Back for Seconds (7 page)

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk, as his eyes pierced hers. “I never want to hear you say that again. If you want to sell something, anything, you have to convince the customers it is special enough to buy and well worth the cost. Every single one of those customers who tried your cookies today fell in love with them. They’re special, and by default that makes you special. That’s the brand you need to sell. It’s up to you to make them believe that anything that has your name on it will knock their socks off. And it will. We’ve got the receipts to prove it.”

There was no arguing that point.

“In order to set your brand apart, we’re going to treat you as an independent contractor. We supply the marketing and distribution of your products, for which we will take a 15-percent cut of the total price. We’ll pay you weekly for products sold and you handle the taxes and the business expenses out of your profit.”

She nodded. It sounded simple enough. “Do I just bring what I bring or will you want a specific amount of items to sell?”

He smiled. “Good question. Now you’re thinking like a businesswoman. I was thinking three to five dozen units a day, six days a week to start. We can meet again at the end of the month and see where we stand at that point, amending where necessary.”

Her eyes widened. That was a lot of work. She’d definitely have to start baking cakes and rolls in order to meet that kind of demand in the time she had allotted herself. Otherwise she’d never see her kids.

“I want you to take a photo of each batch of goodies you make. That will be your portfolio. We’ll put it online and have a book here at the restaurant, that way interested parties can hire you directly for customized orders. You should definitely invest in a website and start social media accounts, further shaping your brand. Maybe do a tutorial or two and post the videos online so that people can see the work that goes into what you do, and what makes you so special. As impressive as those cookies are, I’d bet money those videos would go viral.”

Joely was overwhelmed. “This is all happening so fast.”

“That’s usually the way it works when it’s meant to be,” he said as he leaned back in his chair with a glass of wine. “You follow your passion and you step in line with what the universe is offering you.” She was still uncertain, which made him soften towards her. “I’ll help you however I can.”

“Why?” she wanted to know. After all the games he’d been playing, she still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him.

“Because what helps you helps Lillian’s Place.” She nodded. She supposed that made sense. The longer he sat without saying anything, however, the more nervous she got. She became keenly aware that she was alone with him in that office. The way he watched her unnerved her. It was like he could see everything she didn’t want to show.

She cleared her throat.  “I, uh, want to apologize for running out on you last night. That probably wasn’t the best way to handle that situation, but I’m fairly new at all this stuff and I really don’t know what I’m doing.”

“I appreciate that,” he murmured as he watched her mouth, making her stammer even more.

“That’s not to say that I was wrong to leave. I just could have handled it better.”

His eyebrow arched just a hair. “You attach a lot of meaning to such a brief dance, Joely.”

Her mouth fell open. Was that all that he thought it was? “You came onto me.”

He shrugged. “I come onto most beautiful women.”

“See?” she said. “Like that. Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Say things like that.”

“Like what?”

She sighed. “Look. I know who I am, okay? Your lines are wasted on me. I’m no bombshell. I’m no ‘cougar.’ I’m just trying to get by. I don’t need anyone playing any games with me because they think they can.”

His eyes hardened. He rose from his chair and walked around the desk, perching right in front of her. The muscles of his body rippled under the fine fabric of his clothes. She could almost feel his hands on her skin. She cursed herself how that made her tremble.

“I’m a man who knows what I want. And I go after what I want. That doesn’t make me a player or you a victim. It just means that I think you are a beautiful woman. I think it’s rather sad that you find that so hard to believe. When did you forget it?”

She jumped from her chair, which put her face to face with him. “If you want to help me with my business, great. I’ll take your help and be grateful for it. But my personal life is off limits. Period.” She turned to leave but he caught her arm and pulled her back. He studied her so intensely that she nearly shrank back from him.

Moments passed as they stood there facing each other, not saying a word. She tried her best not to concentrate on how warm his hand was against her skin, or how closely they stood to each other. His eyes consumed her. He looked like he might kiss her, and for one insane moment she wanted him to. Finally his hand fell to his side. “You should probably be going then,” he murmured as he studied the flush in her cheeks. “You have a lot of goodies to bake for the church crowd tomorrow. I’d recommend five dozen at least.”

