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“I’m sorry, what?” Caden crossed his arms and leaned forward.
“I have obligations, Caden,” she replied, fanning her hand toward the bakery. “And speaking of, I need to get this picture uploaded before noon.”
Caden stepped in her way. “What’s the deal with you and the cupcakes?”
One of the stipulations placed on her in order to get her trust fund was to keep the deal with her father quiet and off social media. Except for her new budget-friendly advice for socialites on Haute Tips, Maggie had disconnected from the world. Which also meant no one knew what she was up to. Maggie nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment, contemplating telling Caden the embarrassing truth—that she’d been placed on restrictions by her father.
“I enjoy what I do,” Maggie said truthfully. “People count on me here.”
“People counted on you in Miami, New York, LA, Milan.”
Maggie rolled her eyes. “Stalker much?”
“I can read, Maggie.” Caden chuckled and shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned against the door. “My clients are often at a lot of events you attend. I’ve seen photos and articles about the Pecan Princess.”
The moniker said out loud evoked an eye roll. “Whatever. I’ve got to get inside. To get this photo posted.”
“So you won’t come to my mother’s meeting?”
A piece of Maggie’s heart broke. “I love Kit, Caden, I really do, but I can’t be there Saturday. I can’t walk away from my responsibilities here.”
Caden’s eyes lit up as his brows rose. “Magnolia and responsibilities... I never thought I’d hear those two words put together.”
“You said something about being honorable,” Maggie jeered with a squint of her eyes. “I really have to get back inside.”
Pushing down the lump in her throat, Maggie stomped through the kitchen. Was this what her father meant about never taking responsibility for anything in her life? After eleven years and clearly spying on her via social media, Caden still had one opinion of her. Did everyone else?
The noise level inside increased when Maggie entered the front of the bakery. Tiffani was managing to serve the customers. Patrons were smiling, laughing. Some pinched the pieces off cupcakes from their white paper linings, some used their fingers to swipe the cream cheese frosting and others bit into the dried pineapple flower. Whatever their way of doing it, everyone appeared to be happy.
Still, Maggie had to ask. “How’s it going?”
Tiffani beamed. “This might be the biggest crowd yet.”
As Tiffani went on about the orders for later on today and for tomorrow, Maggie looked over at the empty dessert stand where she had had the perfect cupcake posed and ready. Her phone sat on the counter next to a smear of white frosting and pecan sprinkles. The spoon and fork hands of the clock above the door all pointed to twelve.
“Everything went okay with the website?”
“So about that,” Tiffani began.
Panic seized Maggie’s heart. “Please don’t tell me anything went wrong. I had the website up. All you had to do was upload the photo.” Immediately Maggie reached for her phone. A family photo, set as her home screen, greeted Maggie now. Taken at her sister Kenzie’s wedding, it featured Kenzie, Maggie and Bailey, Maggie’s seventeen-year-old niece.
“So, what had happened was,” Tiffani stuttered, “you had the website saved and you had the camera on, which overlapped the time on your phone. I got busy with the customers, but I knew I had time.” She pointed toward the clock above the door, which just now indicated the deadline time for posting photos. “I forgot that I used to set the clock back the night before if I knew I was going to be late so Mama won’t fuss at me. Girl, you were already ten minutes late when you handed me the camera.”
Wordlessly, Maggie stood there. She blinked a few times, trying to register what Tiffani had just said. She’d had one shot with the Dessert Historian.
“Since it appears you didn’t make your deadline,” said Caden’s deep voice behind her, “can I get confirmation that you can attend Kit’s conference?”
Chapter 2
Before Maggie could make a smart remark to Caden, his phone rang and he needed to see to a client—which was fine with her. Maggie had things to do, and after not being able to get the photo posted today, she might need to look for another place of employment.
Those thoughts danced through her head later on her drive to her aunt’s bridal shower while she talked on speaker to her brother.
“Another job blown, huh, Maggie?”
Gripping the steering wheel of the used red Jeep Cherokee her cousin Erin had passed down to her, Maggie huffed and blew a curl out her face while her brother Richard spoke on the other end of the line. “Funny, older brother.”
“You do realize most people refer to the older brothers as big brother, not older.”
