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“I won’t tell your mom you said that,” he joked. “But I’ll think about booking a visit.”
“I look forward to it, Dad.” It would be nice to see my folks without the constant worry that I’d have to bump into my brother or ex-fiancée.
The call ended and I turned my gaze to that point in the sky where it looked like the sun and water were about to meet, and sighed. One more week and then I go home. Silicon Valley and then Seattle, and then back to Pilgrim.
It couldn’t come soon enough.
Shannon
I’m not surprised, not even a little bit surprised.
That’s what I kept telling myself every day that passed without a word from Miles. He didn’t owe me a phone call or a text message, we’d both been clear what we were, and were not looking for in the romance department. Still, that didn’t change the fact that I felt a hint of a sting in my general chest area that Miles hadn’t reached out to me.
Not once.
I thought we’d had a good time together, even without the mind-blowing sex and the toe-tingling orgasms. “I was wrong. Again.” It wasn’t the first time that I’d been wrong about a man, and I was sure it wouldn’t be the last, because apparently even being up front about your feelings wasn’t enough for most men. “Whatever.” I needed to put all thoughts of Miles out of mind. There was no point worrying about him when he clearly wasn’t concerned with me at all.
I had bigger fish to fry, or bread to bake as the case currently was. It had been two weeks, and I was still no closer to figuring out the secret to Mara’s success, and that bummed me out even more than Miles. But I was determined to figure it out any way I could, so I spent the morning and afternoon reading business articles and outlining different plans for my after hours meeting with Mara.
The phone rang and I reached towards the coffee tale and absently tapped the speaker button. “Hello, you’ve reached Shannon.”
“Shannon, it’s your father.”
I rolled my eyes. “I recognize your voice, Daddy. How are you?”
“I’m fine,” he said in that gruff tone that came so naturally to him. It was why his business rivals feared him right along with his employees, but for me he just sounded like the man I’d always known. The only man who had never let me down. “Wondering what you’re doing in Pilgrim, Texas?”
Of course he knew where I was. “I’m here because I need to find out why Mara has made such a success of Bread Box when the other business are just doing okay.” I held my breath at the long silence on the other end of the line, waiting to hear that I was wasting my time and money trying to be a businesswoman.
“Really? That’s good to hear, Pumpkin. I’m proud of you for trying to work it out without throwing money at the problem.”
I smiled at his words, which might have been offensive to some, but I knew he meant well. “The companies are all making money, just not the same as my small town bakery.”
Daddy laughed, a sound most people didn’t get to hear Phillip Brinkley make, because he always had to appear tough and ruthless. “That is odd. What have you learned?”
“My manager is a hard worker and a magician with pastries. Her simple marketing ideas work, but I don’t know why exactly. Not yet.” I was determined to figure out it though. “I want this to succeed, Daddy. All of it. I really do want that, whatever you and Teresa might think about me or my abilities.” Teresa was my wicked stepmother who’s upset that her own daughter doesn’t have a trust fund to pull from, just a generous allowance that allows her not to work.
Daddy sighed and I could see him removing his wire frame glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. “We both just want what’s best for you, Shannon. You know that.”
“I know you do and I love you for it, but bakeries open early and I still have a lot to do, so I have to get back to work. It was good to hear your voice.”
“Yours too, Pumpkin. Don’t be a stranger.”
“I won’t.” I kept my distance because fighting with Teresa stressed Daddy out, but we talked three times a week, always, except the past month while I was trying to get a handle on my business empire without his advice, which was usually to quit and get a successful husband.
As if.
I was grateful for Daddy’s call though, because it had lit a fire under me and I wrote tons of notes on different promotions we could do to take Bread Box to the next level.
When I showed up at Mara’s place at exactly seven o’clock, my confidence was high and my mind was open. “I brought you beer,” I told her when she opened the door. “I heard this was your favorite.”
