Six Rules: Book Two in the SIX Series (15 page)

Chapter 20

          
I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing at seven-thirty
in the morning. It was Addie, and for a moment I thought something was terribly
wrong.

          
“Did you get the news yet?” she said hurriedly.

          
“What? What news? What’s going on?” I said, slowly sitting
up.

          
“The bids for the art festival were announced. They left a
message on the bakery phone last night. I didn’t get it until I came in this
morning. I thought they would have called your cell phone as well, but I
haven’t heard from you yet. When are you coming in?” she asked anxiously.

          
“I can be there in less than twenty minutes. What did the
message say? It’s good news at least, right?” I asked, a little confused by
Addie’s tone.

          
“Well, just get here when you can and I’ll play you the
message,” she said hesitantly.

          
“What happened? They didn’t choose me?” I said, completely
caught off guard. I honestly thought my spot was virtually guaranteed. I had
done so many orders recently for most of the board members and other businesses
involved, so I never imagined I would be cut out of the event. Not completely
anyway.

          
“Well we’re still in it, but I guess, well…” Addie’s voice
trailed off and I knew she wouldn’t say much more over the phone.

          
I quickly got dressed and hurried out to the kitchen,
where I wasn’t too surprised to find Greyson making strawberry waffles.

          
“I’m really sorry, but I just got a call from Addie. I
have to go,” I said, kissing him quickly and grabbing my purse off the kitchen
table.

          
“I thought you didn’t have to be into the bakery until
eight-thirty? Is everything okay?” he asked, concerned by my worried face.

          
“I don’t know, something about the bid. Did you get a call
last night?” I asked, wondering why he didn’t say anything if he received a
call about it.

          
“I don’t know. I was with you all night, remember? I
didn’t even check,” he said politely, motioning to his phone resting on the
counter across the kitchen.

          
“Well I’m really sorry about breakfast. Can you save it
and we can have it for dinner or something? I really have to get going,” I
said, frantically looking for my keys.

          
“I thought we were meeting your friends for dinner
tonight?” he asked, calmly grabbing my keys off his living room side table and
handing them over to me.

          
“Crap, yes. Okay, sorry, I’m a little frazzled. Addie
sounded worried, which is completely unlike her. I’ll just call you later,
okay?” I said, kissing him quickly and walking towards the front door. “It
smells amazing. I’m really sorry. I owe you for breaking your rule,” I said
sincerely.

          
“I’ll give you a pass on this one, so long as you make it
up to me later,” he said, turning off the stove.

          
I genuinely felt bad, but the pit in my stomach about
Addie’s phone call felt even worse.

          
I drove over to the bakery as fast as I could, rushing in
through the back door as soon as I arrived.

          
“Addie, what happened?” I asked hurriedly, hoping she
would finally explain it to me.

          
“Well, listen to the message,” she said, pushing a red
button on the answering machine.

          
“Hi Mallory, this is Al from the Chamber of Commerce. I’m
just calling to let you know that we’ve reviewed all of the bids, and we’ve
made some modifications to your dessert bid. We’re still planning to use your
services for the art festival, but we’re only in need of about twenty percent
of your proposal. You can pick up the finalized outline of our food plan any
time after ten a.m. tomorrow morning. Thanks so much.” The message machine
beeped loudly and that was the end of the recording.

          
“Wow, only twenty percent? Did I over-propose? I thought I
was within the quantity of desserts they were looking for. I wonder what could
have happened. I mean at least we got in, that’s good. But there weren’t that
many contenders. Who else would they have gone with for the rest? Maybe it’s
just an error or something,” I explained to Addie, pacing back and forth behind
the counter.

          
“Well, I called them first thing this morning. I only got
through to a secretary because no one else was in, but…” Addie’s voice trailed
off and I knew she had bad news. “I mean, maybe you already know about this and
it won’t be a surprise to you. But I don’t know, it kind of caught me off
guard. I didn’t know Greyson had put in a dessert bid.”

          
“What do you mean? Greyson only put in an appetizer and
main course bid,” I said, completely confused by her reference to Greyson.

