“You’re right,” Shelby said. “We don’t have very many cars to sell.”
“So no real inventory other than ingredients. There is an income stream—how much is made each week, each month. From that you subtract what you pay out. The cost of flour, sugar and butter. Employee wages. Insurance, rent. Now’s where it gets tricky. Everything has to be given a value. The mailing list for out-of-town customers. The recipes, the logo, the goodwill the bakery has established. The reputation is worth something. The question is how do you put a price on that?”
Patience Garrett wrinkled her nose. “No offense, Sam, but you’re scaring me and I already own Brew-haha. I can’t imagine what you’re doing to poor Shelby.”
Sam looked surprised. “I’m giving her advice. I thought that’s why we were here.”
“There’s a difference between advice and torture.” Patience patted his arm. “You’re such a guy. Luckily, Shelby and I happen to like that in a person.” Patience turned to her. “Shelby, are you doing okay?”
Shelby nodded, mostly because it was too hard to speak. Her throat was tight and her eyes were burning. Now if she gave in to the tears, the symptoms would go away. But then she would embarrass the very nice people who had come to help her. And that help, that very unexpected help, was the reason for the tears.
Apparently she wasn’t the only one Amber had told about selling the bakery. Word had spread everywhere. In the past couple of days Shelby had received lots of unsolicited advice on what to do. The consensus was very clear. Everyone wanted her to buy Ambrosia Bakery.
When Patience had called to ask her to stop by, Shelby hadn’t known what to expect. The fact that Sam Ridge was also at the meeting had surprised her. Then Patience had poured her a cup of coffee and Sam had started talking. Unlike the other people who had come by the bakery to offer their opinions, Sam and Patience had actual, practical advice. Twenty minutes into his explanation on business valuation, her head was spinning but she was also feeling more confident. At least now she knew what to ask.
“Amber will be really fair,” Patience said. “I’ve known her my whole life. She’s very sweet.”
“This is business.” Sam sounded firm. “You don’t mess around with business. Get everything in writing. Do you have an attorney?”
“I need a lawyer?” Shelby hadn’t thought of that. There were a lot of things she hadn’t thought of. Doubts crept in, but she pushed them away. Aidan was right. This was her chance to follow her dream. “I guess I’m going to need an accountant, too.”
“I can recommend both,” Sam told her. “You’re going to need a loan to buy the business. There are several ways to structure that. The loan officer can go over those terms with you, but I can give you a basic rundown now.”
He spent five minutes going over amortization and balloon payments. Shelby’s head started to hurt. She was good at designing cookies and coming up with new brownie recipes. Not talking about finance. How much was the bakery going to cost? She had a small savings account, but she was beginning to see it wasn’t even going to be close to enough.
Patience reached across the table and put her hands on top of Shelby’s. “Don’t freak out,” she instructed. “I know this is overwhelming.” She smiled at Sam. “No offense, but you’re way too thorough.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“You are,” Shelby assured him. “I really appreciate this. You’ve given me so much to think about.”
Patience’s expression was sympathetic. “But?”
Shelby drew in a breath. “It’s a lot,” she admitted.
Patience drew back her hands and smiled. “Here’s what I can tell you. I had dreamed about opening my own business for a long time. But there was no way it was ever going to happen. I didn’t have the money or the experience. When I got the chance, I was so excited. And I was scared. It was a risk. I knew that. I could have just put my inheritance in the bank and gone on with my life. But I knew I would regret that always. I had to choose between playing it safe and following my dream. Now, a couple of years later, I’m so grateful for the decision I made. Only you know what’s right for you, Shelby. I’m just reminding you that the chance to follow your dream doesn’t happen very often.”
“So I’m here to offer the scary advice while you get to be the motivational one?” Sam asked.
“Pretty much.” Patience’s voice was cheerful.
“I’m not even surprised.” But Sam was smiling as he spoke.
“I really appreciate this,” Shelby told them. “Not just your time, but your words. A lot of people have been telling me to just go for it, but you two offered me practical steps. That means a lot. There’s so much to think about.”
“You’ll get there,” Patience assured her. “Just listen to your heart. We can all give advice, but you’re the one who has to decide what’s right for you. No one else.” She grinned. “I’m so glad Aidan called. This has been fun.”
“I agree.” Sam winked at her. “We could take our act on the road.”
Shelby blinked. “Aidan phoned you and asked you to talk to me?”
“Uh-huh.” Patience sighed. “You two are such a great couple. He’s worried about you. I love that in a man. I never thought I’d see that player brought to his knees, but here he is, acting like a man in love.”
Shelby didn’t know what to deal with first. “We’re just friends.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Sam asked, as he rose. “Let me know if you have any more questions.” He handed her his card. “You can stop by the office or set up a meeting. Whatever works for you. In the meantime, I’ll get you those names.”
“Thank you.”
He left. Shelby hugged Patience and thanked her, then walked out onto the street.
