Whiskey and Gumdrops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance (20 page)

"Okay," Mandy said, ushering Beth to the door. "Thanks so much for stopping in. I'll be opening in a month."

Beth stopped at the door, not allowing Mandy to push her out. "Actually, I have a package for Ethan and your mom said he was here."

"Oh. Sorry." Mandy stepped back and gestured toward the kitchen area. "He's through the doors making up snack bags for Jen. Go ahead in. You'll know him by his lighthouse grin."

Not only had her brother's surgery gone well, giving him fairly reliable arm movement, but he was finally—finally!—smiling again. His physiotherapist had said he needed to get out and moving and with a big thanks to Jen, he was. Plus, he was even reaching out to Beth's outreach rehab program that she ran out of the local hospital. It was all finally lining up for him.

Mandy returned to the couch and her to-do list.

The front door creaked open again and Mandy sighed. The "Opening Soon" signs on the windows may as well have said, "Come on in and snoop around!"

"We're not open yet," she called, wishing she could afford to crank the heat. The chill of the rainy day was seeping into her tired bones.

"Not even for some free burnt bread?" Frankie asked with a grin.

"Ha-ha." Mandy rolled her eyes and tried to take the joke lightly—the stupid ovens that arrived finally two days ago hadn't been calibrated correctly and had burned her test batch. And of course, the townsfolk, smelling the fresh bread, had come waltzing in and then laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

"I brought you some lunch." Frankie passed her a Styrofoam container. "I'm guessing you haven't eaten."

"Thanks." At least one person was still treating her normally.

"So?" Frankie asked, plunking onto the couch beside her. He coughed and waved away the dusty air. "This couch smells like sardines."

"I know. I found it in the alley." She slurped her cream of potato soup. Man, that was good. Sometimes Benny made the world feel right again with his cream-based soups.

"Are you worried?" he asked.

She paused, her shoulders tightening. "No," she said, keeping her head down. Maybe if she said it enough times, it would be true.

"Maybe you could forget about Wrap It Up and open this place as your own?"

"Frankie," Mandy sighed, irritated. "I signed a contract."

"I know, but—" Frankie shifted "—what if things with Seth get worse and it all goes down and he takes you with him? The chain is crumbling and you're diving in."

She kept her head down as she spooned the last drop of soup into her mouth. It was a guaranteed loss if she backed out now—and he knew it.

"It's wearing you down," he said, staring at her makeup-free face.

"Thanks for lunch," she said, standing. She brushed her bangs out of her face and walked him to the door. Rain fell in sheets against the roof and front windows, making the building sound as though it was being run through a car wash.

"Mandy, I think you need to cut your losses."

"Take a look around!" Mandy swept her arm around the building, which was buzzing with, well, pretty much nothing but half-done jobs. "Don't you think it's a little late for that? And I'm not quitting."

"You could make this place your own," he repeated.

"It
is
mine. Maybe you shouldn't have put up your building as collateral if you weren't down with it housing a Wrap it Up."

They stood facing each other, hands on their hips. He held her challenging gaze before giving his head a short shake as he turned to leave.

"Don't walk out on me, Frankie! You're in this, too!"

The door shut behind him as Beth and Ethan came into the room.

"Trouble in paradise?" Ethan asked.

* * *

Phone stuck to Mandy's ear, she repeatedly pointed at the cucumber that needed slicing for Jen's sandwiches. But it didn't matter how many times she pointed to them, her brother didn't get the friggin' hint. He'd done fine with last week's snacks, but today he seemed happier to just sit and watch the supplies he'd requested, as if they were going to get up and do a little dance if he waited long enough. If this was his normal working speed, Mandy was going to be chasing after a herd of canoes, waving lunches in the air like a mother chasing a school bus. Hiring a family member had been a very dumb move. Even if it had been the right thing to do. Even if he was good at it—when he actually did it.

Mandy left another message for Seth and tried not to panic about things not arriving fast enough. She needed flooring. Tables. Menu signs. The rest of the kitchen equipment. Goddamn that equipment. Where were they sending it from? Timbuktu by Pony Express?

