Chapter 47

47

Grady

My kitchen is a fucking disaster.

My donut dough isn't rising, probably because I forgot to put the yeast in when I mixed it.

All of my cupcakes have caved in.

The blueberry muffins I made to salvage the breakfast rush are bitter, and I told the maple bacon scones to go fuck themselves.

The sink's overflowing.

Not with dishes.

But with water, because I wasn't paying attention when I was filling it and now it's spilling all over the floor.

"Whoa, boss, you got some trouble back here," Georgia says when she bustles in a few minutes before six. She has to shout to be heard over my music, which she silences as fast as she can leap across the kitchen.

"Off day," I grunt.

"Did you sleep last night? You look like shit. Hey. Back away from the cookie dough. Sugar needs love, not a beating, remember? You want me to get rid of the TV that we set up last night to watch the morning show? I can accidentally throw a can of whipped cream at it so we don't have to watch that rigged bullshit go down."

" Don't fucking call it rigged ," I snarl.

She grins. "Feel better?"

"No."

"Not even a little?"

I glower at her, throw my apron off, and head for the back door.

Tillie Jean bursts in. "Hey! You're not leaving, are you? I brought megaphones so we can all boo as one."

I glare at her.

She grins.

I glare harder and add a growl.

She grins bigger.

It's like they know.

They know Annika dumped me, and they're all so fucking happy about it.

Fuck.

That.

Fuck them all.

I turn on my heel and march to the front of my bakery.

My bakery.

I hate this bakery.

It's in a town full of people who hate the one woman in this world that I've loved for half my life.

The woman I measure every other woman against.

The woman whose only sin was being born ten miles down the road instead of here.

Fuck that too.

I've just hit the lights when I dimly register that those grunts I was hearing weren't coming from my baked goods that are all moaning at being mistreated.

" Aaaah! POPS! PUT YOUR FUCKING PANTS BACK ON! NANA! AAAAAAH!"

The two of them leap apart, stuffing their saggy bits back into their clothes, and shit damn fuck hell, now I have to sanitize every table in here.

Along with my eyes.

"Rawk! Mind your own fucking business! Rawk!"

Long Beak Silver swoops from his perch over the door and dive-bombs me, like I'm the one in the wrong for walking in on my grandparents doing the horizontal mamba.

Someone knocks on the glass door in the dim morning light. "Is it time?" he calls. "I want to watch the morning show."

"What are you doing here?" I demand while I shield my eyes.

"We didn't want to miss the show," Pop says.

"We're here for you, honey," Nana adds. "Since you lost and all."

Someone else knocks on the door. "Are you open yet? Turn on the TV! We don't want to miss it."

Georgia breezes past me to fling open the door. "Oven malfunction," she announces. "All we have is coffee."

It doesn't matter.

They all file in, because that's what you do.

You get up at the butt crack of dawn to file into a bakery to support your neighbors.

"Grady!"

"It's the man of the hour!"

"I can't wait to watch him spank that Sarcasm bakery back to where they came from."

All of them.

All of them .

Invading my bakery.

Flipping on the fucking television.

Cheering.

Because they think they're supporting me.

Ma and Dad file in, both of them smiling broadly at me like they know Annika dumped me, and they, too, are happy about it.

Cooper saunters in too. He showed up at my house after the game with a six-pack of Shipwreck Lager, and the two of us toasted all of our fuck-ups.

Me with Annika.

Him being only halfway through a long-term contract with a team he loved until he played for them, and a team he can't turn around single-handedly.

"I hope she sets her ovens on fire," someone says.

"Enough!" I roar.

Everyone turns to stare at me as Annika's face fills the television screen.

She was nervous as hell. Tugging at her earlobe, and she probably didn't even realize she was doing it.

I did that to her.

I made her get in front of those cameras and pretend she could bake.

I leap up onto the nearest table and I point to the screen. "I love that woman, and any of you who can't handle it can get the fuck out of my bakery."

There's a moment of total silence.

Broken, naturally, by Cooper.

"Dude. Zeus Berger is hot, but he's not a woman, and I didn't think he was your type."

I blink at the screen, where Zeus Berger is having an arm wrestling match with his billionaire buddy while the cooking is going on.

I flip my brother off. "You know I meant Annika."

