“Uh, KC?”
I rolled my head to the side, still letting it stay on the glass as I turned to look at Grace.
“You going to go in or stay out here?”
“Did you forget your keys?” Andy yelled as he walked across the parking lot.
I held up my keys without responding and looked back at Grace. “It feels like a Monday, and Mondays suck.”
“Oh, my God, is it a ‘Mondays suck’ day?” Andy asked excitedly as he finished running up to us. “Let’s do this!”
I smiled at my employees and unlocked the door to the bakery to let us in.
Sometimes you just need to throw some cake.
Brody
July 30, 2015
“KAM?” I CALLED out over the loud music as I stepped into the bakery. I looked at the large chalkboard with the bright words MONDAYS SUCK . . . SO THROW A CUPCAKE! on it, and shook my head. “Babe!”
Kamryn bounced out of the back room with a large smile on her face, and I couldn’t help but laugh. She didn’t have just flour and icing on her, she had pieces of cake plastered to her arms and glasses, and she couldn’t have looked more adorable if she’d tried.
“Is this helping?” I asked, nodding at the chalkboard.
She sighed happily and leaned up on her toes to kiss me. “Like you wouldn’t believe. Do you want to throw one before you go into the meeting?”
“No, but I’ll probably come back after and throw some.”
“Okay, good, I want to know what happens anyway. So I’ll make sure to save you a few . . . or a dozen.”
I smiled and looked at her meaningfully. “Do you have anything for me today?”
Her happy expression fell, and she jammed her hand into her apron before pulling out a piece of paper covered in red velvet cake. I raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged. “I threw it with a cupcake.”
“God, I love you.” Opening up the letter, I bit back a growl and folded it up before putting it in my pocket. “This is getting ridiculous.”
“There’s something . . .” Kamryn began at the same time I said, “Okay, I need to get going, I’m already running late.”
“. . . I wanted to tell you about Olivia,” she mumbled and looked down at the floor, defeated.
Cupping her cheeks in my hands, I waited until she looked up at me again. “Did she do something to you? Because now is definitely the time to tell me since I’m going into this meeting.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Okay.” I kissed her hard before releasing her face. “Then tell me when I come back, all right?” Kamryn nodded slowly, and I smirked at her, hoping to see her face light up again. “Throw a cupcake for me. I’ll be back soon. I love you, Kamryn.”
Her lips slowly tilted up until she was smiling wide. “I love you too, Brody Saco.”
“THIS WAS RIDICULOUS,” I whispered. “What was the point of this meeting, Liv, if you were just going to have your lawyer go around in circles about things you both know you have no case on, and then take me to court anyway?”
“I’m sorry,” she choked out, holding a hand up toward me before covering her mouth with it. “I can’t talk to you, it’s just too hard seeing you.”
“Save your tears for the judge. Maybe you will have screwed him too and you’ll have his sympathy.”
Olivia’s eyes darted left and right for a second before shrugging. “No, I don’t think any of the guys were judges.”
“God, this is—do you hear this?” I asked J. Shepherd, who was standing on the other side of the room with my lawyer. “She’s admitting to sleeping with other guys in front of all of us, and you’re still going to play it so she was the victim and I was the cruel husband. Got it. Makes sense to me.”
Olivia slapped her hand on the table. “You’re really going to try to put words in my mouth even now when we’re all in the same room, Brody? My God. Acting like I told you my parents paid off the doctor was one thing, but this is taking it to a whole new level.”
“You f**king said—”
“Don’t go making more accusations when you have no proof of any of these so-called conversations with my client, Mr. Saco. As for just now? I’m afraid I didn’t hear anything,” J. Shepherd said with a shrug and smug grin, and my lawyer just sent me an apologetic look and put his hands up in a gesture showing he hadn’t heard a thing either.
“This is bullshit. I’m leaving.” I stood to go and had just made it around to the other side of the table when Olivia spoke again . . . and stopped me in my tracks.
“Don’t you think the judge will be interested in your little cupcake girlfriend? Poor Olivia, kicked out of her home . . . her possessions taken from her so her husband could buy his girlfriend a bakery.”
“You have got to be f**king kidding me.” Bending down, I rested my hands on the table near her. “You don’t go near her,” I growled low enough that my voice wouldn’t carry. “You hear me?” When Olivia only responded with a slow malicious smile, my hands curled into fists. “Don’t forget I still have all the evidence of you and your boyfriends from when we were still together, and now, thanks to you, I have the notes you’ve been leaving us. What do you have? Kamryn and me out on dates after you and I were already separated? Yeah . . . good luck with that one, Liv.”
“Bro—”