          
“Yeah, that’s why I’m not sure why he got fifty percent of
the dessert bid,” Addie said reluctantly.

          
“What?” I said, completely exasperated by what she was
saying. "Fifty percent? That's impossible."

          
“So you didn’t know anything about it?” she asked
cautiously.

          
“No, of course not. Greyson doesn’t even cater desserts,
why would he have put in a dessert bid? And he knew I was going for this, so
why wouldn’t he have said anything? What the hell is going on, Addie?” I
exclaimed. None of this was making sense. “Are you sure the secretary wasn’t
reading it all wrong? Something isn’t right here. That doesn’t seem possible.”
I racked my brain trying to figure out what happened. A timer went off in the
back room and I knew I had to get to work. I helped Addie pull out the trays of
cupcakes and cinnamon rolls she made earlier this morning.

          
The bakery was really busy, which was a nice distraction
from the anger festering in me. How could I have lost business to Greyson? We
don’t even make the same kind of food, so we shouldn’t be considered in any of
the same groups. It just didn’t add up.

          
As soon as ten o’clock neared, I quickly left the bakery
and jogged the eight blocks to the Chamber of Commerce building. It felt more
refreshing that popping in my car for the short drive, and I thought the fresh
air would clear my head. Surely there was just some kind of misunderstanding
here. I expected this to be one of my biggest jobs of the year, and now someone
was telling me that I was undercut by an Italian catering restaurant? Oh yeah,
one that was owned by the guy I was sharing a bed with most nights.

          
I quickly took the elevator up to the second floor and
found the information desk. A perky woman in her early forties smiled as I
approached her, and she handed me a packet of papers in a brown manila
envelope.

          
“You must be Mallory from Sweet Cheeks,” she said happily.
“I absolutely love your tiramisu. You make amazing food.”

          
“Thank you. Just out of curiosity, I didn’t think there
were too many other dessert bids. I mean I knew some of it would go to the snow
cone booths and some of those specialty items, but when I turned in my proposal
I thought I was one of the few bakeries to be submitting a proposal. I was just
wondering who is handling all the other desserts,” I said politely, trying to
sound genuinely curious more than angry.

          
“Oh, you’re going to love them. Luca’s is actually
branching out into doing desserts too. Have you ever had their pie?” she asked,
her face lighting up as she spoke.

          
“As a matter of fact, I have,” I said with a fake smile.

          
“I don’t know if you’ve ever worked with him before, but
you’ll like him. He’s a very young, handsome guy. You’ll have to make sure you
meet him at the event,” she said, a little too bubbly.
 

          
“I can’t wait to meet him, he sounds charming. Thanks for
the packet. I appreciate your help.” As I turned to walk back to the elevator,
I could feel the heat on my cheeks. Greyson submitted a dessert bid directly
against me? Why didn’t he say anything? I was fuming, and as much as I wanted
to call him that instant, I knew I needed some time to calm down first.

          
As soon as I got back to the bakery, Addie already had a
very sympathetic look on her face. “I’m scared to ask,” she said quietly.

          
“You were right. Luca’s is handling fifty percent of the
dessert bid,” I said shaking my head. “He never even brought it up. Not once. I
asked if he got a call about the bid last night, and he was so blasé about it.
No wonder he didn’t take the call while I was there.”

          
Addie tucked her long blonde hair back behind her ears and
looked as though she was deep in thought. “There has to be an explanation,
Mallory. That doesn’t make sense.”

          
“It does make sense, Addie. I knew that guy was up to no
good,” I said, furiously wiping down the counters.

          
“I thought you were crazy in love with him,” Addie said
matter-of-factly. “I mean I know you’ve had some hiccups along the way.”

          
“Since the moment I met him there have been hiccups.
Forget hiccups, he’s more like the stomach flu. I’m over him one minute, then
overtaken by him the next minute. I told you the day I met him he was trying to
unload his desserts at the art gallery, remember? And that building he wanted
to buy, he specifically pointed out there was some great bakery space in there.
Oh my gosh, Addie, he is using me,” I said, throwing down the cloth I was
cleaning with. “He was so eager to get to know me, and now he’s stealing
business right out from under me.” My heart ached as I spoke, and my throat
felt like it was closing up as my anger increased.

