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I gnawed my lip, thinking. “I’ll tell him, Mars. The timing hasn’t been right, but I’ll tell him, don’t worry.” I patted his arm. “Now let’s make some divinity. We have to get it to the church for the Martha circle by 11 A.M.”
* * *
Idropped the divinity off to the church ladies, then ran a few errands. Now I was sitting in the parking lot, staring at my cell. I should call Holden, get more details, work this all out on my own. I didn’t even need to mention it to Quinn and make waves if I wasn’t going to take the offer, right? Which I most likely wasn’t because my life was already complicated enough with the one bakery.
My hands sweaty and my breathing shallow, I hit Holden’s number.
“Hey, beautiful. I knew you’d call.” Holden’s caramel voice gloated down the line. “Congrats on your opening, by the way. Wonderful write-up on your little bakery down there.”
I inhaled, torn between being pleased he’d read the article or annoyed he’d just calledLanie’s‘little.’
“Let’s cut to the chase, Holden. If I say yes to this Midtown bakery deal, how will it work? I’m kind of busy down here at the moment.”
“I get it. You’d have to find someone to run your day-to-day business there so you could focus on the specs of the bakery here. You rent the space next to me, then we design it and set it up. You could fly back and forth, you know—to check on things down there—but I’d need someone on the ground here at all times. Ideally, you.” He emphasized that last word.
“I don’t know, Holden. It’s a lot to think about.”
“Well, hurry up. I need to know soon. If you’re not going to do it, I’ll have to find someone else.”
I sucked in my breath, checked my watch. I didn’t like the idea of Holden finding someone else, but I didn’t love the idea of leaving Peachtree Grove right now either.
“You have until Christmas, Lane, then I have to move on.”
I checked my watch. That was less than two weeks from now.
“Email me the details,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt. My mind swirled, along with my stomach.
“Okay, will do. And Delaney?”
“Yes?”
“This is a big opportunity for you. Really think about what you want.”
He hung up, leaving me sitting, shivering and confused, in my delivery van.
18
Quinn
“Hey bro, what’s up?” Josh clapped my back as I slammed my locker shut.
“Not much, man. Just finishing up the last hour of my shift, then heading home. You on the next two days?” I scrubbed my hand across my neck, my muscles tight from the last call we’d had, a real rager of a house fire that took hours to extinguish. I couldn’t wait to be off duty.
“Yep. Did Lanie tell you the news?”
“What news?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
“We’re having another baby. Sue Ann’s pregnant again.” Josh couldn’t keep the grin off his face.
“Congrats, man!” I said, slapping his shoulder. “That’s awesome. When?”
“She’s due this summer. Sue’s really hoping for a girl.”
“I bet.”
“I’m good either way. Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask—how are things going with my sister?” He cocked his head, waiting for my response.
I quickly debated how much to share, my palms sweating. This was exactly what I worried about. People in this town were up in my business before; now they were even more invested and rightfully so, but still irksome.
