But Cam would be the helpful one. He was the one that took care of everyone. He’d take care of their dad and Henry and Zoe and… Didi.
And he’d have help taking care of Zoe. Aiden was there. He and Cam could support each other. The way brothers would.
Then she realized that Grant and Josie would be there too. Josie had been close to Zoe their entire lives. She’d be scared about Maggie and would want to be there. Which meant Grant would be there to support her. And Cam, who was one of his best friends and like a brother.
Jane and Dax would be there too. Jane was close to the McCafferys and Dax would want to support her and Cam.
Yes, Cam had plenty of people around him for support and help. He didn’t need her. Especially when she would be no help there. She had no experience with this. Her grandfather had died of a massive stroke. He’d been there one minute and gone the next. There had been no medical testing or procedures, or hospital stays. If there had been, her family wouldn’t have looked to her for coordinating anything anyway. She knew nothing about heart attacks and procedures and tests for that. She’d be no help there at all.
But staring at the front door, she realized that there was something she could do. She would be helpful at Hot Cakes.
She could run this meeting with Gordon Perkins for the company.
That was what she could contribute. She could manage things at Hot Cakes while they were all out of the office and focusing on Maggie.
She could reassure Gordon that everything was fine and that he not only wanted to continue working with them, but that he wanted to be the first to introduce the new snack bar to the public in his stores. He’d want to put up huge displays in all his stores and do big promotions and really push this out to the public.
That was exactly what Hot Cakes needed as the next step with this new product. A big partner in their public launch. Gordon Perkins would be perfect.
Whitney could make this happen. For her bosses.
For her friends.
* * *
Three hours later, Whitney strode into the executive office suites of Hot Cakes in a bright, cherry red pencil skirt. The red color was out of the ordinary for her. She’d ordered it online on a whim last week. She’d been waiting for the right moment to show it off to Cam.
Today was the right moment to wear it though. She was ready to be in charge. That was what the skirt said to her. That’s what mattered. She didn’t need to say that, or show it, to Cam.
The red heels made her happy as well. Rather than getting them for the extra inches they’d add, she’d gotten them because of the sassy straps and the big red bow on the toe. Those were also for her.
The crowning touch was the black blouse with white polka dots. She’d seen it on the webpage and immediately wanted it.
No, none of this was the red wiggle dress of Piper’s Whitney had tried on in her office the night Cam had said her tits looked amazing. But this was her. This made her feel confident, like she was bold and confident and stretching her wings.
Dammit, she liked the pencil skirts and how they made her look and feel.
Yes, she also liked the color red.
“Hang on. Ollie’s on his way.” Piper rose to her feet as Whitney approached. Then she stopped and looked Whitney up and down. “Wow. You look amazing.”
Whitney smiled. “Thanks.” Then she tipped her head. “Ollie’s coming?”
“He’s going into the meeting with you. We both are.”
“You… are?”
Piper smiled, but she looked like it was a bit of an effort. “Of course. We’re the only ones here, but we’re here for you while everyone else is at the hospital with Maggie.”
Whitney felt her heart squeeze hard in her chest. She’d been trying to concentrate on the meeting and not on what was happening in Dubuque.
Gordon Perkins, his son Matt, and his business partner, Stephen McDonald, were driving in. They were from Minneapolis but had been doing a tour of their stores throughout Minnesota and Iowa and were planning to go on into Indiana. They’d visited their Iowa stores, finishing with the six in Dubuque yesterday. They didn’t have a store in little Appleby but had been willing to stop by for this meeting while in the area. She had to focus here and make it worth their stop.
“And everyone thought I needed help?” Whitney asked. Ollie and Piper both knew the basics about the new snack bar, of course, but the details that Gordon and his team would need would come from Grant and Aiden. Or Whitney.
“Oh, we’re purely moral support,” Piper said, shaking her head. “Mr. Perkins and his team should be here in about thirty minutes. I made coffee here and ran over to Cedarville for muffins since the bakery is closed this morning.”
Whitney took a deep breath. She hadn’t even thought about that. How had she not thought about that? Of course, Buttered Up hadn’t opened this morning. Zoe and Josie were both at the hospital. The main person who filled in when they couldn’t be there was Maggie.
She felt a pang in her heart. God, please let her be okay.
She focused on the bakery. Not only was that a problem for them business-wise—obviously they couldn’t make money if they didn’t sell anything today—though that was less of an issue with both Zoe and Josie being engaged to millionaires—but it was a problem for the waste of the food inside the bakery and, well, it was a problem for the town. Not a horrible, natural
