For these jackasses. Who would never get it. And whose opinions didn’t matter.
“What’s so funny?” Gordon finally asked.
“That you think my father, who nearly put this company out of business, is someone that any of these men would listen to,” she said. Honestly. “Look, Gordon, your choice is simple—do you want to continue working with Hot Cakes or not. If yes, then you’ll be a major partner in helping us launch our new product. If no, then…” She pushed her chair back and stood. “You’re an idiot. You will never find four men more dedicated to doing the right thing and making their business successful then these four. But they will do it their way. You can come on board or you can miss out.” She gathered her folder and stepped out from behind the table. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve already given you enough of my time today. There’s someplace else I need to be.
Someplace else she should have been a long time ago.
“Now wait,” Gordon protested, coming to his feet. “I didn’t say I wasn’t interested.”
She looked back. “Like I said, I’ve already given you enough time. We can schedule another meeting after you’ve thought about everything.”
“I’d like to do this now. We can hash out the launch plan for our stores in Iowa right now.”
“I want more than Iowa.”
“Fine. All of our stores,” Gordon said.
Whitney smiled. “Great. I’ll have Piper put that on our agenda. For our next meeting.”
As she walked out of the conference room, she thought about the fact that she’d maybe just ruined the relationship with the biggest account Hot Cakes had.
She might have just let her bosses down. Her friends down.
But as she put her folder on her desk and grabbed her purse so she could head to the hospital, she knew that wasn’t true.
She was going to Dubuque. To the hospital to be a friend. Finally.
21
It had been a shit day.
A really shit day.
Right on the heels of the best night of his life.
Whitney was in love with him. They’d reconnected, in every way.
And now his mother was on an operating table and a surgeon was cutting into her chest.
He rolled his neck and shoulders and looked around.
Aiden was holding Zoe. Grant was holding Josie. Dax was holding Jane. Didi was holding Henry. Or maybe Henry was holding Didi. The only two people without someone holding their hand or someone’s arm around them were Cam and his dad.
That was because the person his dad wanted to be holding was the one with her chest split open right now.
And because the person Cam wanted to be holding was in Appleby in a fucking business meeting.
“Wow, you really look like crap.”
He turned to find Piper handing him a muffin and a bottle of water.
“Hey.” He was surprised to see her. Then he shook his head. “You can’t bring a McCaffery a muffin. Buttered Up or homemade are the only kind we’re allowed to eat.”
She nodded. “That’s from Buttered Up.”
He frowned. “But—”
“Paige opened the bakery and I went in to help her. Stayed open until we ran out of stuff. Well, besides the stuff I swiped for you guys.”
He looked around again and noticed that everyone now had food.
Cam looked at Piper. “Wow,” he finally said. “Thank you. For the muffin and for managing the bakery this morning for Zoe and Josie.”
“It was Whitney’s idea.”
His chest tightened painfully. “Oh.” That was… nice. Awesome even. She’d been thinking of him and his family. She’d come up with a way to help.
In Appleby. From a distance.
It wasn’t as if he believed she hadn’t been thinking of him. Or them.
But she wasn’t here.
She’d stood on those steps, wrapped in a sheet, probably still smelling like him and cookie dough, and she’d let him leave without her.
There was a big meeting today. A big meeting that mattered a lot to her. A big account, one she had history with. One she wanted to impress.
And of course it mattered to Hot Cakes, too. But it hadn’t even occurred to her to reschedule.
“You okay?” Piper asked.
“Sure. I mean…” He gave a soft, humorless laugh. “No. Fuck no, even.” He took a breath. “My mom’s in surgery, my dad’s a mess, my sister and brother are scared, and there’s nothing I can do.”
Piper nodded. “And Whitney’s not here.”
He thought about asking what she meant. Or maybe even denying that was on his mind. But Piper had been helping him nurse his hangovers after seeing Whitney for ten years now. She knew him and the other guys better than they knew themselves sometimes.
He finally nodded. “Yeah. And Whitney’s not here.”
Piper sighed and turned to lean on the windowsill next to him.
He twisted the top off the water bottle and took a drink, preparing to hear her say that he should have specifically asked Whitney to come. Or that Whitney was doing what she thought she needed to do by keeping the meeting. Or that Whitney thought she was helping by having the meeting and keeping things going so the guys could all be here with him and his family.
But instead, Piper said, “You’re going to have to decide if you can handle having only part of her.”
Cam frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean… I get it. I get how it feels to be in love with someone who can only give you part of themselves. And, the thing is, that’s not their fault. We know who they are, Cam. They’ve been honest about it. It’s our stupid fault for still wanting to be with them. So—” She looked at him. “You have to decide if you can be happy with only having part of her. Having her be gone, sometimes physically, a lot of the time mentally. Giving her heart and time and energy to something else.”
“That’s how you feel about Ollie?”
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
Cam sighed. “Yeah. Okay. But…” He looked