She swallowed hard as she nodded. She shook in her shoes as she inched around him, the heat of his body enveloping her as she did so. He didn’t say a word until she reached the door, when he popped off with, “You looked really nice today, Joely. And for what it’s worth, that wasn’t a line.”

She wordlessly opened the door and slipped from the room before flying down the stairs. She was still breathing hard as she reached the counter, where she gathered her things. When she rose from behind the counter, her belongings in her arms, she spotted Xander exit his office. A pretty blonde waitress met him at the doorway with a huge, familiar smile, which he returned.

The waitress couldn’t have been more than twenty-two or three. She was svelte and perky, a much better candidate for his charms than Joely could ever be. She had to admit that they looked good together. They looked right. They were two twenty-somethings who had their whole lives ahead of them, with nothing more to consider for the night than the night itself.

She watched as he put his arm around her, guiding her back to his office with his hand on her back. The door shut behind them.

Good
, thought Joely as she pulled her keys out of her purse. That girl was a much better use of his time. She gathered her things and headed for the door, suppressing immediately any hint of envy that it could have been her had she just kept her big mouth shut for once.

It was better off this way. Men, romance and sex were things of Joely’s past. She hoped she could convince Xander Davy of that soon, because as of that moment their futures were intrinsically and undeniably linked.

It was a thought that both excited her and terrified her as she drove home. It was a good thing she needed five dozen cookies by morning, because she’d have been up all night cooking anyway.

Sunday turned out to be a busy one for Joely. She produced the five dozen cookies for the restaurant as requested, ornately designed flowers this time. She had two dozen ready to go by morning and worked on the other three during the afternoon. She kept her eye on the clock. Since she had to pick the children up again by five, she had to economize her time. She figured she’d kill two birds with one stone, taking her second batch of cookies, and her kids, to the restaurant at the same time. They could eat dinner there and she can oversee her cookie sales through the dinner rush. It excited her to see what kind of reaction they would get, not to mention how they would sell. Her mother had already sent her a text around two o’clock that her first batch flew right out the door, selling like hotcakes.

These successes filled her with such a sense of accomplishment she wanted to bake even more goodies. It wasn’t that she didn’t know she was a good cook, years of experience taught her that. It was that she was good enough to sell her wares, and that was completely unexpected.

She got dressed up again, as before. Xander’s advice about branding herself as the product rolled around in her brain all that day. She decided she would project the image of success. She patted herself on the back for not throwing or giving away all the expensive clothes she’d bought during her years as a doctor’s wife, though that had been her impulsive thought while she packed them all. She had wanted to toss away that old Joely, much like Russell had.

There were so many things that most went into storage. She figured she’d have to get more out in the coming weeks now that she had a three-month plan. She’d sell her cookies and take the odd jobs, saving away every cent that she didn’t have to spend on her kids or on the business itself. Since she controlled her own output, she figured she could predict a reasonable timeframe to save back ten thousand dollars. This would be her launching pad towards a life of independence.

It was also enough time to see if this wasn’t just some fluke that would leave her high and dry in a few weeks. She still couldn’t believe people wanted to buy her food. A part of her figured surely it couldn’t last. Ten thousand dollars was a lofty goal that seemed as far away as the moon. She knew, though, she’d have to reach it in order to fully trust it.

But she dressed in good faith, a red dress this time. It was soft peachskin material with a wide black belt and black detailing on the pockets and trim. She tried to style her long hair, although there wasn’t that much she could do with it. She tied it back in a sleek bun, which fit into her more mature homemaker image. With some makeup, some modest jewelry and heels, she was ready to face the more conservative Sunday crowd.

She wasn’t, however, ready to face her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Her hand shook as she knocked on the front door that used to belong to her. Russell was slow to answer. His eyes traveled across her face and her outfit, surprised to see her so formally dressed, though he said nothing about it. “The kids are in the family room,” he murmured as he opened the door wider for her to enter.

The high heels of her black pumps echoed across the tile floor of the foyer and down the hall. She could hear her children, laughing and animated. It was a sound she had missed during her busy weekend and it immediately put a smile on her face. That smile died a quick death when she turned the corner and spotted her baby, Hannah, in the arms of a nubile blonde. The stranger sat with legs tucked under her in one of the big chairs that sat across from the main couch. She was barefoot and quite at home.