          
“Mallory, are you sure? Maybe you should talk to him.
Maybe there’s an explanation for all of this.”

          
“Addie, that guy has an explanation for everything. No
matter how he tries to spin this, it doesn’t look good. I am so mad. The last
thing I want to do is talk to him. In fact, I have no desire to talk to him at
all. Like, ever. I am so over him,” I said, walking to the back of the bakery.
I angrily pulled out some of my recipe books and started feverishly flipping through
the pages.

          
“What are you doing?” Addie asked.

          
“Baking. That’s what I do. I just want to do
something
other
than think about Greyson. I am going to bake every single thing in this book
today if that will keep me from calling him and giving him a piece of my mind.
I don’t want to hear him out. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want his
sorry excuses for why he is yet again pissing me off. I just want to be done
with it,” I said, pulling out random pans and mixing bowls. I dropped a few of
them and the loud clanging sounds further infuriated me.

          
“Well, let me help you. What do you want to make today?
Something we’ve never done before?” Addie asked, taking one of the recipe books
from my pile. I smiled, relieved to have such a good friend. Someone who knew
what I needed in this moment.

          
We thumbed through the books and picked out six new
recipes we wanted to try. Addie and I laughed as we came up with new names to
call the recipes, and we pondered whether or not any of them would be worthy to
make the menu. As we pulled out bags of flour and sugar the front door chimed,
which was unusual for the middle of the day. Addie went up front to assist
whoever it was, and I continued to lay out our supplies. About ninety seconds
later, Addie came back to the kitchen, and I could tell by her face something
was wrong.

          
“He’s here, Mal.”

Chapter 21

          
“What are you doing here?” I asked with a sharp tone as I
walked up to the bakery counter.

          
“Mallory, I just got my package and I saw the outline. I
tried calling you a few times, but you didn't answer or return my messages. I
know you’ve seen it by now and that’s why you’re angry,” Greyson said gently.

          
“So you’re coming into my work,
my
job, to further
insult me?” I asked squarely.

          
“Mallory, it’s not what you think,” he replied calmly.

          
“With you, it never is. Look Greyson, I don’t need an
explanation from you, or an apology, or whatever you came here for. I would
honestly just prefer it if you would leave. This is not the place for you to be
right now,” I answered.

          
“Just hear me out. Please. You don’t think I bid against
you, do you?” he asked, staring at me intently for an answer.

          
“Does it matter Greyson? I shouldn’t be competing with
you. Why am I competing with you? How did we even get here?” I asked angrily.

          
“I don’t know, that’s what I’m trying to explain to you,”
he said, reaching out an arm to touch me.

          
“Don’t, Greyson. Don’t you dare touch me right now. You
want to explain all of this to me? Even the secretary gushed about your pie.
Since when is Luca’s in the dessert business? You never thought to throw that
out in any of the conversations we’ve been having recently?” I huffed.

          
“I told you the day I met you that I wanted to branch out
into catering desserts. That shouldn’t be a huge surprise to you,” he
responded.

          
“So you thought you’d hook up with the bakery girl? Maybe
learn a thing or two? Then take her jobs out from under her?” I mused.

          
“That’s what you think this is?” Greyson responded, hurt
by the accusation.

          
“You just took fifty percent of my job. That seems to be
exactly what this is.” I stared at him with piercing eyes, and I knew my voice
would begin to waiver if this conversation escalated.

          
“That’s not what happened. I didn’t even put in a bid,
Mallory.”

          
“So they just assumed you’d be interested in baking? ‘There’s
a handsome guy, maybe he can make better cupcakes than the girl whose entire
business
is baking.’ Seems like an interesting coincidence. Look, I don’t care what
happened. I can honestly say I really don’t care anymore. I just want to end
this conversation by pointing out that I was right about one very important
thing,” I said, crossing my arms.

          
“What’s that?” he asked curiously.

