watch him grow, be there for him. But the dark side of him, the side that still raged against all he had lost, wanted Jesse to feel what he felt. He wanted her to know the bone-crushing sense of having lost something that could never be recovered.
“I can handle Gabe,” he said.
“Okay. If she’s not going to just hand him over, you’re looking at a long court battle.”
“She’ll fight.”
She would take him on and do everything she could to keep Gabe, but in the end he would win. He had the resources and he wanted revenge.
“I’ll get these back to you by the end of the week,” he said, touching the folder.
“That works. When do you want me to have her served?”
The first step in the battle. “I’ll let you know.”
ORDERS CAME IN AT an insane rate.
Jesse walked through the controlled chaos of the rented kitchen. At least here she could bury herself in work and forget the insanity that was her personal life. She’d come back to Seattle with a plan. While things hadn’t worked out the way she’d thought they would, they’d still worked out for the better. She was getting the opportunity to show that her ideas were well-considered and successful. The fire, caused by a short in an aging electrical system, had given her an unexpected chance to shine.
She walked into the front of the restaurant, where all the shipping took place and where she and Nicole each had a desk with a computer. In the corner, two college girls answered the ever-ringing phone as people called in yet more orders. They had more business than they could handle. It was the best feeling in the world.
She crossed to Nicole’s desk and pulled up a chair. “I talked to Ralph yesterday.”
Nicole looked confused. “Who’s Ralph?”
“The guy who owns the sandwich shop across the street.”
Nicole’s face immediately scrunched up. “Jesse, honestly, you’re looking for ways to complicate our lives. We’re a little busy now, but things will calm down. We’re fine.”
Jesse felt the familiar frustration building inside of her. “We’re not fine. We’re late on more than fifty percent of our Internet orders because we can’t keep up with volume. We’re drowning in potential success and if we’re not careful, we’re going to go under. Ralph bakes his own bread. He has specialty ovens that would be perfect for the brownies. We could bake eight triple batches at a time. He’s willing to rent the space to us from eleven at night until eight in the morning. That’s plenty of time to get out all the brownies we’ll need, freeing up the ovens here for the cakes.”
Jesse handed over the information she’d printed out that morning. “The rent is incredibly reasonable. He’s excited to have the extra cash. We pay for the increase in electricity and that’s it. Our only start-up costs will be extra pans for the brownies and a few more bodies.”
Nicole shook her head. “I just don’t know,” she began.
Because she didn’t want to know, Jesse thought, frustrated and annoyed.
She stood and grabbed her sister by the arm. “Okay, that’s it. Come with me.”
Nicole jerked free. “What are you doing?”
“You and me. Outside. We’re going to have this out. I’m tired of almost fighting with you every single day. Let’s get this settled.”
For a second she thought Nicole was going to refuse, but then her sister followed her out into the parking lot where they faced each other in the light morning rain.
They stared at each other, arms folded, both glaring. Jesse figured she was the one who had called the meeting so she got to go first. She thought about all the rational things she and Bill had discussed, then spoke from her gut.
“You’re seriously pissed off because I’m making this work,” she said. “You’re angry that I came back and you resent that I know what I’m doing. You can’t stand not being the good sister anymore. You want me to go back to being the screwup, because that’s the world you know and it’s a lot more comfortable than facing me as an equal.”
Nicole stiffened. “You want to be honest? Fine. I’ll be honest. Who the hell are you to waltz back into my life and try to take over? Where have you been for the past decade while I was struggling to hold it all together? I took care of you your entire life, Jesse. I was the one who was always there for you, who handled things and grew up too fast so you still got to be a kid. But does that matter? Of course not. It has to be about you. So you’re back. Let’s hold a parade. Jesse got her life together and is willing to work with me now. I’m all quivery inside. Yes, you got it together, but you know what? I never lost it. I never had to go off and find myself. I was too busy being here, running the business on my own.”
They were hard words to hear, probably because they were the truth, Jesse thought sadly. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
“Sorry?” Nicole’s voice was shrill. “Sorry isn’t good enough. Who the hell are you to show up and make it better? I’ve busted my ass here for years and you’re the one who will reap all the rewards. Do you think I like that? Do you think I’m proud of how I’m acting? I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t trust the new you. I keep waiting for the mistake, because I believe it’s coming and I wonder how big it’s going to be this time.”
“You don’t trust me?” Jesse asked, stunned.
“Why should I? You’ve been home five minutes. You won’t even acknowledge what you did last time. No one else knows the reason we’re doing so well on the Internet is that you have practice.”
She was bringing that up now? “You do realize it’s been five years,” Jesse said.
“You stole the family recipe for chocolate cakes, baked them yourself and sold them on the Internet.”
Jesse couldn’t argue with that. She had. “You fired me from the bakery.”
“I thought you’d slept with Drew.”
“Yeah, and I hadn’t. You fired me for something I didn’t do. I had to earn a living.”
“You could have gotten a job.”
“The bakery was all I knew. Besides, I’m half owner, remember? So I owned that recipe, too. How could I steal what was already mine?”
They stared at each other, the tension practically pulsing between them.
Nicole looked away first. “At least admit you showed bad judgment.”
“I did,” Jesse said easily, knowing it was true. “You’d hurt me and I wanted to hurt you back. So I sold the cakes. I knew that would make you crazy.”
Nicole nodded. “Thanks for saying that. For what it’s worth, you did make me crazy.” She looked at the ground, then back at Jesse. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about Drew. There are a lot of reasons I didn’t. Your past, how you were always being so difficult. But mostly I wanted you to be the bad guy because then I didn’t have to look at myself. Like you said before, if you slept with him, I wasn’t the reason the marriage failed.”
Jesse absorbed the words, letting them fill her with peace. Finally, she thought. That had been a long time coming.
“You weren’t the reason your marriage failed,” she said, able to be generous now. “He was. Drew was a jerk.”
Nicole gave a half laugh, half sob. “Yeah, and I picked him. I know I shouldn’t have married him. I knew it was a mistake when I said yes. I guess I was afraid no one else would ask.”
Jesse moved to her sister and held her. “That’s crazy. You’re beautiful and smart and funny. Guys love that. Look at the guy you’re married to now. Hawk is a total hottie.”
“I know. Sometimes I look at him and wonder how I got so lucky.”
Jesse stepped back. “As long as he thinks the same thing about you.”
“He does. Who would have thought.”
They looked at each other. Jesse knew the harmony was tentative at best, but there was more to be said.
“We need to rent the space across the street. It’s cheap, it’s close and it’s short-term, so the risk is minimal. If we don’t keep up with orders, we’ll lose everything.”
Nicole gritted her teeth, then nodded. “I know you’re right. I don’t like it, but I know it.”