She'd call Frankie. That's what she'd do. They hadn't hung out since he blew out of here a week ago but that didn't mean anything—they were both busy with life and the upcoming cruise night. Maybe she'd make him some brownies as a token of—

 
Oh, crap! The brownies.

She whipped open the oven door and sagged in relief. Just in time. She pulled out the brownies, which were just pulling away from the pan's edges, and set them aside to cool.

"Those smell good," her brother said, rolling closer, hands on his wheels.

"If you get the sandwiches done in the next twenty-five minutes, you can have one."

"Are those your prize-winning ones?"

She shook her head and hung her oven mitts on the hook by the newly calibrated oven. "New recipe. And it looks like the calibration is dead on. Finally. These are my new whiskey brownies. I'm going to add mini gumdrops before they cool as well as a thick chocolate icing. The recipe is just about where I want them. Total contenders for the fall fair."

She turned her back, hoping Ethan would finally get the hint and get back to work. She dialed Frankie at the shop, hoping to catch him during his coffee break.

Dodger picked up the phone, sounding slightly harried.

"Hey, Dodger, is Frankie in?" Mandy asked, knowing he would be.

"Uh, no," he said carefully. "He left yesterday."

Mandy frowned. "Um?"

"For the show."

"The show?" Mandy scratched her head. What had she missed? And why did it feel as though she was in an elevator and the cable had just snapped?

"The TV show? The guy who was going to do up the Mercury roadster ended up in the hospital and so Frankie's doing it. Cool, huh? That's great that you let him go."

"Uh, yeah. Right. Of course. I don't own him." Mandy drew in a breath. "Uh, do you know how long he'll be gone?" She shut her eyes, the letter from the show room coming to mind. He was going to be gone a very long time.

"Oh, quite a while. He told Alex he needed four months off, but that he could come home on his weeks off the project and help out. If you're worried about the show and shine, he finished up a pile of his stuff and said he can do the rest from the city. And I can help if you still have stuff to do. But I'm definitely gonna need you to explain some of this stuff. His handwriting is
bad
." He gave a chuckle.

He was going to miss everything. The show and shine. Her opening.

He didn't say goodbye.

But he was following his dream and doing what he should. That was good.

But he just...left.

She closed her eyes and hung up the phone, pushing it against her forehead, desperately wanting to talk to Frankie in person.

Flat slapping noises disturbed her thoughts and she turned to see her brother slapping slices of bread into a row on the low, adjustable counter their father had made.

"Argh!" Mandy snatched the bread and tossed it in the trash. "How would you like it if I dragged my hands across this floor and then smeared them all over your sandwich?"

"What?" Ethan leaned away from her flailing arms, a mixture of emotions flitting across his face.

"What do you think are on your wheelchair wheels? They've been everywhere from bird poo to God only knows what, and you were just touching them to get to the table and now you're handling food. How many times have we gone over this? Don't you understand that this isn't your house, where you can make a sandwich any old way you want? People are paying for this! There are
guidelines
I have to follow. You're supposed to wear
gloves
."

"Relax, Mandy."

"Don't tell me to relax—this is my livelihood!"

"I was touching the metal, not the tire. And you all but dumped this catering shit on me."

"I saw you touch the rubber! Wash your hands." She pointed to the wash up area tucked by the back door. "This is commercial food preparation. Where's your hairnet?"

"It was itchy."

"Seriously?" Mandy looked at the ceiling and tried to remember some sort of move she could do that would settle her chi into a happy little ball in her center. She couldn't think of a single one that wouldn't prevent her chi from being blasted all over the place when she reached over and strangled her brother.

Never hire family.

Never. Ever. Again

"What?" her brother asked in a peeved voice.

"You're going to get me shut down before I even open!"

"I think Seth has already taken care of that," he muttered.

"What did you just say?"

"Don't take your frustrations with Frankie out on me!"

"Frankie has nothing to do with this!"

"You've been such a bitch since you and Frankie had that fight. Get over it already!"

