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“Stop!” she said, holding bread dough covered hands out toward each of them. “What is happening in here?”
Mrs. Barnett still held the arm, but her grip relaxed slightly as she said, “Your aunt here sold out.” She jutted her chin toward Frankie.
Jessica turned to look at her aunt.
Frankie glared at Mrs. Barnett behind her cat-eye glasses. “I did not.”
“You did!” the fiery older woman said, readjusting her grip on the arm.
“I didn’t. You have no idea what you’re talking about, you old bat, and I’ve had enough of your accusations.”
Oh my God.“Stop! What are you two talking about?” Jessica asked, looking back and forth between them.
“Mr. Dorsey paid me a surprise visit this morning,” Mrs. Barnett said, her angry tone mixed with a hint of hurt. “He told me Frankie took their buyout offer.”
Jessica frowned. There was no way Frankie would do that. Definitely not without talking to her first.
Frankie shook her head. “Wait a sec, Mr. Dorsey told me thatyouaccepted their offer,” she told Mrs. Barnett.
Mrs. Barnett’s nostrils flared. “I did no such thing!”
Could a person’s red hair get more red with anger?
A quick glance at the woman’s mood ring had Jessica quickly retreating behind the counter with her aunt and accepting one of the glue guns. Then she sighed and put it down. “Okay, everyone lower their weapons.”
Her aunt put down the glue gun and Mrs. Barnett reluctantly lowered the mannequin arm.
“Look, it’s obvious what’s happening here.” Jessica turned to her aunt. “Let me guess, he told you both thatIhad accepted their offer?”
He aunt nodded. “He’s playing us all,” she said with a sigh.
Mrs. Barnett raised the arm again. “Next time I see that sniveling little snake…”
“Hey…it’s okay. At least we all know what he’s up to now. I’ll grab us some tea and we can all talk this out, okay?” Jessica said, making her way to the front door. “No one kill each other or destroy the place further while I’m gone?”
The two women nodded, but still avoided looking at each other as Jessica left the shop.
Breathing a deep sigh, she pushed through the bakery door and washed the dough from her hands in her kitchen sink.
“Drama, drama, drama,” she muttered. That Mr. Dorsey was something else. How he thought he could get away with trying to trick them all like that and setting them against one another was just shady.
Could she really consider selling her bakery to a company like that?
Pouring three caffeine-free teas, she flipped the sign on the door toBe back in an hourand then re-entered a much calmer shop, where the two women were putting everything back where it belonged.
Suddenly, Jessica was the one on edge. Clearly, neither of them had accepted the offer from Not Just Desserts, meaning the fate of the businesses was once again completely on her shoulders.
…
“Was Lia too busy to come shopping today?” Mitch asked as he and his mother entered Petals and Gifts on Main Street later that morning. He’d almost forgotten about his plans to meet her that day after sleeping at Jessica’s place the night before. She’d already left for work when he’d woken up, and he’d been analyzing his feelings all morning. It was definitely a new sensation. Waking up in a woman’s bed wasn’t something he did often. Waking up in a woman’s bed in his small hometown was something he’d never done, but he’d caught the slightest glimpse of what spending a night with her and waking up with her could be like.
He didn’t hate it.
“She has all her shopping done,” his mother said. Dressed in a red and white candy-cane striped dress and green tights, she looked like an elf as she perused a display of snow globes she certainly didn’t need any more of.
Mitch took her arm and gently led her away. If she brought home another one, his father would lose it. “You mean you didn’t even ask her,” he said.
His mother avoided his gaze as she picked up a scented candle, sniffed it, and shoved it under his nose. “Does this smell better than the pine one I was burning the other night?”
