Taryn’s insides twisted. She hadn’t been paranoid thinking they wanted to put Lawson’s Bakery out of business, but Nick had confirmed that earlier. But to stoop this low…
Her throat tightened. “My original design had four. I changed it because I didn’t have enough time to build it that way.”
“Did anyone see your booth before you put it into the storage shed last year?” Garrett asked.
Her mom and dad had been traveling in their RV in August and September. No one had been at her house. “No one.”
Margot rubbed her chin. “How would they have gotten hold of your design?”
Taryn remembered. “The office bulletin board. I put the design up a few weeks ago so I could make a plan for baking the edible decorations.”
“That must be how they found them,” Margot said.
Taryn shook her head. “No one goes into the office except employees.”
Silence filled the room. Both Garrett and Margot stared at her with knowing expressions.
“No.” Taryn jumped to her feet. None of the guys who worked for her would do that. It was unthinkable. Impossible. “The employees who now work at Summit Ridge weren’t around when I hung the designs. No one would do that. They wouldn’t.”
“It’s difficult to think of someone close to us betraying our trust.” Margot’s voice was full of compassion. “But didn’t you mention the other bakery has been copying your recipes? And when you introduce something new, they do, too.”
“Yes, but…” Taryn plopped onto the couch. “Who would do this?”
“Who works at Lawson’s now?” Margot asked.
“Jayden, Carl, Finley, and Brecken.” It couldn’t be one of them. She wanted to cover her ears, to stop them from ringing. “They aren’t new employees. Carl worked under my dad before he retired.”
Taryn’s eyes stung, and she buried her face in her hands. This wasn’t happening.
An arm went around her, and Garrett pulled her against him. She leaned into him, needing his support.
He rubbed her back. “We’ll sort this out. I promise.”
“But the fair.” Oh, no. She squeezed her eyes tight before opening them. “I can’t have the same theme as the other bakery. I’ll be accused of copying them because people know my original booth was destroyed.”
“Let’s not panic, but it’s Wednesday night,” Margot reminded her. “You’ve already started over once.”
Taryn wrapped her arms around her stomach, but that didn’t stop the nausea. “I can’t drop out.”
“You need to come up with a different theme,” Garrett said, his tone soft. “But one that will still work with the base part and the trees. The sign would be repainted, so it looked new.”
Taryn rubbed her eyes. “A new sign is better than replacing everything else.”
He squeezed her. “That’s my girl.”
Warmth furled inside her, making it not seem so bad. Nope, this wasn’t the time to delude herself about what this was and wasn’t. “All we need is to come up with a new theme and finish by Friday. Not exactly easy-peasy, but with a simple idea, it might work.”
“Not you. We.” Margot grinned. “Three brains are better than one.”
“Let’s brainstorm.” Garrett kept his arm around Taryn, and she wasn’t eager to scoot away. “We’ll think of a theme tonight. Go shopping for what we need tomorrow morning and put the pieces together after that. You’re not alone, but even if you were, you could do this.”
Margot nodded. “Of course, you can.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence.” Taryn didn’t feel that way herself, but her family’s legacy was at stake. Failing wasn’t an option. “Let’s do this.”
*
Garrett tossed andturned all night. His brain wouldn’t shut off. Not when he wanted to discover who helped Nick Baxter and the Summit Ridge Bakery drive Lawson’s out of business. But an investigation would have to wait until booth version 3.0 was complete.
