wildes said as she surveyed the display. “I might be a little addicted to your offerings.”

Clementine smiled. “Turning your team down every year seemed a little cruel, so I figured it was time to make an appearance.”

They shared a laugh and the mayor squeezed her arm before turning to Luna to place her order. Clementine backed away and slowly let her smile drop. Her cheeks and jaw hurt from the way she forced them to form a smile, and she was exhausted. They were on day two of the Spring Food Fling and it was way more chaotic than she thought it would be. Her staff had kept the Pretty Baked stall going for hours the day before and were back at it again, like the rockstars they were. Her exhaustion was partly because of her aching heart and the lack of sleep the last two nights.

Simply put, she missed Oakley. Her plan was to see him that evening after everything wrapped, show up at his apartment and hope that he would give her a chance to talk. When she walked away, she’d made it seem like it was his fault, when it was on both of them for not saying anything earlier. At anotherquick session with Rhiannon she asked for advice on how to handle the conversation—the key was to apologize and explain her thoughts. She practiced it over the last few days, but put that aside when she was at park grounds for the Food Fling.

“All right, eyes up here.” Freya clapped her hands and Clementine smiled as her staff turned to face her. “Chef, the floor is yours.”

Nodding, she smoothed her hands over her long skirt. “Yesterday was fantastic and the only reason we pulled it off is because of all of you. I am so honored to be working alongside you and grateful that you chose my kitchen. In case you missed it, the tip jar was overflowing, so make sure you check in with Luna at the end of today to get your cut. So fucking proud of you guys.”

They hooted, clapping as Freya took over. “Let’s make day two even better. It’s going to be a long one, but we’re going to kill it!” She rattled off duties and got everyone into the zone. Clementine was most grateful for how hard Freya worked, for how dedicated she was to this job. The last week had been problem-free because of her and everyone in the kitchen knew that.

The announcement about the Fling being open for the day had already come over the speakers hours ago, but she’d allowed her staff a late start because she didn’t want them burning the candle at both ends. Customers started lining up, conversation built up around her, and she took in the crowd. She’d always thought of Wildes as a small town, but looking at the number of people filling the park and stopping at every stall, maybe she was wrong.

“Are you going to scope out the competition today?”

She shrugged at Freya’s question. “Haven’t decided yet.”

“You don’t want to go out there and see if youaccidentallyrun into a hot tattooed man?” At her silence, Freya stepped up beside her and nudged her gently.

“I’m good. But thank you.” She could see a lot of the park from there and if he did show up, this was the best vantage point.

“Okay. If you need anything, you let me know.”

She nodded, smiled at Freya and stepped out of the stall space. She saw a steady stream of people moving towards them, so she allowed herself a moment to take it all in. Mack had done such a good job with the stall, giving them a much wider and more elaborate set up than the canvas tents everyone else was using. Made entirely of discarded and distressed wood, it was wide and broad and allowed for her staff to move around each other effortlessly. He built counters, but warned her that it couldn’t take a lot of weight. Not that she had any intention of weighing it down. They’d brought collapsable tables from the bakery that were placed under the counters, in case the weight did become too much. Cake stands, glass domes and other pieces were being used to put their wares on display. Then there were the fresh batch of flowers Daisy had dropped off the night before, light colored carnations and peonies that were used to cover the sides that were already wrapped in sheer material Freya had pulled out of somewhere.

It was pretty and that was something that she had never set out to make her bakery. Sure, it was called Pretty Baked, but not for all the reasons people assumed. Across the top, a canvas banner hung that had light pink and yellow designs along with Indigo’s handwriting that simply read “Pretty Baked. Where your dessert needs will be met pretty much every day”. She’d never had a tagline for the bakery, but she liked the way that sounded.

Pulling her phone out to text her family about how the first day went, Clementine found a long list of texts in theSnap, Crackle & Pop group chat. Shaking her head, she scrolled through them and tried not to smile.Thank god for these two.

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