Page 37 of Shadow's End

She grinned. “The gossip brigade came in a day early, and apparently it’s the new favorite.”

I groaned. I loved the ladies—well, most of them—and their business was part of the reason we’d stayed afloat when we’d first opened, but damn, their appetites were ferocious when it came to desserts.

My expression must have been … interesting, because Penny laughed. “I told them they’ve cleaned us out and not to expect another batch to be baked for tomorrow. They said they’d settle for the baked buttermilk donuts with whisky chocolate glaze instead. Which, I might add, they’d all but demolished by Friday last week.”

Which was pretty good going, given the standing order with the specialist bakery over in Lyttleton Street was for fifty to come in on Thursday.

“Good, because I’m really not going to have the time to bake another batch of tarts tonight.”

Penny made a face as she steamed the milk for the coffee. “Might be time to start ordering a few more commercial cakes in. I know we’ve a rep for home baked, but you haven’t the kitchen space or time to keep up with demand at the moment.”

I switched off the blender and poured the green concoction into a glass. “We’re already buying in enough. If push comes to shove, Belle will swing full-time to baking.”

“Which might need to happen sooner than you think.” She swirled the milk into the coffee cups, spooned in the foam, then carefully decorated the top. “Oh, before I forget, there’s a woman who’s been waiting here a while for you. Says she has to talk to you. Privately.”

I raised an eyebrow and glanced past the counter, but couldn’t see anyone who looked like a rep of some kind. “Did she say what she wanted?”

“Nope, but I have seen her around. I told her I wasn’t sure when you’d be in, but she said she could wait. I tucked her in the nook.”

The nook was a table tucked behind the kitchen wall, right next to the line of windows that ran along the lane section of the café, and it was the only table not visible from the counter.

“Tell her I’ll be there in fifteen,” I said. “I’ve got to run this up to Belle, and I desperately need to shower.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but…”

I laughed. “Yeah. Not the best way to meet a rep.”

“Unless you want to run them off, never to see them again.”

“Depends on what they’re trying to sell us this time, I suppose.”

“Indeed, it would.” With a grin, she picked up the two coffees and whisked them away.

I headed back up the stairs to find Belle out of the shower and stumbling toward her bedroom. I slipped my free hand aroundher waist, guiding her the rest of the rest of the way before handing her the drink. I didn’t move until she’d finished the lot.

“See you in a couple of hours,” she mumbled, and she slipped down under the blankets.

“If you wake any sooner than six, I will be cross.”

“You’re such a bossy witch sometimes.”

“Wonder where I learned that from?”

She didn’t reply. She was already asleep. I smiled, padded lightly from the room, and closed the door. After I grabbed a shower, I tugged on shorts and a singlet top and put my hair into a ponytail. Then, feeling cleaner if not more awake, I headed back down the stairs.

Only to discover the woman who waited wasn’t a rep, and she certainly wasn’t trying to sell me something.

It was Karleen fucking O’Connor.

Chapter

Six

Iwas tempted—very tempted—to spin on my heels and walk away. I wanted nothing to do with this woman. There was a part of me, abigpart of me, that wished I could ban her from having any interaction with Aiden or me or our daughter. But wolf packs didn’t work like that. Family was all, and no matter how furious Aiden was with his mom, he would never eradicate her from his life.

And I would never ask him to.

But that didn’t mean I had to be polite to her.

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