Any Way You Slice It

by Monique McDonell

  Chapter 4

  It was Wednesday afternoon and I hadn’t seen Aaron since Sunday night. We’d been sending each other lovey-dovey messages on our phones so if immigration ever checked; we had history, but no actual human contact. So when I saw him leaning in the doorway of my commercial kitchen, I was taken aback.

  I guess I had forgotten just how darned attractive he was. I, on the other hand, surely looked atrocious. He was holding a bunch of multi-colored roses and he was sporting a big grin. One of my co-workers, Lucy, was eyeing him from the corner.

  “Hey you,” he said and leaned in to kiss me as I closed the space between us.

  I went to turn and give him my cheek, but he artfully maneuvered to make sure our lips locked. He tasted like coffee and smelled, as always, like a pine forest. “I missed you.”

  “Me, too. Are these for me? Thanks.”

  Lucy’s eyes were bugging out of her head.

  “Lucy this is Aaron. Aaron meet Lucy. She does loads of the baking here. She’s a total star. She also helps me with the business operations. In fact she will be the Business Operations Manager if the deal goes through.”

  She was up to her elbows in flour, so she simply grinned at him. “Hi.”

  His attention quickly returned to me. “I thought I’d come see where you work your magic since you’ve been too busy to come to me these last few days.”

  “This is where we make our pies.” I gesticulated widely, using my beautiful roses as a sort of a fragrant wand. “This is the hub of my universe.”

  “And I thought I was the hub of your universe,” he said sweetly.

  “My work universe,” I corrected.

  “Well, it smells amazing. You can smell it down the block. I felt like a goofy cartoon character being led by his nose down the street.”

  “Smell is one of the most important senses, so that’s a good thing. I’ll give you the two-minute tour, but then I have to get back to work. The pies don’t bake themselves, you know.”

  I led him to my work table. “Here’s where we make them. We vary flavors by truck and day, but certain pies are constant, such as the Aussie meat pie. Other big sellers include beef vindaloo, chicken and vegetable, and mango chicken.”

  “We like to mix it up a bit as well,” Lucy interjected. “We do special ones for holidays like Bastille Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Thanksgiving. Piper is a very savvy businesswoman.”

  “I can see that.” He was taking in every inch of the place and then his eyes fell on me again and I blushed.

  Time to keep things moving and business like. I wasn’t sure I could cope with him watching me and Lucy watching us both. “And over here we do our sweet pies. Again, we vary them, but every day we have at least a fruit pie. We usually also do something custardy and another option. Today we did blueberry, apple and custard, pecan, and a bannoffie.”

  “Impressive,” he said as his eyes ran up and down my body.

  “Over here.” I pointed to my desk with charts and folders. “This is where we keep track of what sells and what tanks. What people ask for, and my inventory and stock and costs, as well as our schedules for the trucks and all that stuff.”

  “You’re quite the business woman. Did you study at business school?”

  “No, I’m what you might call, self-taught. In the beginning, it was me, a truck, and a few pies. We’ve grown. Lucy was my first employee. I like to think we’re organic in that sense and responsive to the market.”

  “She’s very smart,” Lucy said as if he needed to be told that a degree was not essential to my success.

  “Yeah, I’m very smart. A true genius.” I mocked. I didn’t like people talking about me, it made me feel self-conscious. Even if they were being kind.

  “Clearly you are. Look at what you’ve achieved in a few short years. You are indeed one smart cookie, excuse the baking pun.” His saying that meant a lot to me. Maybe too much. Maybe, because he was a lawyer with more than one degree from some of America’s most prestigious colleges. Or maybe because I liked him a little. Either way, I took a moment and basked in the glow of his approval.

  “So, have you got time for a break?” he asked.

  “Go on, boss. I’ve got you covered,” Lucy said waving us out the door.

  “I’ll be half an hour.”

  “Take your time.”

  “O’Shaunnessy’s or my place?” I asked.

  He slung his arm over my shoulder and said loudly enough for Lucy to hear, “I think your place will be much more private.”

  Upstairs, I grabbed us each a soda from the fridge. He sat on the red sofa and definitely improved the view.

  “Okay, so here’s, what I think. This weekend we need to be together the whole time you’re not working. Because we’re eloping the weekend after, right?”

  “We are.” My stomach twisted. Was I really fake-marrying (or really marrying but faking it) this gorgeous guy?

  “Then let’s do dinner Thursday night and then you come back to my place. And bring a bag.”

  “All right.” I felt myself turning pale.

  “Are you okay with this?”

  I leaned against the counter and took a large swig of my soda. “It feels very real all of a sudden.”

  “It is very real,” he said. “Don’t worry. Once we’re married we can do what normal people do and ignore each other, but for now, we need to look into each other’s eyes and pretend to get lost in what we see.”

  I didn’t like the idea that he was planning to marry me and ignore me. I didn’t want to be ignored. Then I reminded myself what was at stake. Pied Piper Pies was what mattered and Piper’s heart was going to have to be a grown-up about it.

  “Okay, well what about you meet me at O’Shaunnessy’s Thursday at seven? Those guys know me, and while they aren’t super observant, your regular appearance there might count for something if anyone comes snooping.”

  “Yeah about that…” He ran his hand through his hair. “Ophelia is not buying this. Well, she’s buying it, but she thinks we should continue to continue on the side.”

  “I see.” I had indeed seen that coming.

  “So if you can spare a minute or two to pop by my office for what did you call it…a PDF?” He tried to make light but Ophelia was a real problem.

  “PDA. Public display of affection.”

  “Yes. One of those. That would be helpful.”

  “Okay.” It wasn’t on my list of favorite ideas, but, again, Pied Piper Pies was worth whatever I had to do. “Can I ask how you two got started?”

  “I knew her at college and then when I started at the firm, she said she wasn’t happy in her marriage. It was…”

  “Immoral?” I asked.

  “I was going to say convenient.”

  “Like me. You’ve had a girl friend of convenience and now a marriage of convenience.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not quite the same. There’s something else.”

  Something else? This was all getting complicated. “Spill.”

  “My mother is coming to town this weekend.”

  “Your mother?” I hadn’t factored in a mother, much less a wealthy one. “I don’t really do mothers.”

  “I don’t think it’s going to be optional.”

  “She won’t like me. I won’t be good enough. It’ll be a disaster.” He came over to the room and rested a hand on my shoulder, the other held his soda. His touch was firm and warm and good heavens I was a mess.

  “Piper, can I ask you a question?”

  “Shoot.”

  “Why are you so insecure about family? It seems this shouldn’t be such an issue for you with all you can do, with who you are.”

  That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? That was how I knew his mother wouldn’t approve of me, because I hadn’t gone to college or prep school, nope I was definitely not the sort of girl she would want marrying her precious son. “How about we discuss that over dinner on Thursday? I’ll even let you take me somewher
e nice.”

  “Will you wear that sexy silver top for me?”

  “Maybe. I might have something even more enticing in my wardrobe.”

  I watched him gulp his soda. “I find that hard to believe.”