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I looked around. Was she speaking to me?
“Don’t ask him to do anything. I’d rather crawl to the kitchen and make it after you leave,” Brooke said, eying me.
“I can make you a cup of tea, Brooke,” I grunted. “I’m not totally useless.” I slipped out of my jacket, placing it on the coat rack by the door.
“No, I’ll give you that. You’re not totally useless. If you were, I’d be walking just fine.”
“I didn’t trip you, and if you insist I did it wasn’t done on purpose, Brooke,” I grunted.
Brooke shook her head and whispered something to Melinda. They both looked at me, and then Melinda wrapped her arm around Brooke’s waist and helped her to the bedroom. Just as they got to the door, Melinda turned and looked back at me, signaling that I should get into the kitchen.
I looked around, finally seeing the kettle on the counter, and made my way over, checking to see if it was full of water, which it was, so I turned it on and leaned against the counter.
While I waited, I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked my email. The only one that appeared was from Vicki. I was hesitant to read it, but knew if it was something I had to respond to, I’d best get it done. She had sent it to me sometime between me arriving at the hospital and now, demanding that I did whatever it took to avoid a lawsuit, or I was out of a job. I blew out a breath. To be honest, I felt somewhat panicked that after all these years I could be back to applying for jobs.
I quickly logged into my online banking, I needed to see where I stood. If I did get fired, I wanted to make sure I knew how much I had to last me. Immediately, my heart sank. Staring back at me, my account was overdrawn, and my credit card had more on it than was safe or sane. It was simple, I was broke. There was no way I could afford to lose my job. There was also no way I could afford to spend one more night at that inn either, since the magazine wouldn’t allow me to submit an expense report until the end of the month.
I flipped to my email and hit reply to Vicki, letting her know I was doing my best to make things right. Then I pocketed my phone and let out a sigh just as the kettle boiled. I quickly switched it off and opened the cupboard door above the kettle. There staring me in the face were Crispy Biscuit branded mugs. I took the first one I saw and turned it around to see ‘Warm wishes and Marshmallow kisses’ written on the opposite side.
Cute, I thought to myself, then I dug around until I found a box of chamomile tea and plopped the bag in the cup pouring the water over it. Then I took the cup and carried it into the living room.
Brooke had just sat down on the couch, her foot propped up. I placed the mug down on the table.
“Melinda, can you bring me my purse, and that notebook I was working out of please,” Brooke asked, pointing over toward the door where her purse sat.
Melinda scurried over and grabbed both, placing them down on the couch beside her. “What are you doing?” she questioned.
“What I was doing before: seeing if there is anything I can cancel or push back.”
“I told you I’d handle it,” Melinda gritted.
“I appreciate the offer. However, the pair of us barely made it through last Christmas. Cici doesn’t know anything about baking, and well, the other kitchen staff are for the diner. It’s you and me only. One week from today is the contest. That I can drop out of, but it’s all these orders I’m concerned with,” Brooke said, holding up what appeared to me to be a very small list.
“That's it?” I questioned. “That list is what you are worried about?”
She slowly turned her head in my direction and glared at me. Then she shook her head. “This is only the beginning. I haven’t checked at what has still come in since three this afternoon. It could easily be tripled.”
“I’ll go get started on these right now,” Melinda said, taking the list from Brooke and reading it.
“No, it’s been a long day, Melinda. I’ll need you tomorrow. Besides, you still need to take Tristan back to the inn before you get home and get some rest. It’s getting late. I’ll give it a try in the kitchen tomorrow. If I must sit on a chair, so be it. Otherwise, I see no other option but to close down the pastry side of The Crispy Biscuit until I can walk or I’ll just close the Baking Crate store.”
I could see the worry all over Brooke’s face as we all stood there in silence.
“It took me so much hard work to even get an account with them,” she muttered. “Hours upon hours of hard work. Dedication, proof that I wouldn’t fuck it up.”
Melinda knelt to try and comfort her. I stood there, not knowing what to say, just watching as a tear slid down her cheek. I felt I had to do something, but what? And then the words from Vicki’s email ran through my mind.Do whatever it takes not to get the magazine sued.
“You don’t need to close anything,” I announced.
Both Melinda and Brooke looked at me, frowning. “What would you know about it,” Brooke bit out between sniffles.
“Well, I have an idea.”
“Great, I can’t wait to hear this.” Brooke flopped back against the pillows and rolled her eyes.
I blew out a breath. “How about I stay here. I can take care of things around here, and help with the bakery. It’s the least I can do after what happened.”
Melinda gave me a soft smile, but Brooke just scowled. “I don’t think that is the answer at all. You, Tristan, need to go back to the inn and stay as far away as possible from me and my business.”
