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“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that you knew Carter Cook. And he’s staying with you? I thought we were friends!” Emily pressed her hand over her heart dramatically. Her wide grin gave away the fact she wasn’t serious, and I rolled my eyes at her.

“News travels fast,” I grumbled. “Who told you he’s living with me?”

“Sarah found out last night from Ethan. That boy had a serious case of hero worship, which I think is funny, considering who his father is.” Emily’s voice was muffled as she dug through the walk-in cooler for ingredients for our signature maple sugar cookies. She looked over at me after she slammed the door shut. “Except Chad is not going to win any Father of the Year awards, so I guess it makes sense. What Sarah didn’t know was how you managed to get Carter Cook to move in when he’s been in town for exactly one day. How did you pull that off? And why?”

I should have known Ethan would tell people, and Sarah, Emily’s youngest sister, was one of his best friends. Red Rock was small enough that between Chad running his mouth and Ethan telling his friends, everyone would know within a couple of days. I was not looking forward to the speculative glances.

When I’d let it be known I wanted to find a tenant, people hadn’t thought much about it, especially since I said I was looking for either a college kid home for the summer or a young ballplayer.

Having Carter move in was different. He was a full-grown, gorgeous man who could easily afford to live somewhere much nicer, and much more private, than my guest room. There were sure to be whispers about why he moved in.

At least I knew Emily wouldn’t be part of that gossip chain. The last thing I wanted was for Chad or the Fliers to think there was something going on between Carter and me. Chad could cause all kinds of trouble, and that might put my contract with the team at risk. I couldn’t allow that to happen. And that meant keeping my hands to myself, and keeping my thoughts G rated. Drooling over Carter would just cause problems none of us needed.

I weighed the dark chocolate that would become the ganache filling for the layers of the cake I had just pulled out of the oven. Aside from our maple sugar cookies, my Death by Chocolate dark chocolate cake was our most popular item, and I had three custom orders due to be picked up or delivered later this morning. Once I had exactly the right weight, I set the bowl aside and met Emily’s curious gaze.

“I met Carter years ago, when he was a rookie in Texas. He stayed with us back then for a couple of months, became almost family. When I bumped into him at the tasting event yesterday, I offered him a place to stay. As for why . . .” I blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m not surprised Ethan didn’t tell Sarah. Chad’s back in town. I told Ethan that Chad expected me to let him move in with us because there’s no room at his parents’ place. What I didn’t tell him was that I lied to Chad, told him I’d already rented the room out to Carter. Then I begged Carter to back me up. Carter moved in as a favour to me.”

With every word, Emily’s eyes had grown wider, until she was looking at me like she was trying to decide whether I was demented or the luckiest woman alive. I was not going to tell her it was the second option. My attraction to Carter was ridiculous, and would stay my secret. No way was I going to embarrass myself and admit it to anyone else.

“Chad is back and he thought you’d let him stay with you? Is he completely out of touch with reality?” Emily didn’t try to hide her contempt.

“You know how he can be.” I didn’t have to say more. Emily had listened to my rants about Chad more than once. She knew all my dirty secrets, and if that hadn’t been enough to prove that Chad was a class A narcissist, his treatment of Ethan and Brooke more than convinced her.

Her own father had pulled a disappearing act over a decade earlier, leaving her mother with five kids to raise on her own. As the oldest, Emily had taken on a lot of extra responsibility helping care for her younger siblings. She had a personal hatred for deadbeat dads.

“It’s lucky you ran into Carter yesterday, then. I can only imagine how pissed Chad must have been when you told him.” Emily’s smile was evil.

Emily’s words drove home just how loyal she was, and I loved her for it. When Chad’s cheating had first been exposed, and our lives and dirty laundry had gone viral, I’d felt so completely alone. The other WAGs had basically abandoned me as soon as they realized I was serious about divorcing Chad.

When I’d moved home, I’d worried that people here would have the same response: disdain and ridicule because of the viral videos the gossip sites had posted of me. Instead, thanks in part to my family and friends from high school, I had been welcomed with open arms. Emily had been a lot younger than me, but she remembered me from when I babysat her, and had renewed our acquaintance when she found out I was planning to open a bakery. She had become one of my best friends.

Emily measured ingredients and switched the mixer on before leaning against the counter and staring at me. “Well? How did the event go? When will you find out if you won the contract?”

She bit her lip, trying unsuccessfully not to look nervous. Emily wanted this contract as much as I did, if only because it would guarantee her more job security, and I’d promised her a much-deserved raise along with it.

I’d been waiting for this moment all morning. Without answering her, I cued up the song on my tablet that I’d prepared the night before, then slid a dome-covered plate over to her. Emily looked at me quizzically and reached for the dome, and I hit play. The words to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” rang through the bakery, and Emily began to jump up and down as she read the numbers on the cheque I’d placed under the dome. “We got the job?”

“We got the job!” I reached for her and hugged her hard. “I couldn’t have done it without you. This is a bonus to say thank you. We can discuss the amount of your raise, but I wanted to give this to you now to celebrate.”

The bonus was only $2,000, but for now it was all that the bakery could afford. Emily had earned every penny of it, and I was thrilled to share that much with her.

“This is amazing. I knew you could do it. You’re too talented for them not to recognize it. When is our first day?”

“Opening day is next week. We have a lot of work to do, but I’ve already been sketching out some ideas. Why don’t you look over my plans while I get these cakes done?” I handed Emily the tablet and began stacking the cooled cakes. I was eager to see what Emily thought of my designs; she was a terrific designer in her own right, and I valued her opinion.

She pored over the designs I’d worked on yesterday, tapping the stylus on the table as she thought. I kept glancing over at her, holding my breath as once or twice she made alterations to the designs, relaxing only when she lifted her head and grinned at me.

“These are amazing. I think the cake pops will look adorable as baseballs, but what do you think about decorating some of them to look like some of the players?” She turned the tablet to show me what she’d drawn. The drawing was unmistakably Carter, and it was adorable.

“As usual, you’ve taken my ideas and made them better,” I said, once again grateful Emily had approached me with a portfolio of designs when I’d first started out in Red Rock. There had been no money for her to go to art school after her father left, and she’d channelled her talent into baking instead. Emily was a key part of the success of our bakery, and my secret plan was to make her a partner once I was sure it was sustainable.

“I think doing the same thing with sugar cookies would be a hit too,” Emily added. “We could rotate the players through, depending on who’s here, who’s having a breakout season, that kind of thing. Like a featured player of the week.”

Why hadn’t I thought of that? It was genius. “Great idea. We should probably start with players that people would know, like Carter. I haven’t seen the final roster yet, but I know there are a few other former big-league players.”

As up to date as I was on the club moves, all the work involved in prepping for yesterday’s event had prevented me from checking for a few days. If I had, I would have known Carter had made the team and would be in town. Who else had been added to the roster since the last time I looked? I’d been away from pro ball for a long time, so it was unlikely I would know any of the other players personally, but there would still be names I recognized.

I left Emily to continue working on designs as I finished the cakes scheduled for delivery this morning. I’d drop them off right before I left for Calgary, where I’d be stocking up on some specialty ingredients that were available only in the larger city.