Page 23 of Holly versus Mr. Ivy
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Umm. Mine.”
“Fabulous. What day and time?”
“Monday at one?”
Combined, the movies took over three hours to watch. I had to be to the restaurant early because the new assistant manager started that day. “Could you make it nine-thirty instead? Aaron starts at two on Monday, and I can’t be late.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” She bit her lip. “Can my mom join us?”
Wait. Did she live with her mom, or was she inviting her mom over? Was she afraid I’d try something if we were left alone? Weird and again a little hurtful. I’d never put the moves on a woman who wasn’t interested. “Absolutely. The more the merrier.”
Holly looked relieved. “Thank you. We should finalize next week’s party before everyone else shows up.”
“Right.” I pulled out my laptop, and we got down to business. With two and a half months left to increase revenue, we had a LOT of work left to do.
I’d just finished vacuuming on a Saturday morning when my doorbell rang. Bear went wild, sensing his human was finally back. “Hush, Bear.” Pulling him back by his collar, I finally managed to get the door open wide enough before Bear launched himself at Jack.
Bear pounced onto Jack’s chest, licking his face in greeting.
Jack scratched behind his ears. “I missed you too, bud.” He hugged Bear’s neck, burying himself in his dog’s enthusiastic hello.
That was the most physical I’d ever seen Jack get with anyone. He loved that dog. From the dark circles under his eyes and mussed-up hair, Jack hadn’t spent the night sleeping well. My heart panged in my chest, afraid of the update Jack had to tell me.
I leaned a shoulder against the entryway wall with one leg crossed over the other, watching as human and animal reconnected. I’d miss having Bear as my companion. Someone to be there when I was at home, lonely and bored. Most of all, someone to force me out of bed when life threatened to pull me under.
Finally, Jack grabbed Bear’s collar and led him back into my house.
“Welcome home, man,” I said.
“Thanks.” He nodded. “I’m glad to be back.”
I pushed myself off the wall. “How’d it go the last few days?”
He groaned. “Where do I even start?”
“Uh-oh. Come on.” I waved him into my kitchen, pulled out two waters from the fridge, and guided Jack to my leather sectional in the great room. Taking a seat, I rested my ankle on top of my knee. “I know you can’t say if you won or not, but tell me what you can.”
Jack sat on the opposite end from me, sagging into the cushions. Bear lay across his feet, like he couldn’t handle not touching Jack in case his human left him again.
Jack fiddled with the cap of his water bottle. His eyes went glassy as he croaked out, “We’ve lost the bakery.”
Nooo!I moaned as my heart broke for my best friend. Jack’s life had more downs than ups. His mom’s bakery was the one good, real thing he had left from his childhood. To see that taken away after everything else Jack had endured shattered me. The darkness that had been threatening me lately crept in further. I wasn’t sure how much devastation I could handle before I completely broke down. “Things were bad after what Mark did, but not totally out of the realm of being fixed last we spoke. What happened?”
“Mark is what happened,” Jack growled.
“Obviously.” I rolled my eyes. Mark was the worst brother ever. “But did you ever find out about First Presidential?” I’d discovered Love Bakes was making payments to First Presidential Bank, but Jack wasn’t sure why.
Jack leaned his head back on the cushion and closed his eyes as he filled me in on everything he’d learned the past few days. “Anyway,” Jack continued, “because of Mark’s poor management, the bank is auctioning off the building. Love Bakes is officially declaring bankruptcy.”
Bankruptcy? Emotion swelled in the back of my throat. “No, Jack. I’m so sorry. What can I do to help?”
He met my sad gaze with one of his own. “You’ve done plenty, and I appreciate it so much.”
“You know I’m happy to do what I can for you. You’re like my brother. Although, I’m nothing like your real one.” That worthless tool better not show his face around me ever again, otherwise my fist would happily rearrange his features.
Jack forced out a chuckle. “Don’t I know it? Can you spare some time to help me move?”
How would I find the time with how busy I was at the restaurant? It didn’t matter. When my best friend asked for help, I showed up.
