Page 84 of A Taste of Trouble

“Oh, don't look like that,” Nancy spat. Their eyes connected. The sympathy that was there a minute ago had disappeared and was replaced with disgust. “Business is full of setbacks and losses. You're going to have to get used to it.”

Nancy had done a good job at hiding her malicious behavior behind kind words, but Liv saw the truth. She demanded the truth.

“Corey told me everything. It was a very interesting call.”

Immediately, the color drained from Nancy's face and she fidgeted. The hum of the water and hoses came back into focus. Liv waited in silence. She wasn't going to be the one to speak first.

With a sob, Nancy exploded. “I don't know what happened.” Nancy brought her hands up to her face and wiped her eyes. “One day I was speaking with the inspector, the next I was using my charm and the fact that I've known the man for years to get him to be a stickler. Then it got out of control. I visited the bank manager and persuaded him to deny your loan.”

Her charm? Nancy was all charm. Too bad Liv realized all too late that she used her charm for all the wrong reasons.

“I looked up to you. You were my mentor.” She wanted to run up to her and shake her, let her know what it felt like to have everything you've worked for crumble right in front of your eyes. But maybe she did. Maybe the idea of Liv going out on her own was the equivalent to Nancy's world crumbling around her. “I honestly believed that you had my best interests at heart. How could you do this?”

This was more than a betrayal. Nancy had broken her heart. Looked like when it came to breaking Liv's heart, three times was a charm.

“Did you expect me to sit by and watch you steal my business?” Indifference turned to anger. Nancy's eyes, that had cried tears of remorse not less than a minute ago, shot daggers. “It was all so easy for you. It took me years to develop my skills. Years of slaving away under someone else's watch before I was ready to go out on my own.”

“And that means that I shouldn't?” Liv couldn't stop the angry words that spewed out. “That gives you the right to sabotage me?”

“You'd be nothing without me,” Nancy yelled, her voice cracking. No doubt from holding back tears and rage. This woman standing before her was not the woman Liv had met so many years ago. The Nancy she knew was having a serious break from reality.

“How was I supposed to know that when I put up that sign for help six years ago I'd be hiring a baking prodigy?”

“It's not about stealing business. There's enough business for everyone.” Liv didn't understand. She tried to put herself in Nancy's shoes, tried to imagine what her reaction would be if she had taken a young baker under her wing and they finally flew out on their own. Pride. She would feel pride and satisfaction at a job well done.

Funny how that theory didn't apply when Nancy had put together her plan of sabotage. Liv pushed her hair off her face and gathered it in the back. She breathed out, steady breaths, her heart pumping her blood way too fast. “You never liked me, did you?”

“Olivia, it's not that I don't like you. You're a lovely girl, but…”

“You've been jealous. All this time, you used me. All this time—”

“There you go again. Feeling sorry for yourself.” Nancy crossed her arms over her chest.

For the first time since Nancy joined Liv on that sidewalk, she could see the desperate, delusional woman that had been hiding in front of her since day one. And just like she had with every other aspect of her life, it was time for Liv to take the reins and show Nancy just how sorry she felt. And it wasn't for herself.

“You're weak,” Liv snarled. The smirk on Nancy's face disappeared with every word. “You're insecure. I've carried you for a long time. I didn't realize that until just now. Without me, your business is going to suffer.”

Nancy recoiled. This was Liv's own form of revenge. Leaving Nancy with the fear that, at any time, she could steal away the customers she spent years accumulating. Nancy would forever be waiting for the bottom to drop out of her business, and Liv would watch from the sidelines, wondering how long it would take her to crack.

“Good-bye, Nancy.” Liv gathered her wits, but before she stepped away, she turned and leveled Nancy with a harsh stare. “May the best woman win.”

Liv headed home in the fresh winter air and took a deep, calming breath. It was amazing how she could lose so much in so little time. It was mistake after mistake, problem after problem. She had presented a confident front when she left Nancy alone on the street with her mouth practically on the floor, but all she wanted to do was crawl into her bed and sleep away her pain.

She took one last look at the building, at her dreams that had settled as ash on the sidewalk, and made the walk back to her condo, unsure of where she was going from here.

Chapter Twenty-Two

When she stepped off the elevator, Liv was shocked to find Brett at his front door. She had hoped to sneak inside and hide. One look and he knew something was wrong.

“Liv?” He was dressed in jeans and a tank top. The very same outfit he had been wearing when Patti fell in love with him. Or so she had once mentioned. His multiple tattoos flexed and shimmied when he moved. “What happened to you?”

She must have looked as bad as she felt. She had no jacket—there was no time to grab it when she fled the building. Instead, she had a fire blanket to keep her from getting a chill.

“Just another day at a cupcake bakery. No big deal.” She wanted to fall against him. She needed some kind of human contact as tears stung at her eyes.

But Brett wasn't the person she wanted to talk to. She needed Patti.

“Where's your woman?”

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