Page 40 of Emma and the Grumpy Baker

“This morning, I overheard him on the phone with his dad.” I hiccuped, the tears coming in harder now. The words Liam had spoken were like a knife in my gut. “He told his dad that there wouldn’t be any competition left between our stores now.”

“But what does that mean?” She asked, and I tried not to get mad at her words. Anytime I ever brought up issues with her, she forced me to think through all of the possibilities. She said it was the best way to work out issues, and it was annoying. I just needed comfort.

“It means that he is planning on taking me out. I don’t know how he would, but that’s obviously what it means.” I frowned, trying to guess what she would say next to try to get me to see reason. But there was no explaining his words any other way.

“Hmm.” Was her only response for a few seconds. “Do you think he was only helping you to sabotage you or something?”

I shrugged. “I can’t come up with any other explanation.” I wiped at my face, which was covered with tears. I still couldn’t understand how I’d been so easily fooled.

“I’m really sorry, Em.” Scarlett continued to stroke my hair in comfort. “I can’t believe he would do something like that.”

I nodded, leaning into her even more. Regardless of her incessant need to always be the voice of reason, her comfort was exactly what I needed.

#

I stayed with Scarlett for over a week. And it was the perfect medicine I needed for my shattered heart. Instead of being in a million pieces, my heart was now wrapped in a little bundle of gauze, not repaired, but at least partially together.

Scar took a few days off of work to show me around the city since this was the first time I’d been. We shopped—and I might have splurged a little too much, but hey, I was going through things. She told me the long and odd story about how she got hired at a new office under someone else’s name, and I wondered if the HR department even checked her info. Scarlett told me that she felt too scared to tell him the truth about who she really was. I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that this would probably not end well for her, because I knew it probably wouldn’t do any good.

Scarlett had taken me to a few Broadway shows, bringing me back to our teenage years of being obsessed with Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. On the days she had to work, I went out alone. One day, I even took a train to Philadelphia. It was crazy, but the short train ride led me straight to authentic Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, and I’d always wanted to try one. Other days, I just stayed at her apartment or went to the local grocery stores and Targets to see what life was like there. On one hand, it was similar to Amelia because of all the tourism. But that was where the similarities ended.

Everything was bigger and better here, and on a much different timeline than what I was used to. And as much as I loved it here, I was glad I didn’t move here with Scarlett. I was ready to go home and see the island again.

The same driver that picked me up from the airport was there to take me back, and Scarlett explained that it was Nik’s driver. I wasn’t sure why Nik thought I needed a driver, but I guessed it was just an extension of the protection he extended her. That had me thinking there was something way more than just their boos-employee relationship, but I had too many relationship problems to comment on hers.

Once I was back on the island, I wasn’t too hurried about visiting the bakery. It felt tainted now, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to see it today. Anne and Maddie had assured me every day that they were handling everything fine, even the two sets of online orders. I felt like a terrible boss and business owner to leave them for so long, but I also knew how talented and competent they were. I would have to write them a bonus check for dealing with all of this.

Instead of checking on the bakery, I stayed home for another day, needing to school all of my emotions. I wouldn’t let Liam ruin this for me, but that didn’t mean I had to neglect my mental well-being.

Once I was ready to return to work, I called Grady to check up on my social media. I didn’t want to look at it right now, because I didn’t want to see videos or pictures of me and Liam. I would ask him to remove anything with him in it. The petty side of me wished I could just make a video about how terrible he was.

“Emma! How are you? I heard you went on a vacation!” Grady said as soon as he picked up my call.

I laughed hollowly. “I guess it was a vacation.”

“Was it nice?”

“Yeah, it was fine,” I responded, not feeling small talk. “How has the social media been this past week?”

Grady was silent for a few moments. “You mean you haven’t seen? I wasn’t going to call you about it since you were on vacation, but I’d assumed you’d seen everything.”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t been on social media at all.” My voice was weak and tired, and I didn’t know what could possibly warrant the excitement I heard in Grady’s voice.

“Liam’s social media page for his bakery.” My stomach sank.

“Look, Liam and I aren’t—”

“You just have to go watch all of his videos. As in right now, Emma. You have to see what he did,” Grady demanded, but it didn’t sound like he was upset about what Liam did. I didn’t understand what that could mean. “I’ll send you the link to the first video.”

“Grady, I don’t want to—” He cut me off again.

“Just watch them Emma. Call me back later.” And then he hung up.

A second later, my phone dinged with a text, and I saw the link to a video of Liam. Steeling myself, I sat down on my couch to watch whatever this was.

Liam was in front of both of our stores, obvious by the dividing line of the pink and navy blue of our facades. I gritted my teeth and stopped myself just short of closing out the app. But his words caught me.

“Hey everyone! My face usually isn’t onMidnight Cookiessocial pages, but I figured this was the perfect time to show my face. Now, a lot of you that follow me only do so because you’ve seen me on Emma Sterling’s page for her wonderful bakeryThe Pink Bakery. I can fairly account most of my followers to her, and I’m completely okay with that. Right now, Emma is on vacation, and I’ve decided to reveal my grand plan here on social media, so that you all can be a part of this. I’ve been planning something for Emma for a while now, and I’m finally ready to implement the plan.

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