Back for Seconds (24 page)

“Whether or not she needs me is not the issue,” Russell told him. “We are bonded forever through our children. That’s far more important than some cookie fad that can’t possibly last. So do yourself a favor,” he added as he stepped closer towards Xander, putting the men practically nose to nose. “Cut your ties now, before it gets ugly. Because it will,” he promised. He left the threat dangling in the air as he turned on his heel and departed the office.

Xander landed on the edge of his desk, his mind spinning. That was where Lillian found him when she raced upstairs to see what had been said between them. “What did he want?”

Xander sighed as he gestured to the chair. “You might as well sit. We’ve got a problem. A big one.”

Joely knew something was wrong the minute Lillian asked to speak with her privately that night when she got home. Her mother was rarely pensive. She could roll with the punches better than anyone Joely knew. But the look on her face was grim as Joely joined her in the formal living room after the kids had gone to bed. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m afraid we won’t be able to sell your cookies at the restaurant anymore.”

Joely practically wilted onto a chair as she stared at her mother in disbelief. Quickly she did the math in her head what a loss this would be to her income, especially her $10,000 goal. “What? Why?”

Lillian took a deep breath. She wanted to tell her the truth, how Russell was now blackmailing all of them to keep Joely and Xander apart, but Xander had advised her not to. He suspected that Russell was trying to bully Joely back home by taking away all her choices. They simply had to provide her another one, he reasoned. Why sow more seeds of discord in that relationship if they didn’t have to? “It was brought to our attention by an outside source that, because of your preparing your goods at home, you need to follow the cottage food laws of the state.”

Joely blinked in confusion. “What are cottage food laws?”

“In Texas, you’re allowed to make your baked goods from home and market them in certain venues, such as farmer’s markets and the like. Commercial restaurants are prohibited. We don’t consider you a separate entity from the restaurant and never have, but the laws might.”

Joely felt her stomach drop. All this time she had been operating outside the law? All she had done was sell some freaking cookies.

“You can still sell your cookies from home. All those orders you’ve taken for special parties and specific customers are still good. You just can’t sell them at the restaurant, through mail order or online.”

Every single piece of information hit Joely like a punch in the gut. She thought back to Russell’s offer to rent her a commercial kitchen. Suddenly it all made sense. “Who brought it to your attention, Mom?” From the way Lillian swallowed hard and looked away, Joely had her answer. “That son of a bitch!”

Lillian rose to her feet to join her daughter where she sat. “Look, we have options. This doesn’t have to be the end of anything.”

Joely couldn’t stop the tears even if she wanted to. “How can you say that? You know how much money I was making at your restaurant.” Just saying the word ‘was’ felt like another physical blow. Was it really all over? It
had
been too good to be true.

Lillian took Joely’s hands into hers. “Stop. Listen to me. There are two things we can do to fix this. The first, you let me invest into your company.” The minute she said it, Joely shook her head, and kept shaking it as she kept talking. “I give you the initial investment to get you into a commercial kitchen, and you’re all on the up and up by Christmas shopping season. You can pay me back with interest if you like.”

“No,” Joely said as she rose to her feet and started to pace. “I’m going to do it on my own or not at all.”

“Fine,” Lillian sighed. “Then you come to work at the restaurant. You set your own hours, do as much as you want to do producing the cookies for us, our own special offshoot of your brand, and then you can build
Back for Seconds
out of the kitchen here.”

Joely spun around to glare at her mother. “And when am I supposed to see my kids, Mom? In order to make the kind of money I need to make to make this thing work, I’ll be working all the time.” It was what she had been doing, but she had made allowances that she could still manage parenting her children around her crazy schedule. There was no way she could bake till two or three o’clock in the morning at the restaurant, worried about her kids across town, if they woke up and she wasn’t there for them when they needed her… like if they were sick. An image of Hannah lying in her hospital bed flashed in her mind’s eye. Again she shook her head. It all seemed so hopeless. She could have
Back for Seconds
, but only at a price she wasn’t willing to pay.