She was no longer fighting tears, but did still have a spinning head. Aidan had taken the time to get his friends to help her. Talk about supportive. And unexpected. Not that he wasn’t a great guy, but still. This was above and beyond.
Patience was wrong. They weren’t in love. They were friends and today that seemed so much more important.
* * *
HAVING SURVIVED DESTINY’S DELIVERY—albeit from a distance—Aidan considered himself an old hand at the giving-birth thing. So when he heard that Isabel Hendrix had gone into premature labor, he knew supplies would be required. Which was why he swung by the bakery instead of Shelby’s house. She’d said that Isabel would want pretzel bread and he knew better than to ask why.
He barely had time to stop his truck before she raced out of the bakery. She had two tote bags with her. One was filled with loaves of bread, the other had boxes of cookies.
“Thanks for coming to get me,” she said with a smile. “You didn’t have to. I could have done this myself.”
“And miss out on all the fun? No way. Plus this probably gets me out of a girl thing later.”
Shelby put the bags in the backseat, then climbed up beside him and fastened her seat belt. “You can pretend all you want. I know you like the girl things.”
Aidan knew what she meant. But at the mention of “girl things” all he could think about were the differences between men and women. More physical than emotional. How much he liked those differences...and missed them.
For the greater good, he reminded himself as he drove to the hospital.
“Like them or not, it’s always good to have a rain check in my back pocket.”
“I’ll give you as many as you want,” she said. She shifted in her seat until she was angled toward him. “I can’t believe what you did for me. No, I take that back. I totally believe it.”
Her voice was earnest, her body language intense. As if she wanted to make sure he understood what she was saying.
“What are we talking about?” he asked cautiously.
“You havi
ng Patience and Sam talk to me. It was scary and wonderful at the same time. They had so much information.” She straightened in her seat. “Hey, wait a minute. You have a small business. Why didn’t you tell me all this yourself? You must know everything there is about running a business.”
“While I enjoy you thinking of me as a god, the truth is I know what I need to know to make my company work. Not what you need to know. I figured talking to someone with a financial background, like Sam, would be helpful. And I knew Patience had been through something similar. You could bond over your joint experience.”
“Is that sarcasm? Women don’t automatically bond over every little thing.”
“You kinda do.”
She sighed. “Fine. Maybe. Regardless, thank you. And I owe you. You’re really a good friend.”
Her compliment warmed him. Not that he needed much warming when she was around. Still, he appreciated the sentiment. “You’re a good friend, too. So did they help?”
“Patience gave me a lot of moral support. Sam was more practical. I have a very long and growing to-do list. There’s a bunch of people I need to talk to. A lawyer, a banker. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a banker. Oh, I take that back. I started to take out a loan to buy into the bakery. It was a brief conversation. And a little scary. I guess a lawyer’s going to be even worse.”
“They’re not my favorite people, but they’re very necessary. At least that’s what I tell myself.”
They pulled into the hospital parking lot and found a space near the door. Aidan carried the bags inside. He and Shelby got on the elevator. “I can’t believe this our second pregnancy visit in such a short period of time,” she said.
“We are a town of breeders.”
She laughed. “That must’ve made you nervous, with all your lady friends.”
“Not me. I’m a big believer in protection. Easier for both of us.”
One corner of her mouth turned up. Her eyes began to sparkle and he knew he was in trouble.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” he warned her, “don’t say it out loud.”
The doors to the elevator opened on to the maternity floor. She smiled sweetly and said, “The condom companies must’ve really loved you. Did you get a Christmas card every year?”
“Funny,” he grumbled. “Very funny.”
Finding Isabel’s room turned out not to be a problem. It was easy to spot from all the people milling about outside in the hallway. Aidan would guess that a good percentage of her family, not to mention her husband’s, had already arrived.
Madeline saw them and waved them over. “She’s doing great,” Isabel’s business partner said. “She had a C-section, of course. It was triplets. Three girls! They’re all above three pounds, which is fantastic. The big issue with triplets is low weight at birth. It sets them up for all kinds of problems.”
Shelby hugged her friend. “Someone’s been on the internet.”
Madeline laughed. “I wanted to appear knowledgeable. I figured people would be asking questions. Hey, Aidan.”
“Maddie.”
Madeline wrinkled her nose at the nickname. “One of the disadvantages of living somewhere your whole life is the person who can always make you feel like you’re six years old.”
“You loved it then and you love it now.”
She grinned. “Shelby, honey, when all this settles, remind me to tell you about the time Aidan got very powerful glue on his hands and then had to pee.”
He groaned. “You wouldn’t.”
Madeline smiled. “I would and I will. Now come see the beautiful mother.”
The crowd made room for them as they walked into the hospital room. Aidan didn’t know if all maternity rooms were singles, but with the number of people visiting Isabel he doubted the hospital would’ve had a choice either way. Her parents were there, along with her husband’s impressive family. Ford was one of six children and his three sisters were also triplets. Denise, Ford’s mom, had her boyfriend, Max, along. Aidan winced as he thought the B word in association with a woman well into her fifties. But Denise and Max weren’t married and he didn’t know what else to call the man. Life partner just seemed so weird.
