“I’m going to go find Aiden too,” Zoe said. “And then I need to head back to the bakery.”
“You’re not going to stay for the show and auction?” Whitney asked.
Zoe shook her head. “No offense but, I don’t really care what new product you guys roll out. Aiden loves what you’re doing, and if he’s happy, I’m happy.”
Whitney felt a little warmth spread in her chest at hearing that Aiden was happy with what she was doing. If he was happy enough about it to talk about it at home, that was something.
“And,” Zoe said. “If I’m honest—which is probably pretty important in this new friendship we’re forging after years of hating each other because our grandmas told us to—there’s a tiny bit of me that’s hoping it flops.” She grinned. “I do know that you’re not really my competition, but it’s been so ingrained that I can’t help it sometimes. I’m working on it.”
Whitney had to laugh. Their grandmothers had truly taken grudge-holding to a new level. They’d been best friends and had started out at Buttered Up, Zoe’s bakery, together. But when Didi had wanted to try new things and Letty had shut her down, Didi had gone off on her own. As things picked up, Didi had gone back to Letty and offered her another chance to do it together. “They’re selling like hot cakes, Letty!” Didi had told her. Letty had still said no. So Didi had named her new company Hot Cakes and had painted those words in huge block letters on the side of the building.
“Well, sorry.” Whitney couldn’t help but tease Zoe. “With Aiden working on this, I really doubt it’s going to flop.”
Zoe gave her a smile that was full of love. “Yeah, you have a point.” She sighed, pretending to be put out. “I guess I’ll just have to get used to us both being successful.”
Whitney smiled and nodded. “Guess so.” Lord, she hoped so.
Zoe moved off to find her fiancé too and Whitney looked at Piper.
Okay, she couldn’t keep Cam from being bid on, but she could help Piper out.
“I think I can fix this,” she said.
Piper gave her an interested look. “You’re going to bid on Ollie?”
Whitney actually laughed at that. “That’s a terrible idea. Ollie and I alone for an hour? We’ll end up with alpacas walking on tight ropes through circles of fire. Or something.”
She absolutely loved brainstorming with Ollie. He never said no, he never shut things down, he never didn’t at least consider everything she said. The creativity just flowed out of her and she couldn’t believe how good that felt. She’d spent ten years having ideas and then having those ideas ignored or even flat-out mocked. These guys never did that. Even when Aiden or Grant put a little common sense and practicality to the plans, they never ever made her feel silly or irrelevant.
Piper nodded. “True. We should probably keep the two of you apart unless you have a chaperone.”
Whitney smiled at that. “I have a better idea about who should spend an hour with Ollie. Come on.”
She started across the grass toward a group of boys. One of them was Henry McCaffery, Zoe and Cam’s younger brother. He was the biggest Warriors of Easton fan in the world. Aiden was practically like a brother to him as well so Henry absolutely had an inside track to news and behind-the-scenes about the game. He was a bit of a local celebrity himself, being so close to two of the guys behind the game. But Aiden was the CEO and Cam was the company attorney. Neither of them had created the game. They weren’t designers. The game—the story, the characters, the graphics—those all came from Dax and Oliver.
Who better to spend an hour with Oliver, talking about the thing he knew best in the world, than three eleven-year-old boys who thought he was basically a god?
“Hey, why aren’t you wearing the red dress?” Piper asked, apparently just noticing.
Whitney sighed. She was in one of her pencil skirts. A black one, which was not helping with the heat out here, and a pale green sleeveless blouse. And, yes, one-inch black heels.
She knew it was boring and made her look uptight. Well, now she did. She’d thought—hoped—that her work clothes made her look put together and professional. But last night with Cam, changing from the red dress back into her gray pencil skirt, had been like magic. She’d gone from feeling exposed and mixed up to feeling cool and like she could face him. Sure, inside, everything had still been a riot of emotions. But she was used to that.
Her skirts and blouses were like armor. She looked like a put-together corporate executive, so she felt like one facing her grandfather, father, and brother. When she was wearing a sexy red dress, she looked like a woman who was ready for a hot date and hoped that dress would end up on her date’s bedroom floor. And that’s how she’d felt facing Cam while wearing it.
His reaction to the dress hadn’t helped.
But his reaction to her skirt and blouse had. He’d clearly thought she seemed uptight in that outfit. Which was fine. Uptight was better than vulnerable.
“I, um, thought this was better for today,” she told Piper.
Piper waved a hand at her face. “A short sundress or shorts and a tank would be better for today,” she said. Piper herself was dressed in a bright yellow dress with a halter top that cinched at the waist with a neon blue belt and flared from her hips, ending just above her knees. Her long hair was piled on top of her head and wrapped with a yellow scarf with blue polka dots, and she wore bright blue sunglasses. She managed to look like a fashion icon while still being cool. Whitney was very impressed. While she sweat through her polyester and silk.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Whitney said. She wore sundresses
