Page 117 of The Billionaire Is Back

She nods. “She left me a trust fund. I can’t get all the money at once, but I get more than enough to live on every month for the rest of my life. I’ll be fine.”

“What?” I squeeze my eyes shut and take a somewhat calming breath. “I don’t think I’m hearing the words right. Are you saying you haven’t really needed this job for two years?”

She shrugs.

“But you’ve been getting up before dawn five days a week.”

She nods.

“But why?”

She squeezes my leg. “Because you needed me, boo.”

I hug her tight. “Oh, Vera. I should be so mad at you.”

“I know! You could have hired someone who could actually help you. I see that now!”

“I love you,” I tell her.

“I love you too.”

“Two mugs of virgin not-too-hot hot chocolates from the old guy in the pajamas who’s actually pretty cute,” Darlene declares.

Vera and I pull apart, both of us cooing as we eye the hot chocolate with whipped cream on top.

“Rockstar move, Old Guy,” Vera muses. “Well played.”

“This is exactly what I need right now.” I pull one of the mugs in closer and wave Crabby over to join us, but he’salready shuffling our way.

“There are worse fallback guys, you know,” Vera mumbles, laughing.

I nudge her with my elbow.

Vera addresses Clarence with “Hey there, Crumbly Crabshack. What’s shakin’?”

“Beat it, Red. I need a minute with the sad one.”

“I respect that.” She nods and pats my leg. “I’ll be back in one minute. You’re good, right?”

“Yeah. We’re good, right?”

“‘Oh, yeah,’ she assured her best friend as she tried not to seem too excited to be free from her employment.” She kisses me on the cheek. “We’re great. I’ll show up at the bakery for as long as you need me to until you have a replacement.”

I don’t tell her that I already have mother-daughter replacements in mind.

Crabby slides into the booth across from me. He’s wearing the same pajamas he wore the night I was here with Grady. Clasping his hands together, he fixes me with a hard stare. “How’s it goin’, kid?”

“Oh, I’m great.” I take a sip of hot chocolate to show him how great I’m doing.

“Knock it off. I heard you dumped the suit. It ain’t right.”

“Wait, what? Why aren’t you thrilled?”

“Enh. Yer too young for me anyway. But I’m an alpha male,” he explains, shrugging his bony shoulders. “Can’t help it if I’m competitive. That fella, though…” He shakes his head. “That guy’s a class act. No one else besides me around here who’s good enough for ya. What happened? Lose your nerve?”

I mean. I am decades too young for him, obviously, but why do I feel so rejected all of a sudden? “I didn’t lose my nerve. It was the opposite, actually. I finally felt confident enough to tell him what I want.”

“What’s that? The world? From the looks of it he woulda given it to ya.”

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