"Just sayin', watch where you're pointing."

"Out. Get out . Crow's Nest is closed."

"Are you serious?" Tillie Jean asks.

"As a fucking heart attack. I'm done standing here listening to anyone talk shit about Annika and her family. I'm the reason we're having a bakery war. She didn't do a damn thing wrong, and neither did her mama. Say one more bad thing about her. Go on. Do it."

Cooper grins and flashes me a thumbs-up.

Pop frowns and pulls his matchmaker notebook out of his back pocket.

Ma wipes a tear from her eye.

Sloane pokes her head around Georgia's grandpa, Doc Adamson. "Can we get her on our softball team?"

" Out ."

Yesterday's contest in Copper Valley is playing out on the TV set up on the side table. It's ugly.

I'm laughing and smiling with Georgia. Looks like I don't have a care in the world.

But every single minute, I was painfully aware of how stressed Annika was.

I kept telling myself it was for the good of both our bakeries.

But at what cost to her?

"Go on," Georgia says. "You heard the bossman. Health department violations to have people in the building with our ovens in the shape they're in. Cooper's got space up at his place for all of you. We'll be open tomorrow."

"It'll be over by the time we get there," someone groans.

"We'll turn it on over at The Muted Parrot," Ma offers.

"Wait, does this mean those Sarcasm assholes won ?"

"Free coffee!" Ma cries.

"I'll bring gold nuggets!" Dad adds.

Tillie Jean's lip curls. "For breakfast? Ew . Ignore him, folks. I'm grabbing a tray of banana pudding."

My family ushers everyone out the door, all of them sending me knowing looks. Finally, it's just me and Georgia again.

Me, Georgia, Long Beak Silver, and Cooper, that is.

"What?" I snarl at Cooper.

"Just making sure I don't have to fight any domestic enemies," he replies.

"Rawk! Eat that pussy! Rawk!"

"Someone please shoot that bird," I mutter.

He swoops through the dining room and poops on my head.

"Grady, you've got it bad," Georgia says.

I start to glower at her, but she holds both hands up. "Slow down, master baker. I don't give two pirate coins who you love. I care that she's good enough for you and she loves you back. Is she worth this?"

She gestures to me in all my snarly, heartbroken glory, and I sink into the nearest chair and rub my neck.

"She's worth it," I tell the floor.

"Then get up off your ass and do something about it."

I lift my head and study her.

She rolls her eyes and puts a fist on her hip. "Can't fight love. And if you can find it with someone from a town your family has vilified for years, then maybe there's hope for the rest of us. Even if I still think they cheated yesterday."

I growl.

She grins. "You really do have it bad. Also, can you please tell Cooper not to mop the floor with me for saying they cheated? I was joking."

She wasn't joking, but I glance at my brother.

He grins too. "I can't wait to watch Pop burn that notebook. Thousand bucks says he cries."

"Who says she wants me back? He might still need it."

"Are you kidding? There's not a woman in the world who could resist your charm."

"But he'll need it for you."

"Never. I'm irresistible too. Watch this. Hey, Georgia baby, what'cha doin' tonight? Besides me?" He waggles his brows at Georgia.

She visibly throws up in her mouth. "I need a shower. And brain bleach. And a day off."

"You don't want to stay and cuddle and work up a plan for Grady with me?"

I push back to my feet and shove Cooper toward the door. "Quit harassing my assistant manager and go away."

"I'm just making sure the bird doesn't talk smack about your bae."

"Don't even say bae again. And take the bird with you."

"Rawk! Death first! Rawk!"

"Got a juicy steak with your name on it, bird," Cooper says while he chases Long Beak Silver around the dining room.

"You can't feed a bird steak."

"Okay, fine. The steak's for me. But I can't eat with someone who likes bugs for a snack. That's disgusting."

"You wear the same socks all season, and a bird eating a bug is disgusting?"

"We're talking about you, bro. Go get the girl. I'll get the bird out of your bakery."

Go get the girl .

Great sentiment.

"She wants you back, Grady," Cooper says. "This isn't like last time. She's not leaving. And if she does, you can fucking go with her. But it's your choice. If you don't think you can man up?—"

I don't stay to listen to the rest of his motivational speech.

Because if I'm going to fight for the only woman I've ever truly wanted, I need to do it my way.