Page 6 of Emma and the Grumpy Baker

“Are you sure?” Jackson asked me, his do-gooder attitude shining through. But I needed him to do this favor for me. “She won’t know?”

“How would she know? She doesn’t even know you. There’s no way she’ll know what you’re there for. Just go in!” I groaned, rubbing a hand over my face. I was five seconds away from shoving him in the direction of her bakery.

“Okay, fine!” He grumbled, but walked away from me nonetheless.Thank goodness.

I walked in the opposite direction just in case there would be anyone that could recognize me and report back to Emma. She would take this the wrong way and it would only start a war I wasn’t sure I wanted.

We were enemies now, right? So I shouldn’t care if there was a war.

Our families hated each other, but I didn’t know why. It didn’t matter though, because my father wouldn’t just force me to leave Emma if it wasn’t for a good reason. Whatever Emma’s father did to my father must have been bad. Even though I didn’t have the strongest relationship with my parents, I followed my father’s demands when he insisted I break up with her. I had been desperate for Dad’s praise and approval, so I did anything for him back in those days. Not so much anymore.

I didn’t really owe her any loyalty, right? Our businesses were rivals, and I had to do what I had to do. Regardless of our history, we’d both signed leases for these buildings and opened these businesses, and I wouldn’t just turn back on mine because we were neighbors.

But that wasn’t why my mouth turned up in the slightest of smiles when Jackson approached me with a bag of baked treats from Emma’s store.

“Thanks, man.” I greedily took the bag, not letting Jackson take anything out of it. I turned on my heel and started walking back to my apartment.

“You’re not even going to let me have a macaron?” He asked, and I just flipped him the bird. He could buy his own and leave mine alone.

As soon as I was home, I ripped into the adorable pink bag. Fuck, no, it wasn’t adorable. It was obnoxious. Annoying. Frustrating. Disgusting. And I was fervently opening the cookie box because it was for research. To see what I was up against. Yeah, that was why.

I took a large bite of what seemed to be a strawberry shortcake cookie, moaning as the flavors hit my tongue.

I hated her.

Because this cookie was perfect. And it wasn’t because she was my rival. It was because I missedthis. She taught me how to bake and gave me my passion for baking. But for the majority of our relationship, she did most of the baking. I was too busy pestering her and touching her very nice ass while she was baking.

And dammit, her baking was even better now than it was eight years ago.

I found the cute clear box filled with four macarons and slid it open, grabbing one that was blue and purple marble with cream icing in the middle. It was small enough to eat whole, so I shoved all of it in my mouth. My moan this time was even louder, so I was glad that I lived by myself and waited until I was in the privacy of my apartment to try this. It was a blueberry cheesecake, and the texture of the macaron was flawless.

I missed this. I missed her bringing me different treats every day and having to work out extra just to fight off the excess calories I would eat because of her wonderful pastries and cookies and cakes.

The bag still had cupcakes and danishes and more cookies and macarons. I slapped the bag off of the kitchen counter in my frustration.

She wasn’t mine and never would be again. So I shouldn’t care what my business opening would do to hers. We were completely different and separate people now, and our business proximity wouldn’t matter.

#“Are you worried about it?” Jackson asked, looking at where I’d left the bag of sweets fromThe Pink Bakery. He knew me too well and followed me to my apartment, arriving fifteen minutes after me. And the bastard just walked himself in.

He was also holding a small pink box that marked him as a traitor. I glared at him.

“No, of course not. My business plans are flawless. And I’ve done this before. She won’t hinder my business at all.” I crossed my arms over my chest and watched Jackson pick the stupid pink bag up off my floor and place it back on the counter. He set his box down too, before pulling out all of the different boxes and bags. I shouldn’t have asked him to buy multiples of everything. Because I knew I would eat them. Jackson pulled out a cherry danish and slowly turned to look at me. When he saw my death glare, he put it back into the small parchment bag it was in and set it back on the counter.

He brushed his hands against his jeans and turned to me fully. “But are you worried about what your business will do to hers?”

“She has plenty of other things that aren’t cookies.” I shrugged, not wanting Jackson to prod me more about the small blond that I’d loved so long ago.

“Yeah, but most people aren’t going to buy from both bakeries on the same day. And with the craze over cookies right now, along with your intense marketing…don’t you think it could impact her?” Jackson knew the ins-and-outs of my marketing because he’d planned most of it. I’d wanted to make him a business partner, but he’d declined and wouldn’t explain why.

“Of course, it will, but like I said, she has other items to sell. She’ll be fine.” I looked away from him and picked up my phone to mindlessly scroll through Instagram, effectively ending the conversation.

Realistically, I wondered about the logistics of two opposing stores right next to each other. I knew that my marketing was going to be as best as possible to drive traffic to the store, and I wondered if hers would keep up. From what I’d seen so far, it wouldn’t. I am certain that both stores would have thrived independently, but being adjacent to each other was certainly going to be detrimental to both establishments. I would just have to make sure that it didn’t harm mine too much.

As I heard the sound of parchment paper crinkling, I knew that Jackson was indulging in the danish. Despite feeling angry, I let it go and accepted that he was eating what was originally meant for me.

7

Emma

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