Page 10 of Tart
Three
Haylee breezed throughthe door from the back of the bakery, grasped my hand, and helped me to her office. “Um, it’s lunchtime. Who’s going to watch the store?” I asked as she pointed at the chair across from hers in the tiny room. It was once a broom closet, literally.
“Brady. He said he’s ready to schmooze the old ladies into buying some bread and buns.”
I laughed and leaned back in the chair, sipping the lemonade she had waiting for me. I smacked my lips when I swallowed. “Thanks, I needed that. The question is, can I trust Brady with the cupcakes left in the case? He’s always stealing them.”
“You know you can’t trust him with the cupcakes, but we’ll overlook the ones he eats since he’s helping us out. You need a break, and I need to talk to you.”
I leaned forward and motioned for her to speak. “Whatever you need,” I said instantly. “Is something wrong?”
“Not with me, no,” she answered, a brow up in the air.
“You’re implying there’s something wrong with me.” It wasn’t a question since that would have been unnecessary. It was obvious she was talking about my leg.
“You’re the one who mentioned needing to talk to me before your date the other night. Here it is Saturday, and you still haven’t talked to me.”
I tapped the desk twice with my finger. “As a matter of fact, I have another date with Bishop tonight.”
“You do?” she asked, and I could tell she was trying not to sound too excited, but she was totally failing at it.
“Well, it’s like a working date, but it involves food, so...”
“A working date?”
I grimaced and held up my hands where the red dots from the splinters were still visible. “He’s going to take our fence out today. Since I knocked down half of it the other night, now the rest of it has to go. I promised to help as much as I could, but mostly I’ll be grilling steaks while he does the grunt work.”
“Your dad finally agreed to pull that old thing down?” she asked with surprise. “I swear he thought it was an antique or something.”
I laughed and shook my head, letting my eyes drift to the ceiling. “I think he was hoping it would come down with a heavy snow or wind storm, so he didn’t have to work too hard at it. It gave way the second I leaned on it, so I don’t think Bishop will struggle to get it out. That eyesore has got to go.”
“What are we really talking about here, Amber?” she asked, her head tipped to the side.
I glanced around and then back to her face. “Uh, the fence? It needs to go now that I smashed the front half of it.”
“I’ll send a cake for dinner tonight with my thanks to Bishop,” she said dryly.
“I detect sarcasm.”
She held her fingers close together. “Just a tiny amount. I want to know what happened the other night. You haven’t been forthcoming.”
“I told you, I fell on the fence and had to cancel the date.”
