Page 16 of Sweet Rivals

“The horror”

“I know!” I said. “We need to keep pondering this. I’ve gotta get to work though.”

“Alright, I will keep adding to our list of nefarious sabotage,” she said.

“Thanks! I owe you!”

Chapter Twelve

For all my big talk with Cat at the café, when I walked into the kitchen, still running on rage and coffee, I was stunned silent to see Jared Wallace sitting in the office, one foot crossed over his knee, leaning back casually in a chair, laughing at whatever my parents had just said.

“Oh, gag,” I whispered, wishing that Cat was there so she could see just how awful this guy was.

The office couldn’t have been more than a hundred square feet, but it was crowded with two desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and papers, so many papers. In the digital age, I didn’t think it was possible to accumulate as much paperwork as my parents had lying around. One summer in high school, I decided I would organize it for them (they had filing cabinets, after all), but after a week of the stacks never diminishing because my parents kept printing shit out and adding it to the piles, I gave up. It was their system, so they could manage it however they wanted.

Now, however, I couldn’t see anything but the man taking up space in their office, smiling and laughing with all his effervescence that made me want to deck him. The thought surprised me. This rage was a novel feeling. I kind of liked it. Finally, I had a place to channel all of my disappointments and unfulfilled ambitions.

I cleared my throat as I approached the office doorway. Jared turned bright, expectant eyes in my direction. The last time we were together our lips had locked. He was ignorant to our newfound bitter rivalry.

“Jenna! Good morning,” Mom said. “We were just talking about you.”

“I see you bought the empty bakery,” I said to Jared, ignoring her. I didn’t want to know what the hell the three of them could possibly have to say about me.

“I did. Hopefully I can live up to the last owners,” he said, still wearing that toothy grin that made his jawline both softer and more striking at the same time. I couldn’t wait to watch it fall from his face.

“I doubt it,” I said.

And there it was, his smile faltering just slightly. The corner of his lips dipped down before righting themselves back into an effortless grin. Part of me felt awful. But I reminded myself that was old Jenna, Jenna from 10am who by 11am was long gone, replaced by a cold, calloused Jenna who only cared about getting her bakery back.

“Jenna,” Mom hissed.

“Mom, you of all people should understand the unique enterprise of setting up shop, bakery or otherwise, in a small town. It is bad enough that vacationers come and treat Cape Shore like it doesn’t exist the second their trip is over. But now you, Mr. Corporate Chain Restaurant King, want to come in and open a big business bakery? How could that possibly be a good thing? This town has character. Each store here is owned and operated by community members, and now, all of a sudden, we are celebrating the nameless, impersonal takeover of Corporate America? I cannot believe that everyone here is so brainwashed by celebrity that you would be blind to all the pitfalls of this.”

The good news was that my inability to form coherent sentence around Jared had vanished, but it remained to be seen if that was a good thing or bad thing given the tirade I just laid on this man. Still, he smirked, and I pictured myself reaching up and wrapping my fingers around his neck and digging in until his eyes stared vacantly, and his mouth hung agape.

Okay, that little fantasy took a weird turn, but the point stands. Someone needed to wipe that smile off his face. And I planned on being the one to do it by any means necessary.

With my rant was over, I snapped my mouth shut. Dad looked horrified and Mom had that plastered on, too-polite smile that women were trained to wear in order to keep from making others uncomfortable with their pesky opinions. It was a smile that I was all too familiar with because it had taken up permanent residence on my face until Jared Wallace came to town.

“You make an interesting point, Jenna. Something to think about. Maybe you can help me out with it. A consultant of sorts,” Jared said as if he had no skin in the game at all. As if the most important thing in the whole world to me was just a little thought experiment to him.

“What a lovely idea,” Mom said, relief clear in her voice. Grateful that Jared had the manners and grace to ease the awkward tension that I had created. I’m sure earning him even more points in her book.

“Mom, he is a trained professional at opening restaurants. I think he’ll be just fine,” I said.

“Doesn’t sound like you have much confidence in me,” he said with a lift of his eyebrow and a pull of his lips that looked like he was making fun of me.

“Jenna, I think you are being a little bit dramatic. I don’t think a new bakery will be the downfall of Cape Shore,” Mom said.

“Unbelievable. We might as well invite in Dunkin Donuts,” I said.

“Jared has some really good ideas for the place,” Dad said.

“I understand her concerns. I don’t want to ruin the vibe of Cape Shore,” Jared said.

I couldn’t believe that this man was defending me against my parents and my parents were taking his side.

“Jenna, think about my idea,” he said, standing.

---