"And you've been an asshole since the day you were born! Frankie and I didn't—"

"It's all over town, Mandy. I can't believe you told Frankie to follow his
dreams
. What the hell is Alex supposed to do with Frankie suddenly gone?" He gave her a look as if to say 'How could you?'

"That," Mandy said, trying to gain control over her voice, which was wobbling from anger, "has nothing to do with me. He makes his own choices."

"Sure. After you make them for him."

"That is
not
true!"

"He'd jump off a cliff if you asked him to and you don't even care."

"I do too care! I care a
lot
!"

"Then prove it!"

"Like you're one to talk, you moody old fart. You're too afraid to step out there and let anyone accept you as you are. Quit waiting to walk in order to live."

Her brother shoved his chair away from the counter, his expression dark. "Forget it. You just keep on living with your head up your ass."

The blood in Mandy's ears rushed like a river during spring runoff and she tried to pull in a steadying breath.

Her brother paused at the door. "I can't deal with this. It's too much stress—it's not good for me. I quit."

"Are you freaking
kidding
me?" Mandy grabbed her hair, trying not to succumb to the urge to yank it all out. "Right
now
?"

"Right now."

"Fine. Go. It would be faster and easier to do it myself." She moved to the table and began prepping sandwiches.

"You forgot to wash your hands," her brother said.

As he glided out the door, she whipped slices of bread at him, fuming as they gently rained around him, pattering to the floor. She shoved the heels of her hands against her eyes and pushed back the tears of frustration fighting against her eyelids. The phone rang and she snatched it off the hook, forcing her voice to sound cheery. "Wrap it Up, Mandy speaking."

"Mandy, it's Seth. We need to talk."

Chapter 14

Mandy blocked the exit to Seth's office-slash-apartment, refusing to let him leave, despite his harried, peeved look. The past fifteen minutes had involved a lot of him silencing the ringing phone and the two of them dancing verbally like sumo wrestlers, trying to keep the other from getting a good grip and shoving the other one out of the ring. Or in Seth's case, making his way out of the building after giving her flimsy excuses for why he'd called her into the city. She knew it wasn't just to tell her he'd been exonerated for scams and that the rest of her equipment might be a bit delayed.

"Mandy, step aside," he sighed, "I have to get to this meeting." He pushed up his suit sleeve to check his watch. "Proceed as planned. You have a tight timeline to follow. Just...no matter what, keep going according to plan, okay? No matter what." He paused to meet her eye. "I'll make sure it'll work out."

"With what? No décor, a half done kitchen, no furniture, no signs, no training and a menu that just changed!" She jabbed him hard in the chest. "I have less than four weeks!"

He wiped his face with a hand. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just need you to trust me." He made a move to squeeze past her again, but her instincts told her to block him. If she let him by, she felt he'd successfully avoid her forever more.

"This isn't just about expanding too fast," she said as he went to protest her blocking him. "Is it? Why did you call me here? What's really going on?"

Seth's face paled, but he looked her straight in the eye. "You have no recourse but to continue. To back out at this stage would mean definite financial decimation." He tried to move past her again, but she placed her body between him and the space he planned to move into.

"Who said anything about backing out?"

Seth gave her a sad, pained look that would have made her back off if she hadn't invested her savings and put Frankie's inheritance on the line. The term
invested
held a whole new meaning to her now.

"Mandy, you are such an innocent." He tried to ease past her. "I'd like to keep it that way."

She glowered and blocked his way. She hadn't played ice hockey against her brothers on Blueberry Lake all those years without learning how to anticipate someone else's moves. He could try and deke her out all he liked but he wasn't getting past her until she decided he could.

Seth's shoulders rounded and he shot her a look of defeat. "Fine. Wrap it Up is in trouble."

She took a step toward him. "Everything I've put into this is everything I've never had. I can't afford to lose this, Seth."

"I know," he moaned. "I'm sorry. I thought you were..." He let out an anguished sigh.

She struggled to keep her emotions under control, as well as the strong urge to grip him around his throat and shake and shake him until his eyes popped out of his skull. "How bad is it?" she asked tightly.