Shelby rushed to her friend’s side and they embraced. Aidan sidled over to where the men were standing. Ford looked a little shell-shocked.
“How you holding up?” Aidan asked him.
“I’m not,” Ford admitted. “I’ve seen combat. I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff. Nothing prepared me to watch a doctor slice open my wife’s stomach like a watermelon and pull babies out. They should warn you.”
Aidan didn’t know if he should laugh, offer a hug or run for the hills. The latter seem to make the most sense but he told himself to suck it up. He only had to hear about it; Ford had had to live it.
“I mean I knew it was triplets,” Ford continued, shaking his head. “I saw an ultrasound. The doctor was very clear. But jeez, when they pulled out one baby after the other and they were so damn small.” He stared at Aidan. “I’m talking small. What are we supposed to do with them?”
Aidan was saved from answering when Shelby waved him over. She showed Isabel the pretzel bread and the new mother promptly burst into tears. The hormone bath continued as the other women rushed into see what was wrong. He busied himself setting out the boxes of cookies, then slowly, very slowly, backed into the hall. He figured Shelby would know where to find him.
What he didn’t expect was to see his parents in the hallway outside the room. His mother, maybe, but his father? Ceallach wasn’t really interested in anything but himself.
His mother smiled when she saw him. “We heard the good news and came to see Isabel and the babies. Have you been down to the nursery? They’re so beautiful. Tiny, but beautiful. She must be so happy.” His mother hugged him. When she straightened, her gaze was direct. “I want grandchildren.”
Aidan took a step back and held up both hands. “Don’t look at me. Del is the one who’s engaged. Talk to him and Maya.”
“I want grandchildren from all of you. You need to get started on that. Shelby is a perfectly nice girl. What are you waiting for?”
Aidan held in a groan. There was no way he was getting into the we’re-just-friends conversation yet again. He turned to his father.
“Hey, Dad. How’s it going?”
His father looked at him. Ceallach’s gaze sharpened as if he just now realized who was in front of him. “You! This is all your fault.”
“There’s five of us. The grandkid thing is not just on me.”
“You’re the reason Nick’s leaving. You’re the one chasing him away.” His father’s voice rose with each word.
“Is that what you really think?” Aidan asked. “That I have anything to do with this? You’re wrong. This is all about you, Dad. This is all your doing. There’s a reason every one of your sons have left Fool’s Gold. Do you ever stop to think about that?”
Elaine put a restraining hand on his arm. “Aidan, don’t. You’ll upset your father.”
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want that, would we?”
He turned away and started for the nursery. Anything to get away.
A few minutes later, as he stared unseeingly at the tiny babies behind the glass, he felt more than heard Shelby come up beside him. She stood close.
“I heard the fight,” she told him quietly.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay.”
“Just like that?”
“Sometimes talking isn’t required. You’ve taught me that.” But she did reach for his hand.
They laced their fingers together as they watched the sweet new babies sleep through their first day in Fool’s Gold.
* * *
“YOU DON’T REALLY need my help,” Shelby teased. “I’ve seen you ma
ke much more complicated things.”
Aidan dumped the graham-cracker crumbs in the bowl. “Are you kidding? This is done in three parts. I’ve never made a three-part dessert before.”
She wondered how many desserts he’d ever made before they’d met. Maybe cookies. With the help of a girlfriend. Since they’d started hanging out together, he’d learned how to cook all kinds of things. At first Shelby did most of the work, but these days she simply supervised and offered advice.
On the menu for today—key lime pie. Aidan had already squeezed a cup of key lime juice. He’d been shocked when she’d told him it would take over a pound and a half of limes to get that much. Then he’d seen how tiny they were and how little juice came out.
They were at his place. His kitchen was a little bigger than hers. More important, he had to get used to working there. Because she wasn’t always going to be around to help. A thought that made her feel strange, so she didn’t linger on it. Even so, the truth was there. June was getting closer and closer. Their six months would end and they would resume their regular lives. While she was sure she and Aidan would always stay in touch, she knew that everything would be different.
He pulled the melted butter from the microwave and added it to the graham crackers. He put on disposable gloves, then mixed the two ingredients with his hands before pouring the mixture into the pie pan.
“You want to get it even,” she told him from her seat at the island. “I know it’s counterintuitive, but do the sides first. Try to get the thickness the same before worrying about the bottom. If there’s too much crust left, we can scoop it out. If it’s too thin, we can make a little more.”
He worked intently, pressing the graham crackers into the side of the pie pan.
“I’m sorry about my dad.”
The statement was unexpected. Since they’d run into Ceallach and Elaine at the hospital, he hadn’t said anything about the incident. She wasn’t sure he would ever want to talk about it.
“If you’re apologizing for what he said, you don’t have to. I know he’s a jerk.”
Aidan looked at her, his brows raised. “Are you being critical of my father?”
Best of My Love (Fool's Gold) Page 17
