exactly how she’d looked as she’d confessed her past to him all those years ago, he couldn’t imagine sharing her secret. Not when she’d been so broken and ashamed in the telling.
He’d promised her the past didn’t matter. Back then, it hadn’t. Now? Now he wasn’t so sure, except for one thing. He was never going to be the nice guy again.
“Tell your PI to keep digging,” he said. “There has to be something.”
“Will do.” Heath rose. “And then what?”
Interesting question. “Hell if I know,” Matt admitted. “I guess I win.”
JESSE SAT IMPATIENTLY beside Nicole, trying not to fidget as her sister studied the layout for the ad Jesse had designed for the Seattle paper.
“Two dollars off six, five dollars off a dozen?” Nicole said, raising her eyebrows. “That’s a big giveaway.”
“We want to generate interest. So far brownie sales have been excellent, but more is always better.”
“Excellent is a bit of a stretch,” Nicole said, returning the sheet to Jesse.
“They’re completely above target.” Jesse opened her folder and pulled out the projections she’d been working on. “Here’s what I had hoped we would sell in the first two weeks. We’ve nearly doubled that. As you can see, we made money on them the first day. With a little advertising, they can become a great seller. Buying a cake requires a commitment, but brownies can be an impulse purchase. Plus, I want to talk about them in gourmet terms so they become something people serve as dessert. I have some ideas for seasonal displays.”
She handed those over to her sister, along with the sales projection.
Nicole’s gaze dropped to the bottom of the sheet. “Internet sales?”
“They’re an obvious next step.”
“You want to do that again?”
Jesse took a deep breath. She knew she was being baited. She told herself to remain calm. That everything was fine. She was mature and able to deal with her sister. The fact that Nicole kept bringing up Jesse selling the famous Keyes cakes on the Internet five years ago was simply an annoying quirk.
“This is totally different,” Jesse said with a smile. “Internet sales are easy. Brownies travel well, the customer pays the cost of shipping and handling, which means our profits aren’t compromised. The prepared packages will be picked up by the carrier of our choice. It’s not a high-risk operation.”
“We don’t have room to do shipping here,” Nicole said. “We’re already jammed in as it is. And before you suggest it, another location would be too expensive for a trial effort that’s probably going to fail.”
Jesse felt her temper slipping. She grabbed on with both hands and held it in.
“I know you’re happy with the sales,” Nicole continued, sounding more like a mom than a business partner. “But this is the rush of something new. They’re going to level off. Let’s see what the real numbers are before we make any commitments.”
“We’ve barely begun to figure out even a piece of the market,” Jesse told her, hating the sense of being talked down to. “There’s buzz. We’re already getting calls from people who’ve moved out of the Seattle area and have heard about the brownies from their friends who still live here.”
“I know you want these to be the next big thing, but they’re not,” Nicole told her. “That sounds harsh, I know. I don’t mean it that way. I’m just saying-”
“You’re just saying you want me to fail,” Jesse snapped. “This isn’t even about the brownies. It’s about the past. It’s about Drew. Despite the fact that I have
“Why should I believe you?” Nicole asked flatly.
That hurt. Jesse sucked in a breath. “Don’t. Call your ex-husband and ask him.” Not that Drew had told the truth before, but hopefully enough time would have passed for him to be willing to come clean. It wasn’t like she had a choice.
“You should have tried harder,” Nicole yelled as she came to her feet. “You should have fought him off. Why didn’t you? Why didn’t I hear you scream?”
Jesse couldn’t have been more surprised if Nicole had physically slapped her. She stood, not bothering to head off the anger exploding inside of her.
“Is that the condition of your forgiveness? Rape? Sorry to disappoint you. I wasn’t violated. Not that way.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Nicole snapped.
“Of course it is. I wasn’t after Drew. I didn’t try to get his attention. But that’s not good enough. If he didn’t attack me, I’m the bad guy. He blamed me and you believed him. You assumed the worst about me. You’re my sister. You’re supposed to know me better than anyone.”
“I did know you,” Nicole yelled. “I knew what you’d been in high school. Why would you have been any different with Drew?”
Once a slut, always a slut, Jesse thought sadly. That’s what it came down to.
She told herself it didn’t matter, except it did. It mattered and it hurt and she didn’t know how to make anything better between them. All she had was the present and today she was focused on her brownies. She took another deep breath.
“I can’t change the past,” she told her sister. “I’ve told you what happened and you either believe me or you don’t. I don’t know what else to say or do. So I’m done trying. As far as the brownies go, you’re wrong. We haven’t even begun to tap their potential. I want to run the ads. I’m an equal partner in the bakery and this isn’t an extraordinary expense.”
Nicole’s mouth tightened. “What happened to earning your way in?”
“I’m working my butt off here and you know it. While I’m willing to put in the time, I’m not willing to let your feelings about the past keep us from being successful.”
“Fine,” Nicole snapped. “Run the ads. Bake your brownies, but don’t get your hopes up. They’re not all that.”
Jesse collected her papers and walked out of her sister’s office. She made her way to the back where she could duck into the women’s restroom and try not to cry.
Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn’t Nicole give her at least half a break? Why did she have to assume the brownies were going to fail? Talk about a lack of faith and forgiveness.
She slowed her breathing. Gradually the burning behind her eyes faded. She sniffed, then made sure she hadn’t leaked mascara on her face. Once she decided she could probably pass for relatively normal, she left the restroom and the building.
But when she got in her car, she found she wasn’t ready to go back to Paula’s. She felt restless and uncomfortable in her own skin. Without considering her actions, she picked up her cell phone, scrolled through her recent call list and then pushed the send button.
“Matthew Fenner’s office,” a woman’s voice said. “May I help you?”
“Uh, this is Jesse. Is Matt around?”
“Just one moment, please. I’ll check.”
Meaning the woman would go ask him. She shouldn’t have called, she thought. Why go looking for more pain?
But before she could hang up, she heard him say, “Jesse? Everything all right?”
“Sure. I don’t know why I called.” Then she remembered her vow to not lie. “That’s not true. I called because I just had another fight with Nicole. The brownies are going great, but does she want to listen to any of my ideas? Of course not. She only wants to see me as a screwup. She wants me to fail. It’s getting to me. That’s all. I need to talk, but I know you’re busy-”
There was a pause, then he stunned her by saying, “Or you could come by the office and rant in person.”
“Really? Now?”
“Sure. Where are you?”
“At the bakery.”
“Come on over. I’ll order lunch in. You can call your sister all the names you want and I’ll agree.”
Despite everything, she smiled. “I’d like that.”
Thirty minutes later, she parked by the large building that housed his company and made her way to the elevator. She went to the top floor where a well-dressed receptionist directed her toward a long corridor. Jesse tried not to feel underdressed in her jeans and T-shirt. She’d come straight from the bakery and working in the back meant comfortable clothes she didn’t mind getting dirty.