“The kids can come with you to the restaurant. You can work while they’re in school. Granny Faye and I can watch them if you need a late shift or two during the week. These are not impossible problems, Joely. Yeah, it’s not ideal but no business starting out ever is. You just have to ask yourself what you’re willing to give for it.”

That was what Joely was asking herself right at that very moment. Lillian stood in her path to stop her pacing.

“I’m behind you no matter what you want to do. So is Granny Faye and so is Xander.” Joely practically rolled her eyes at the mention of his name. Here she was trying to stay as far away from him, and the temptation he presented, as possible. Now she’d be right under his nose at least six days a week. “And the money isn’t a gift, by the way. You’re going to inherit everything when Granny Faye and I go.”

Joely made a face. “Don’t talk like that, Mom.”

“It’s true. It’s the reality. You get the restaurant and the house and all my assets. This would just be a little advance on what you’re due. But honestly, I think I’d rather see you work at the restaurant a bit. You have no idea what goes into running a commercial kitchen.”

“No shit,” Joely muttered and Lillian gave her a stern look of reprisal.

“So take this time to learn. That’s what it’s here for. In fact, all this may be a blessing in disguise. If you really want to make
Back for Seconds
work, to support you and your family, then this is your opportunity to educate yourself. Plus it’s a great way for your children to learn what goes into your business, since they, like you, will likely be the inheritors of it one day. You know they’re always welcome at the restaurant. We can make this a real family enterprise. All of us.”

Lillian left her then, to give her room to think about it. Joely meandered into the kitchen, where a big plastic bin sat atop the table, filled with goodies that she could no longer sell at the restaurant. She landed in one of the chairs with a thud as she contemplated the possibilities.

The next day she presented her options to the children, since they were the ones who would have to pay the ultimate price for her starting her own business. She already knew from her mother’s years running a restaurant that starting up a commercial business would take her away from her family more often than not. Whether she accepted her mother’s generous offer to rent her own space or worked at Lillian’s Place, she was looking at 50-60 hour weeks away from home at the bare minimum.

All three of them sat around the table, processing the information she presented. Kari was the first to speak. “I think you should work at Nana’s restaurant. That way you can get some experience first.” It would also ensure that Kari wouldn’t be yanked from Lillian’s Place to front some store at the mall, selling her mother’s cookies. That might have been okay before Xander, but now that he was such a big part of her life, she wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. At least until he realized that he could fall in love with her despite their age difference. More time at the restaurant was just what she needed.

Both Nash and Hannah echoed Kari’s recommendation. “I can help out around here,” Nash offered, almost shyly, as if he didn’t know if she would think him capable of babysitting his younger sister, or “manning” up to extra responsibility. It struck Joely then that as the middle child, Nash had become accustomed to being forgotten or invisible. His sisters had always been more demanding of the attention, whereas he had faded softly from the light, unwilling to compete with the eldest or the baby. Had this been the source of his depression all this time? Why hadn’t she been able to see this before?

With their support behind her, she finally agreed to her mother’s Plan B. The very next week, when Hannah returned to school, Joely would start putting in hours at the restaurant, where she’d prepare “Lillian’s Place Presents: Back for Seconds, Joely Artisan Originals.”

The only variable in her plan was the time she’d have to spend around Xander. It both excited her and scared her to death. She wanted to be around him but she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to withstand the temptation, especially whenever he cast his beautiful eyes her direction. She fretted about it all that Sunday night as she tossed and turned on her bed, unable to think about anything but how time alone together always resulted in some kind of intellectual foreplay.

Worse, she liked it. She wanted it. She
needed
it.

It made her second-guess everything every single minute it took her to drop off the kids and drive across town to Lillian’s Place. She spotted his car easily in the parking lot. Like Lillian, Xander worked 70-hour weeks. He was there early. He left late. He lived and breathed the restaurant business… which would now be Joely’s business.

