Page 11 of Emma and the Grumpy Baker

After the laughter died down, I reminded myself why I was there. I needed advice, and trusted Isabella more than anyone.

“I need to do something to grow my business.”

“I thought it was doing amazing?” She looked confused, and rightly so. I hadn’t updated her on much. And since she lived on the other side of the island, it’s not like she walked by my store every day.

“It was. And I guess it still is doing okay, butMidnight Cookiesis going to ruin my chances of making it successful.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, forcing myself to hold back the tears that I wanted to cry.

“Isn’tMidnight Cookiesowned by Liam Ackworth?”

My sister’s fork clattered to her plate as she turned to her best friend. “What?”

“Yeah. That guy that owns Ackworth Sporting, where I got all of my fishing gear in college. Apparently, he’s the owner.” Landon shrugged, obviously unaware of why my sister would be surprised by that.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Her voice raised an octave.

“I didn’t know it was important.” Landon blushed a little as he stared at my sister in confusion.

She turned her sharp eyes on me. “Youdidn’t think to tell me?”

Again, the tears were threatening. I didn’t tell her because I wanted to pretend that it wasn’t real. That he wasn’t a problem. If I ignored it, it would go away, right?

This time, I was unsuccessful at keeping the tears at bay. They filled my eyes and spilled over and I covered my face in embarrassment.

“Oh, honey.” Chairs scooted across the wooden floor and soon, my younger sister’s arms were around me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even know he had moved back to Amelia. Have you talked to him at all?”

I nodded but kept my head buried.

She rubbed my back, but no one said anything for a few minutes. I felt bad, because I was crying in the middle of dinner and she hadn’t even finished her ravioli yet. She needed to eat it and not worry about me right now, or it would be cold and gross.

“So, what’s going on?” Landon asked softly, and I felt his hand on my arm, this time in comfort instead of comedy.

I lifted my head and looked between them. “He just has more resources. More power. His social media is way better than mine and is definitely sending more people his way. I’ve done the best that I could, but I can’t afford to hire a team of people to run my store and my page like he can.”

“He already has one business, so that’s how he can afford all those things. But I know that only makes it harder for you.” Isabella frowned at me as she tried to think of something else to say.

I nodded, sniffling and trying to suppress any more tears. They were pointless anyway.

“I know someone who could help you, Em,” Landon said, his eyes lighting up with an idea. “Actually, he owes me a favor anyway, and I bet he’d know just the people to run your social media!” He was already getting up from the table to find his phone.

“I can’t afford a social media team,” I squeaked, not wanting to seem unappreciative, but knowing that couldneverbe in the budget.

“Like I said…” He put his phone to his face as he called someone. “He owes me a favor.”

12

Liam

The suspense had begun to kill me. Emma had been gone for days and only her employee was in her store every morning. And I’d checked every morning, because I wanted to see Em.

But she was gone every morning that I walked by.

Today, however, was my lucky day.

I was arriving toMidnightearly to check on my bakers, because the first day of the week was always the hardest. The new recipes were rolling out, and I wanted to make sure they were comfortable with everything. Before I entered my store, I checked the back door of Emma’s, seeing that it was cracked open.

Logically, I knew it was a terrible idea to barge into the back door of someone else’s business. I also knew there was no way she’d invite me in any way, and I just needed to know how she was. She’d been gone too long. I mean, four days was a seriously long time.

I peered through the doorway that was held open by a brick, probably to let some of the heat in her kitchen out in the cool morning. Finally, Emma was back.

---