          
“Remember that night at the bar when I told you I thought
you were my next big mistake? Well congratulations to me, I was more right in
that moment than I even realized. So let’s just call it, Greyson. You wanted to
turn this personal relationship into a business contract, right? Well now
you’ve made my business personal, and that is a line you shouldn’t have
crossed. That is a hard rule, Greyson. Not one I wrote down on a napkin, but a
hard fast rule. We’re done. Please leave,” I said, pointing towards the front
door.

          
“Mallory, how on earth can you believe I’ve been using you
this whole time? You really think that’s what I’ve been doing?” he said,
pleading for me to change my mind with an obvious sadness in his eyes.

          
“Please Greyson, I’m working. I’d like you to leave.”

          
“I don’t know what the right play is here, Mallory. I want
to stay and talk about this,” he responded genuinely.

          
“The right play is to listen to the girl and do what she
asked. You should go,” Addie chimed in, walking up to the bakery counter. I
shot her a small smile, happy for her interjection.
        

          
Greyson reluctantly walked out of the bakery, and I turned
away and walked back into the kitchen. Hot tears poured down my face, and Addie
said nothing. She just hugged me and smiled, squeezing my arms as if to let me
know everything would be okay.

          
We went back to baking and didn’t talk about it any
further. The day flew by and Mallory and I worked on some orders we had, along
with a few new pastries. We actually managed to laugh throughout the day and
Megan came by as soon as she got off work. She hung out with us in the bakery
for about an hour, and then we all went back up to my apartment to freshen up
before dinner.

          
Sure enough, there was an envelope taped to my door.

          
“So we actually get to meet the guy tonight, right?” Megan
asked as we walked into my apartment.

          
I could see Addie frantically shaking her head no in my
peripherals, but Megan didn’t seem to pick up on her gesture.

          
“Actually, we’re done,” I said, taking a deep breath. “It
just didn’t work out. Addie, do you want to explain the story to her while I
change?” I asked, walking back to my bedroom. I stared at the envelope in my
hand. Part of me didn’t want to open it, because I wanted to continue pretending
I was completely over him and this whole thing didn’t bother me. But on the
other hand, that was a complete lie, and I hated the pit I had in my stomach
from everything that had happened this morning.

          
I slowly opened the envelope, curious as to what Greyson
could possibly say at this point to make any of this better.

          
Mallory,

          
Please just at least give me the opportunity to
explain. I miss you. - G

          
I stared at the note, not quite sure how to feel about it.
Why did he always have an explanation for everything? I believed he missed me,
sure. But I couldn’t believe he had no part in anything that had happened. No
one would just
give
a dessert gig to an Italian catering company that
didn’t even make desserts. It just didn’t make sense.

          
I threw the note in my drawer and picked out a low-cut
green dress. At least a night out with my best friends would make me feel
better. I called out to Addie in the living room and she and Megan came into my
bedroom, sitting down on my bed.

          
“How about this one, Addie?” I asked, holding up a purple
chiffon dress for her to wear.

          
“Can’t I just wear some flashy leggings and this top?” she
responded, pointing to the tunic style shirt she already had on. Despite all my
best fashion efforts, Addie was a minimalist, and I was constantly trying to
get her to dress up a bit more. I threw the dress at her, and she knew what
that meant.

          
“I’m wearing my work dress,” Meagan chimed in. She was
wearing a form fitted black dress with a zipper up the back. “I’m hoping to
meet some of the after-work crowd. I need a man who has an actual job,” she
said, rolling her eyes. “Those last few guys I went out with had no motivation.
One of them actually told me he was trying to find a way to become a video game
tester for a living, so he could get paid for playing video games all day. How
very ambitious,” she sneered, fixing her hair in my vanity mirror.

          
“Perpetually on the search for Mr. Right,” I joked,
wondering if Megan would ever take dating seriously. “Maybe I should try this
whole serial dating thing you’re into. I could use a two-day relationship. All
this falling in love with every handsome guy that comes my way, it just doesn’t
seem to be working for me,” I remarked.

          
“Do you want to go out with me after dinner tonight? I
know just the place to find your next ex-boyfriend,” Megan said excitedly.
“There’s this bar on Fourth Street, right by that vintage shop. It’s kind of a
hole in the wall, but I’ve met some gems there.”

