Part 45 (1/2)

Then I shouted to the swinging doors, ”Guys! Anything they want, on the house for my two boys!”

”You got it, Tess!” Suni shouted back.

Joel muttered, ”Awesome,” and took off on a dash into the front.

Rex was already gone.

I giggled again.

Then I looked at Brock and asked, ”What're you guys doing here?”

I asked this because our plans for the day were set. Considering my schedule and the fact it was girls' night in and Brock had the boys, I was working all day then hoofing it to Martha's. Depending on my level of inebriation and the lateness of the festivities, I was either going to go to Brock's later, call him to get me if I was hammered or cras.h.i.+ng at Martha's.

A visit to the bakery wasn't on the agenda thus a surprise though a good one.

”You got a minute?” Brock asked in return and that was when I wondered if this surprise was a good one.

I looked down at the cake which was almost done. I'd baked them all the day before and only had to decorate them. This was the last birthday cake and next up was the anniversary cake. My appointments weren't until after three. Therefore I had time.

So I nodded, put down the pastry bag and muttered, ”Let's go to my office.”

We went and when I closed the door behind me and saw Brock looking around with unconcealed surprise, I realized he'd never been back here. Not when we were seeing each other when he was Jake and not when we got back together when he was mine.

He looked at the chaos then at me and said simply, ”Babe.”

”I know where everything is,” I defended myself.

He looked around again then back at me. ”That's impossible.”

”No, really.”

He grinned.

Then he tipped his head toward the door, crossed his arms on his chest and remarked, ”Madhouse.”

I nodded. ”I need to consider more hires, decorators for the back, staff for the front. It isn't lightening up even on weekdays and special orders are getting out of hand so I don't have time to help the girls keep the front stocked.”

”You need to consider opening new locations,” Brock returned and I blinked at him. ”It's a madhouse out there 'cause this is the only place in Denver they can get your stuff so they descend en ma.s.se here. You open shops in LoDo, Park Meadows, considering additional foot traffic and convenience to locals, you'll clean up.”

I had, of course, thought of this after I'd learned Brock was not Jake, we were apart for those three months and I was h.e.l.l-bent on doing anything that might take my mind off being played but mostly losing him (an effort that, incidentally, failed). I'd even looked at locations for expanding, including one in LoDo or what lower downtown Denver was known as.

However, these activities clashed with my half-baked plans to sell my house and move to Kentucky so I didn't fully investigate them. But also, I didn't fully investigate them because already the success of my shop was cutting into the time I got to do the fun stuff. I had an accountant and outsourced payroll but that was it. All the hires, scheduling of personnel, ordering, inventory, my calendar and the rest of it I did. The idea of adding another shop to that load, or, worse, two, didn't fill me with glee.

”I'm uncertain of my desire to be the Cake Guru of Denver. I like baking and decorating.

I'm not chomping at the bit to build and oversee a cake empire.”

He grinned then decided he was done with our distance, which, considering my office was tiny was only two feet so the distance wasn't that distant but still, he obviously didn't like it. I knew this because his arms uncrossed and one shot out, he grabbed my hand, tugged on it hard so I was forced to take a big step forward and I fell into his body. Then both his arms wrapped around me and I tilted my head back to look up at him as my arms slid around his waist. Then he gave me no time to make a comment or react to this change of physical circ.u.mstances, he casually continued the conversation like yanking me into his arms in the middle of one was a totally normal thing to do.

Which, I realized in that nanosecond, for Brock it was.

”So hire a business manager to oversee the s.h.i.+t you don't wanna do at your different locations and spend your time baking and decorating,” he suggested.

This idea held merit but I still shook my head and explained, ”Sometimes, when folks expand, things get out of hand. You lose quality. You lose personality. It starts to be about money, not about soul. I put a lot of work into what's happening out there and my name is on these cakes.” I gave his waist a squeeze and said quietly, ”To me, baby, this isn't just cakes, it's my vision, it's me. And I need to control it.”

And it was my vision, it was me. I'd not that long ago finally discovered who I was and what was inside me and that didn't only include a mountainous swirl of frosting under which was rich, moist cake. It also included robin's egg blue and lavender and hibiscus blossoms and hummingbirds and smiling clerks and kids who walked in with looks on their faces like Rex and walked out with smiles on their faces like pretty much everybody.

”All right, darlin',” Brock said softly and my focus went back to him. ”You'd had a tough night so you might have missed it but over Mexican, your girl b.i.t.c.hed... at length... about her job. She's in a bad place, hates what she's doin' and she's been lookin' around now for months and findin' nothin'. You told me your income quadrupled over Christmas and that isn't slowing. Right now, you got the means to do this and you got someone you trust, someone who knows you and your vision and understands the importance of it to you. Talk to Martha, maybe she'll be open to takin' on a new gig. Even if you don't expand, with how it is out there, you still could use someone doin' what you do in here so you can get outta here and do what you prefer to do out there.”

Again, this idea held merit but this one held more. Like a lot more. Doable more.

”That's a great idea, honey,” I whispered.

”It's a selfish idea, baby,” he whispered back. ”The more money you make, the more s.e.xy nighties I get and if you get help, I'll maybe see you sometimes when you're not flat out exhausted and trying to hide it.”

See? Totally could not pull s.h.i.+t over on Brock.

”I'll talk to her tonight,” I told him.

”Good,” he said on an arm squeeze.

”So,” I tipped my head to the side, ”did you come here to advise me on the future of my bakery?”

He shook his head and answered, ”Nope, gotta go to work. Mom's got plans to go see a movie with friends. Laura's got a gaggle of girls over because Ellie had a slumber party last night. Jill and Fritz are up in the mountains snowshoeing. I don't think Dad's up to it, Levi isn't answering his phone and Kalie and Kellie are out there. 'Cause of that, I need to ask you to look after the boys. If I can get hold of Levi, I'll give you a call and send him 'round to pick them up.”

It was then I noticed he wasn't in a thermal and his leather jacket and faded jeans but in a navy blue turtleneck (again, one I bought him for Christmas), his nice jeans and his black overcoat.

Work attire.

”Someone get a cap busted in their a.s.s?” I asked.

He grinned, shook his head in that way he did (that way I liked) when I knew he thought I was cute and answered, ”Yeah, and that someone was done exactly the way another someone was done who hit my desk last week. I gotta get to the crime scene and I gotta look into that s.h.i.+t.”

Not fun.

”Okay,” I agreed readily and his arms gave me another squeeze.

”They'll be cool,” he told me.

”I know they will,” I told him.

”If they can help out, put them to work,” he suggested.

”They just got KP duties,” I decided.