Page 90 of Royal Icing
Lisa shook her head. “I think he understands, sweetheart. He probably just wanted to help you and feels partially responsible. He made the choice to pursue you just as much as you did. If he’s willing to give up at the first roadblock, he’s not the man for that project, and he’s not the man for you.”
Emma sighed. She wasn’t ready to analyze whatever was going on with Leo. His birthday was tomorrow, which made her insides feel squiggly. But she wasn’t about to send a Harry & David basket after how things had ended. Would he even find the cheesecake she had convinced Ruby to stash in his freezer?
“Enough about me,” she said, dabbing the end of her sleeve under her eyes. “Tell me everything you’ve been up to while I was away. What’s going on in the neighborhood? Did the Keefers finally get evicted?”
“Well,” Lisa said, pulling a legal pad off the table next to her. “I have a list. First, I’m pretty sure that guy with the fedora two doors down is having an affair. I’m gathering evidence. But that’s not even the worst part. You remember Fabian? I used to work with him.”
Emma relaxed into her mother’s recounting of the neighborhood gossip. She took a sip of champagne and paused. How the hell had they afforded champagne? On a whim, she entered the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. An astonishing amount of food greeted her—vegetables, fruit, even a nice cheese. Far more supplies than she had ordered before her trip. She opened the pantry next to find a couple boxes of pasta and a variety of canned goods. Her mouth dropped open.
“Mom?”
Lisa stopped her storytelling and looked up. “Yes, honey?”
“Were we reverse robbed?” She gestured at the pantry.
“Oh, you mean the food? No, sweetie. A couple neighbors brought over some gifts. Mind Mr. Smith’s fruitcake though. It tastes like ass.”
“They brought over sun-dried tomatoes and whole wheat penne?” Emma asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No. It was the strangest thing. We got a package in my name with a slow cooker and five thousand dollars’ worth of gift cards to Wegmans.”
Emma clutched the refrigerator handle for support. “What? It didn’t say who it was from?”
Lisa shook her head. “I assumed it was a local church but maybe it was…someone else.”
Emma’s heart warmed against her wishes. There was no chance it was anyone but Leo. She didn’t want to owe him anything. Someday, she would find a way to pay him back. Even though the price of groceries was getting wildly out of hand, she was an expert at stretching. Five thousand dollars would keep them for months. If her mom hadn’t already blown it all on sun-dried tomatoes, anyway.
Maybe everything wasn’t lost. Tomorrow was another day.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
EMMA
Emma awokewith a start to the sun shining through her bedroom window. Her heart went into overdrive, pumping like she was running up a mountain. She had overslept. No one had opened the bakery. She was in so much trouble.
Wait.
She was fired. She wasn’t late for anything. The sobering fact calmed her down for a millisecond before a host of realizations set in.
Her plan was in motion even though she wasn’t ready for it. Coverage would lapse on her health insurance at the end of the month, and paying a premium out of pocket was going to be one more thing eating into her savings. It was time to take on as many freelance projects as she could handle.
One year from now, if the location scouting and brand building went well, she could launch her custom order bakery. Even if the worst happened and everything fell through, at least cottage food laws would allow her to bake at home and start selling at farmers’ markets until she could try again.
She’d had a business plan for five years. She knew the market and how to run a bakery, thanks to Maya’s colossal neglect. Except for finances, she was as prepared as she could be.
So much was up in the air, out of her control. It felt impossible. It was going to be a long, lean year. But hopefully five years down the road, things would be significantly better. It wasn’t going to be easy, especially in one of the biggest cities in the world and while being her mother’s full-time caretaker, but it was possible.
Shit. And speaking of caretaking, now she had to let her mom’s nurse go. At least that would be one less monthly expense.
She got out of bed and caught a glimpse of the calendar on her way to the bathroom. Her stomach lurched. Today was Leo’s birthday.
Their last interaction had been disastrous. Everything felt unfinished. Was he able to make his proposal to his parents? Would the community get the project it so desperately needed? She wanted to reach out, but she was afraid to learn what damage she might have done.
Her feelings for him had been so sudden and so strong, like a comet streaking across the sky. They had flamed out before even figuring out where anything could go.
It was better to leave him in the past.
She popped her mom’s door open. “You want to go for a walk after breakfast? I need to clear my head.”
