Page 11 of Sugar and Spice
I hadn’t expected an apology so quickly and I opened and shut my mouth a couple of times. “Okay.”
“No more lying. We’ll do this together.”
“Do you promise?”
Austin nodded at me and stepped closer, extending the crook of his elbow to me. “You have my word. If I break it you can take over the bakery’s social media for a week.”
I perked up at that. I could do anything with that kind of power. “Full rein?”
“Absolutely. Free to rain terror as far as the internet allows. Now, are you in this with me?”
I looked down at his elbow and swallowed hard. Control of Finnigan and Co.’s social media and a boatload of cash? I’d be a fool not to take this, even if I was going to go in front of God and everyone to lie my ass off. My Dad would never believe it all. I’d have to get him to keep his mouth shut. But that was a problem for future Daisy.
I slipped my arm in his and sighed heavily. “Yeah, I’m in. But if I catch you lying, so help me god.”
“Is that all that’s off the table?” Austin asked, leading us through the restaurant.
“Duh. Why?”
“No reason,” he replied, a smirk pulling at his lips. I only caught a flash of his smile before he was looking away from me and towards the table that was now in full view of us. It was in the back corner of the restaurant, a series of lights, and a three person crew holding microphones, clipboards and a huge camera hoisted over one of their shoulders stood next to it. Holy shit, this was really happening, wasn’t it? They turned towards us and the woman with the clipboard in her hand waved at us excitedly. There wasn’t any going back now. But even with the camera crew and fully staged dinner waiting for us, I was more interested in Austin’s answer.
I pulled back on his arm. I knew that look, that tone. Austin was already plotting something, and if it wasn’t lying to me then what the hell was it?
CHAPTER6
AUSTIN
“Hi, I’m Bunny!” The woman waving at us exclaimed, bounding forward in greeting. “I am so thrilled to finally meet the both of you. Piper did such a wonderful job of describing the pair of you that I feel like I know you both.”
“Yeah, well, you know that Piper. Creative as always,” Daisy replied, and I could only just detect her exasperation, which meant Bunny was clueless to it. I knew Daisy’s expressions and mood changes like the back of my hand—that was what happened when you spent years studying a woman to learn the best ways to agitate her.
Bunny gestured towards the table with a wide smile. “Please, come sit, come sit. I bet the pair of you are exhausted after working today. I can only imagine what it takes to manage and keep two bakeries going, and Christmastime too! We are just so excited to have the pair of you onFrontier/City.” Before either of us could get a word in, Bunny came forward and practically shoved us into our seats. A feat given that I had nearly half a foot and a hundred pounds on the smaller woman.
“I took the liberty of ordering for the pair of you,” Bunny said, pointing at the plates of food that were already waiting for us. “Nothing you need to use your bare hands on. It’s just an easy little thing like steak and potatoes. There’s also a stew, if you want to give that a try. It’ll give a more relatable look and feel for viewers to see you eating something a bit... rustic.” She flicked a finger at the glasses on the table. “Also a lager, because it’s-”
“More relatable?” I guessed, and Daisy snickered.
Bunny nodded undeterred. “Exactly! You’re catching on fast. I can tell the two of you are going to be wonderful on television. I mean you’re both gorgeous, so this is going to be an easy sell.”
“Thanks?” Daisy asked and Bunny grinned in response before she launched into another spiel.
“Okay, so tonight is super casual. Just pretend we aren’t here, okay?” She gestured towards the other two members of the film crew with a circle of her finger, “We’re just getting some B-roll footage to use in your introduction, so talk about whatever. We won’t be using any audio from it, just-”
“Daisy! Where’s my daughter?” A sharp shout came from the front of the restaurant and we all turned in tandem to see David Ortiz storming through Carey’s to us. “Daisy, get away from that man!” He pointed a finger at me. “You’ve got some explaining to do, Austin Finnigan!”
“Well, shit,” I muttered at seeing Daisy’s father charge towards us.
“Oh fuck,” Daisy whispered, sinking down into her chair. “Crap, crap,crap.”
Bunny tilted her head to the side and where I expected to see panic, I saw interest. “Roll the footage, get audio. Now.” Her order was quick, clipped and the smiling woman that had ushered us towards our seats was gone. I saw the producer in her and I knew the plan to use this as B-roll footage was now out the door and gone.
“On it,” The man with the camera swung it around and began to film.
The other crew member with the mic boom gave a thumbs up. “He’s live.”
This was going to be a prime feature.
Double shit.