          
“Oh really? Care to recall any of their names?” Addie shot
back. It was no secret that Megan had an attention span for any guy of about
seventy-two hours. After that it was like they never existed.

          
“Come on, leave me out of this. I’m perfectly happy this
way. Besides, I think Mallory needs to come join me on the dark side. It’s a
lot more fun,” Megan said with a deviant smile.

          
I curled my hair and put on eyeliner, which I didn’t apply
often. I was probably too overdone for a night out to dinner with my friends,
but if Megan and I were really going out afterwards, I needed to at least put
in some effort. Her long dark hair and forever long legs were hard to compete
with.

          
We all drove together over to the Fish Bowl, a trendy
restaurant with an amazing view of Lake Tahoe. It was a younger crowd, mostly
people in their twenties and early thirties. It was busy almost every night of
the week.

          
We met up with Steve, Johnny, and Griffin and we were
seated in a large booth near one of the huge windows overlooking the water. I
knew it was only a matter of time before someone asked me where Greyson was.

          
“I thought you had a plus one tonight Mal,” Johnny said,
eyeing my curiously.

          
“Yeah, well he’s unavailable,” I said vaguely. “Are we
drinking tonight?” I asked the group, holding up the drink menu. Everyone
nodded in agreement, and we ordered large pitchers of flavored margaritas. We
talked, we laughed, and we reminisced about old times. It was a perfect night
out, and I had to admit, Greyson was finally far from my mind for the time
being.

          
I slugged down three margaritas as we waited for our food,
which made Megan even more excitable for our night out tonight. Addie and
Griffin had plans to see a movie afterwards, but we talked Johnny and Steve
into going out with us as well. We had so much fun together, so I knew this was
exactly what I needed.

          
Six margaritas later we left the restaurant and said
goodbye to Addie and Griffin. Johnny volunteered to drive for the night, which
was a nice gesture. We made our way downtown and went to several different
bars. We danced, talked, and drank too many shots. I felt alive and far from
alone, and I was so appreciative to have such wonderful friends.

          
I can’t say that Megan was a good wingman though, she
pretty much failed at it. Anytime we saw a handsome guy, she hurried off to
work her magic, leaving me to hang with the guys. It definitely makes you
unapproachable to be standing around a bar with two already very handsome men.

          
Sometime around midnight, everyone seemed tired. We talked
about going to a different nightclub, but no one really had the stamina.

          
“I think we’re all getting too old for this,” Steve
commented as we walked out to the parking lot to retrieve Johnny’s car.

          
I had to admit, I didn’t feel great and I knew the morning
would come much faster than I would be ready for.

          
“Are you sure you guys don’t want to just hit up one more
place?” Megan asked in her perky voice.

          
“No,” we all said in unison, which made us laugh.

          
“Just because you’re going home alone Meg, it doesn’t mean
the night wasn’t worth it,” Steve teased. She threw her arm around his
shoulders and made a pouting face.

          
“I’m too cute to be going home alone,” she retorted.

          
“How’s that dare going, Megan? You realize you aren’t
allowed to sleep with anyone for a consecutive three months, right? You can’t
add it up one night at a time,” Johnny chimed in.

          
“Maybe I’ll start tonight then,” Megan said with a smile.
“Although I have a date tomorrow night, so it’s not looking good.”

          
“You’re hopeless,” I said, climbing into the passenger
seat of Johnny’s car.

          
Once everyone was seated, Johnny began the drive back to
my apartment. My stomach felt queasy, and my mind raced with thoughts of
Greyson. Earlier today I had to admit, I was genuinely sad about the whole
thing. Sad that everything unfolded the way it did. Sad that there would be no
more ‘us’ days, relaxing in the sunshine without a care in the world. Maybe it
was all the margaritas, or the shots at the bar, or spending time with my best
friends, but now I was just downright angry. The way Greyson outbid me behind
my back without even a warning. The way he wanted to justify and explain
everything he did, like he was charming enough to find an excuse for any
situation. He was far more calculated than I realized, and that was what
angered me the most.