Page 9 of Almost Love

“Had a bit of a crisis this morning. Couldn’t decide between a sky blue skirt and denim shorts, broke down and cried and then finally settled on the shorts.”

He pulled out a stool and sat down, rubbing a hand aggressively over his face. She pouted and gave his shoulder a squeeze. From the minute Indigo could speak and have opinions, clothes and gender descriptions had become an ongoing discussion. Mack never put any restraints on who Indigo was, letting his kid make those decisions on their own. They were still figuring out where they stood in the great big world.

“School’s been great, though. They switched pronouns and you can see the difference in Dig’s mood because of it. But the kids are a little less nice when it’s a skirt or a flower in their hair.”

She gave him a hug, which he returned half-heartedly as was normal with the man, and released her as his eyes did a sweep of the counter she was working on.

“Stress, frustrated or horny baking?”

“I have never horny baked,” she protested, because she didn’t go through her day thinking about sex. Mack knew that. “Mostly frustration. With myself.”

“Still on about this Oakley lad, then?”

Every now and then, his Scottish accent and usage of words would slip out. Even though he’d spent most of his life in Iowa, growing up across the street from her family, the ten years he spent in Scotland had influenced a lot of how he spoke these days.

“I was mean, wasn’t I? And I’ve been avoiding him since then.”

Mack shook his head, a half-smile on his lips. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Freya says I should apologize. Luna thinks it’s okay to set boundaries. And you know Roscoe.” She sighed, adjusting her bandana. “He said that I should forget about him.”

“Roscoe knows you’re never going to date him, right?” She laughed at the question. Roscoe flirted with her constantly and for years, she didn’t know that’s what he was doing. Until Mack saw it in action and warned the handsome baker that she would never date someone she worked with. “I think Luna and Freya are right. You can set boundaries and still apologize, because youaresorry for the way you behaved.”

Clementine huffed and tipped her head back, letting her eyes fall shut. She could still see the look on Oakley’s face when she said ‘no’ that day—he was devastated and the light went out in his eyes.Shedid that. With a quick nod, she grabbed an apron and handed it to Mack. He slipped it on and, after a check on Indigo, helped her experiment with her rhubarb dessert.

Growing up, she’d been surrounded by incredible cooks and bakers. She was always perched on a counter watching her mother or grandmothers make meals. She enjoyed the process and definitely enjoyed the tasting part of it too.

Clementine knew how lucky she was to have a family that didn’t police her eating, or make underhanded comments about the size and shape of her body. Her relationship with food was healthy and appreciative. She liked learning about ingredients, understanding how they could be combined with something else to create new flavors. She asked millions of questions whenever she was in the kitchen with her family, desperate to understand why they made the choices they did.

Research became her favorite thing, along with experimenting, and by the time she was fourteen, Clementine was baking desserts for big family meals. She read books by famous chefs, watched documentaries about legendary cooks and found every way to fully understand what went into baking. If she was being honest, it started as a hobby, turned into a passion, and finally became something sheneededto do.

When she announced her pastry school dreams, her parents protested a little. They convinced her that a degree in business management or hospitality would go a long way, and after graduation, she could still do pastry school. With that decision in place, her parents offered to help with tuition. They even invested in her business when she first opened Pretty Baked.

Initially, it was about making and selling her favorite desserts—cupcakes, donuts and cookies. When Freya andRoscoe were hired, she expanded her offerings and it functioned like a proper bakery.

Until Frankie Willows walked into her bakery and changed everything.

Being called the ‘Wedding Cake Queen of the East Coast’ was definitely unexpected. It took a lot of convincing for her to frame that article and put it up in the bakery, but now it hung right above the tasting table. Along with tons more magazine features and interviews that she’d done over the years.

Thanks to all this attention and the constant flow of customers, she was considering expanding. Even though she’d thought about it, and talked to Mack and her therapist, Rhiannon, about it, she hadn’t actually done anything further. Keeping the current bakery running was taking up all of her time and energy. And she was okay with that.

“I hope you’re setting a few extra aside for me.”

She looked up from where she was plating the tasters in the kitchen and snorted at Frankie’s giddy expression. The last time Clementine had given her friend tasters, she had to listen to all the ways Frankie used the cake on her boyfriend’s body. While she didn’t get jealous about things like that, it was strange knowing what else her cake was being used for. But it was clearly helping with Frankie’s relationship, so she couldn’t fault her for that.

“Maybe,” she replied and stepped aside to let Freya finish, then wiped her hands and reached for her iPad. “All right, so we’ve got eight options for them.”

“Perfect. They have a vague idea of what they’re looking for.”

She frowned and walked out of the kitchen. “Did they not tell you what their vague idea was?”

“Chocolate was literally all she said.” Frankie sighed.

Making a face, she checked the large table that was set up for the couple, ensuring that the cups for coffee, glasses forwater and plates were clean. Everything about her bakery was important and nothing could ever be out of place. Not that she ever turned into Gordon Ramsey if something went wrong, but she wanted to be taken seriously every single day.

“You okay, Clem?”

She glanced over and saw concern etched into her friend’s face. “Yeah, just a lot on my mind.”

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