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“I’ll be there.”

Chapter 14

Jane

Carter was already at the bakery, leaning against his Jeep in the back parking lot when Emily, Ethan, and I arrived in the truck. The sun highlighted his golden hair, and the jeans he wore showed off his legs almost as well as his baseball pants had.

Ethan and Emily unloaded the rolling racks from the back as soon as we were parked.

“What can I do?”

The deep timbre of Carter’s voice sent shivers through me. Focus on work. “Grab one of the racks, and bring it in.”

Once inside I left Carter with Emily and Ethan and went to the front to check on today’s sales. Emily’s sister, Sarah, had been working at the store while we were at the ballpark, and I found her wiping down the bistro tables.

She straightened when she saw me, giving me a bubbly smile. Sarah was a tall girl, with long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. She and Ethan had been best friends since we moved back here.

“How was business?” Based on the display case, it had been quieter than normal. It made sense considering how many people had been at the park. I had thought about closing the shop while we were gone, but Sarah had offered, and I couldn’t afford to turn away business.

“You got a few customers calling for cakes, and one couple is interested in cupcakes for their wedding. I put it all in the order system for you,” Sarah said as she took off her apron. “I’ve got a babysitting job, so I’ll see you later.”

She was gone before I could do more than thank her. Sarah was saving every penny she earned for college, and she picked up any odd job available. I gave her shifts when I could, which hadn’t been often until now. If the success at the Airfield continued, though, I’d be able to hire her for a regular part-time job. One more thing to add to my mental budget.

“Ethan, can you handle any customers while Emily and I mix more cookie dough?” We had so much work to do that it was tempting to close now, but I intentionally stayed open until six on Friday nights to catch the after-work crowd. I didn’t want to take shortcuts.

“Sure.” Ethan put on the apron Sarah had left behind, then scrubbed his hands and began making a fresh pot of coffee. Thank God, because I was dying for some caffeine to keep me going. I had been on my feet for almost eleven hours, going nonstop, and my night was not over yet.

“What else can I do?” Carter was rolling up his sleeves, exposing well-muscled arms tanned golden brown, with a light dusting of blond hair.

I let myself admire them, for purely aesthetic reasons. Nothing else. He was a good-looking guy, it would be criminal not to notice.

“Follow me.” I led him into the kitchen where Emily was already working, mixing up a massive batch of royal icing. We had kept behind bunches of undecorated sugar cookies to give us a head start, but after today we would need a lot more. While Emily flooded and decorated cookies, I’d bake.

“I think the best way for you to help is to get ingredients as we need them.” I showed Carter where everything was located.

“I need to make more cookies. If you carry the flour, I’ll bring the sugar. I’ll be working over there.” I pointed to the industrial mixer by my worktable.

“Anything you need.” Carter hefted the bag of flour and carried it to the mixer. I followed behind carrying my own load, admiring the way his jeans accented his ass. An ass that said he never skipped leg day. The warmth spreading through me had nothing to do with the industrial ovens that were preheating.

I measured ingredients for our sugar cookies. Once I had them baking, I’d start on cake batter. The cookies and cake pops took more time to decorate, but we had enough baked cake to make cake pops. The fresh batter would be for cupcakes, which took the least time to decorate.

I worked quickly, giving Carter directions and answering questions along the way. Emily was flooding cookies as fast as she could, then popping them into the dehydrator to dry.

A loud grinding sound came from the mixer, and the motor quit abruptly. “Noooo . . .”

I flipped the off switch and tried to troubleshoot. My limited knowledge of appliances was not helpful. But I was not able to get it going, and I wouldn’t be able to get a repairman out until Monday.

“Shit, shit, shit.” I had another mixer, but running only one would put us behind, by a lot. At this rate, it was going to take all night.

I wished I had the money to buy a bigger dehydrator. Or hire more help. Or anything that would make this go faster, to make sure we had enough stock for the games this weekend. What had I been thinking when I tried out for this contract? What made me think I was capable of pulling this off? For a minute I wanted to give in to my exhaustion and cry.

Carter slid a fresh cup of coffee across the counter to me. “I can’t fix your mixer, so how else can I help?”

I gave Carter a grateful smile as I stretched my arms over my head to work a kink out of my shoulder. Having him here meant so much, and not just because we could use the extra hands. He actually wanted to help me succeed. That was something Chad would never do.

Surveying the disaster that was my kitchen, I started prioritizing tasks. If I was going to be limited to one mixer, we would need to be more efficient. We would be reusing bowls rather than allowing them to sit until the end of the day. “How do you feel about doing dishes?”

Carter didn’t flinch. “Dishes I can handle.”