Hannah spotted her mother and leapt out of the woman’s lap to run over for a big hug. “Mommy!” she squealed. “You look so pretty.”

Joely caressed her dark hair. “So do you,” she said, inspecting the minor makeup job her daughter sported. She suspected the heavily made up blonde was responsible. Joely glanced over at Russell, who stepped forward to make introductions.

“Joely, this is Jena Martin. Jena, this is the kids’ mother, Joely.”

Joely was surprised that after everything he’d already done to her, his pared-down description of her still cut her to the quick. After all their years together, this was what she had been reduced to – a brood mare. As dressed up as she was, and as pretty as she had felt, her ego took a nosedive when she compared herself to the woman who had replaced her. She swallowed the lump in her throat as the tall girl unwound her long, tanned legs out from under her and walked over to shake her hand.

“It’s so nice to meet you,” she smiled, but even Joely could see it was fake – likely as fake as the inexplicably perky Double-D’s she had stuffed into her tank top. Joely had Double-D breasts as well, from the age of fourteen on. The only difference was that hers couldn’t be used as a water-flotation device in the event of an emergency landing.

Joely’s voice was stiff and controlled. “Likewise.”

Truth was she knew all about Jena Martin. Ever since Novanna sent her that first email, Joely had researched Jena like she was applying for a job at the C.I.A. She scoped her social media and she did Internet searches on her name, so she had seen many photos of her before. Jena was every bit as perfect as Joely feared, from her whiter than white teeth to her sexy, manicured toes. She even sported a tattoo on the top of her foot that hinted she was a bad girl… a dirty girl. Joely didn’t even want to think about what kind of sex they were having, which was likely far more exciting than the requisite poke-and-go relations she and Russell had shared over the last several years. Her voice constricted tight as she turned to the other kids.

“It’s time to go.”

Kari fired off a pout. “Already?”

It was another punch to the gut. Even her children preferred this girl to her. “Yes,” she managed. “I have to get to the restaurant.”

Kari brightened a little bit at that. She hopped off the couch and ran off to her room to get her things. Nash dragged his feet as he followed. Russell sent Jena a pointed look and obediently she obeyed the subtle, unspoken hint to leave Russell and Joely alone. She took Hannah by the hand and led her to her room to get her ready. Joely leveled a gaze on Russell. “So is that what we’re doing now? Exposing the children to the people we date?”

He snickered, and she hated him more for it. “Jena is just a friend,” he said without blinking, as though he had forgotten all she already knew. Had he always been such a good liar? He glanced her over. “Is that where you’ve been? A date?”

Joely tilted her chin. “That’s none of your business anymore, is it?”

His eyes narrowed. “See you in two weeks, Joely,” he muttered before he turned on his heel and left the room.

Joely was still steaming when she finally got all kids back out to the car. Hannah was full of details about their trip, which only pissed Joely off even more. Every time Hannah said Jena’s name, it dug under her skin like a thousand splinters. She wanted to ask a hundred questions, but 99 of them were much too inappropriate, starting with the biggest question of all. Had Jena and Russell shared a room at that cabin at the lake? Did they kiss and cuddle in front of the kids? Was Russell happier? Instead she kept quiet, only nodding here and there, and let her excited little chatterbox lead the conversation all the way across town to the restaurant.

Kari and Hannah jumped out of the car practically before Joely could put it in park. Only Nash hung behind. “You okay, honey?” she asked.

As usual he shielded his beautiful brown eyes with the hair that fell down into his face. She had tried to keep it trimmed short, especially because it bothered Russell, but they hadn’t had time for a haircut in the last month. He just shrugged and watched as his mother went around the back to pull out another large plastic bin. “What’s that?”

She suppressed a bashful smile. “It’s this new thing I’m doing,” she said, excited to tell at least one of her kids. “Can you grab my purse?”

He nodded and complied, while she juggled the bin long enough to lock her car. She followed Nash into the building, where Kari and Hannah had cornered Xander and were dominating the conversation, telling him all about their weekend. He wore a teasing smile for her as she entered, which she found herself returning. After Russell, she needed a little kindness from the male gender. He untangled himself from the kids to help her with the bin.

“It’s a good thing you got here when you did,” he said. “They were about to riot.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, right.”