Her knees actually knocked as she walked up to the restaurant. The crowd there was ecstatic to see her. Everyone had missed her goodies while she had taken time off to care for Hannah. Many a customer stopped her to shake her hand, to inquire about Hannah, and to see when she’d have a new batch of cookies for sale.

She smiled and promised that week they’d be back to normal production. She still wasn’t sure where she’d fit it all in, but she’d have to find a way. She was on her way to the kitchen when Xander intercepted her. “Good morning, Joely,” he said, with that voice that poured over her soul like warm butter. “May I speak to you for a moment?”

Goose bumps broke out all over her flesh as she involuntarily shuddered. Every single one of her salacious fantasies had started with those words – especially delivered with that predacious look in his eyes. She nodded and followed him on shaking feet upstairs to his office.

He let her enter before he shut the door behind him. “First let me say that I’m glad you are still pursuing
Back for Seconds
. I was afraid you’d see this relatively tiny stumbling block as insurmountable. I’d hate for you to give up on something with this much potential just because it gets a little complicated.”

Her eyes darted to his. She wanted to tell him she wasn’t easily scared away, but she had an inkling he wasn’t just talking about the business. Instead she said nothing.

“There are a couple of things we need to go over before you start. Nothing major, just tying up some loose ends so we don’t get caught with our pants down again.”

Again his glare was direct, and again she said nothing.

“First of all, Lillian told me that you would like to set your own hours to fit around your obligations as a parent, not to mention your actual business from home. This is fine with me, but I would like to have that schedule in advance, so that I can know when you’ll be here.”

She gulped hard. His tone was possessive, and it reminded her instantly of being on that bed beneath him in a Dallas hotel. “Of course,” she managed finally.

“Good,” he said with a small smile. The echo of his telling her ‘Good girl,’ rang in her ears as he stood up. “The next thing we need to discuss is packaging, labeling in particular. Please,” he said as he gestured to his chair.

She could barely breathe as she walked around the desk, past his hard body, to sink into his leather chair. He swung her around to face his computer monitor, bending down to navigate the mouse as his face hovered near hers. He opened up a photo editing program, where a label for her goodies had been created. “This is the front,” he explained as he clicked around the photo, showing her the different layers he had included. “For the items you make here, you’ll add
Lillian’s Place Presents
. For all your goods baked from home, you can just leave that off.” Within a few clicks he showed her how to make the changes. “The back of your packaging will now include a food label, for the items both prepared at home or here. I’ve already downloaded a software program to easily calculate that information for you.” Another few clicks and he showed her what she needed to do. “You’ll need to have these labels on anything you sell before you sell it, so you’ll need to spend a little time each day preparing them and printing them. You can use my office for this.”

She nodded as he stood upright, putting her at eye level with the bulge in his pants. Again she gulped hard and looked away. “I’ve also set up a page for you on our official website to sell your goods via mail order and online,” he told her as he propped on the edge of his desk. She tried not to look at his body, spread so gloriously in front of her. “But you will have to prepare those orders here, and the money will be paid directly to Lillian’s Place.” He leaned over to pick up a piece of paper. The smell of his cologne raced up her nose and arrested her senses. He handed her the paper, which already had about six orders on it. “When you’re feeling comfortable enough to produce these orders as rush delivery, we can start advertising that service. Until then, I’ve offered a 48-hour turnaround.”

She nodded as she glanced over the order sheet.

“I figure for the time being we can share the office. This will be your inbox,” he said, pointing to the new tray sitting on his desk. “All orders and contact numbers will go there for you to pick up at your convenience.” He reached into his pocket, drawing her eyes to his lower body. She glanced away quickly as he withdrew a key. “This is for you, so you can access the office whenever you need, even after hours.”

She nodded again as she took the key quickly from his outstretched hand.