But at least three people raced up to the counter the minute they put the cookies out for sale. Everyone ooh’d and aww’d over the brand new design. “My daughter is having a spring wedding,” one of the older customers told her. “How much would you charge to provide cookies like this for the reception?”

Joely hemmed and hawed until Xander came to her rescue, taking the lady’s name and number so they could set up a meeting and talk about it. She turned to him with a grateful smile when the customer left the counter. “Thank you.”

He gave her a playful wink. “Anytime.” His glanced over her outfit. “You look nice,” he said.

It felt so good to hear after the episode at the house that she didn’t even dismiss it. “Thank you.”

He leaned a little closer. “Anytime.”

She watched as he turned back to another customer with a ready smile. It gave her a moment to catch her breath. Those eyes were intense, which normally left her off center, but today of all days she really needed the validation. She didn’t feel like some reject anymore, someone past her prime. She felt young and sexy and desirable. It was a welcome salve on her battered ego. She finished putting the cookies on the platter, stored the bin and her purse under the counter and then walked to her table, biting her lip to contain her giddy smile.

The kids sat at the table with Lillian, regaling her with the details of their weekend. Like Joely she had smiled in all the right places, but Joely could tell by the look in her eyes that she was angry Russell could have brought his new little plaything along for a weekend with his kids.

It had been the same look in Joely’s own eyes since five o’clock that afternoon.

“We had an eventful weekend too,” Lillian told them. “Your mama found a job.”

Hannah was the most excited of the three. “Really, Mommy? What are you doing?”

Joely had to clear her throat to speak. “Cooking. Baking, actually. I’m selling my cookies here at your grandma’s restaurant.”

Kari’s face screwed in a derisive sneer. “That’s not a real job.”

Lillian turned to her granddaughter. “Excuse me?”

“It’s not like someone hired her. You’re her mom. It’s not like she’s some chef or something.”

Again Joely felt a stab to her gut. It was what she had secretly feared too, that she was a fraud. To hear it from her daughter took the winds right out of her sails, and Lillian saw it.

“Apologize to your mother.”

Kari was stunned by the stern reprisal from her normally doting grandmother. “For what?”

“For disrespecting her. She’s really excited about this new opportunity and she’s worked really hard.”

“She’s just doing the things she’s always done,” Kari retorted as she sank back against the cushioned booth.

“Like I said, she’s worked really hard. But maybe you don’t have a frame of reference for that yet.”

Kari just shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. Sorry.”

Lillian leaned forward. “I think it’s time you got one. All this week, after school, you’re going to come here and wash dishes in the kitchen.”

“What?” she shrieked. “Why?”

“Because the people who think some work is more valuable than others have never done the hard work they disdain. You need a new perspective, baby girl. And I’m in the opportunity to provide it. Given, of course, that your mother thinks it’s a good idea.”

Lillian turned to Joely, who stared hard at her mother. Lillian offered the slightest nod to encourage her, so Joely turned to Kari. “I think you’re grandma’s right. You can work here, earn a little of your own money, that way you can buy the new clothes you think are so important for your new school.”

Her eyes widened as she stared at her mother. The thought was preposterous. Before she could open her mouth to say anything, Lillian waved Xander over to the table. Joely watched as her daughter blushed and shrank back against the seat in utter humiliation. “Xander,” Lillian said, “Kari’s going to join us this next week, doing dishes in the back each afternoon.”

Xander smiled wide. “Excellent. Glad to have you aboard,” he told Kari, whose blush deepened. She was much too mortified to argue. She barely said a word the rest of the night. Hannah pooped out a little after eight o’clock so Lillian and Granny Faye decided to make an early night of it. “I think I’ll stay until the cookies are gone,” Joely told her. It bothered her that it wasn’t another blowout sale. There were still about ten left and only a couple of hours to go until closing time. Had her success the day before simply been beginner’s luck?

The kids left with Lillian and Granny Faye, and Joely took her place behind the counter. Mason, the fabulous new waiter her mother had hired, moseyed her direction. “These cookies are amazing,” he praised as he picked up one of the ones that were left on the tray. “I tried to make some like this and let’s just say I don’t have your steady hand or patience. Epic fail,” he announced dramatically. “You’ve got quite a gift.”