"See reason, Hazel," Archer begged. "Think of my conference center and my starving siblings!"
Chloe whistled, and we all shut up. "Hazel is not wasting her time making sandwiches as your personal chef, Hunter, or making you feel good about yourself, Archer, or cooking for a bunch of hungry-bellied men who, though they have billions of dollars and too many degrees, can't figure out how to make a basic casserole between them. NoIam the one who needs Hazel's skills and business expertise." Chloe turned to me.
"How would you like to be the proud new owner of a Grey Dove Bistro franchise?"
I stared at her blankly.
Striking a cheerleader pose, Chloe stretched her arms, making spirit fingers. "Ta-da! Please help me out because Maria and Nina, who are supposed to be my friends, do not want to move out here, and I'm freaking out about this franchise failing!"
"Are you serious?" I asked, a glob of mac 'n' cheese falling off the serving spoon to the counter. I wanted to cry, but I needed to act like a professional even if I was covered in sugar, cheese, and raspberry donut filling. I swallowed. "I would like to discuss that. Maybe we could schedule a meeting to figure out the terms. I think this could be a great partnership." I held out my hand.
Chloe shook it.
I cringed when I realized it was covered in donut bits. "Sorry," I said, trying to wipe off her hand.
"What's a few crumbs between bakers? Besides, you saved me!" Chloe said, wrapping her arms around me. "This is going to be so awesome!" She jumped up and down.
"I guess I'll have to learn your recipes."
"Some of them, yes," Chloe said, waving a hand. "But the vision is for each franchise to have unique Instagram-worthy foods. Each franchise should be a destination so people will be compelled to visit all of them, not just the closest one. So think of some unique foods. People already like your sandwiches on Instagram. I posted pictures from the luncheons and breakfasts from two weeks ago. Hope you don't mind."
She took out her phone and snapped a picture of us. "This is going in the history books."
"This is such a wholesome train wreck," Archer said.
"Train wreck?" Chloe snorted. "Do you know how much dough I make, son?"
"Dayum, that's puny!"
Chloe smirked.
"I can't believe you believed McKenna over me," I said, going back to dishing up the pasta.
"I can't believeyoubelieved McKenna over me," Archer countered, swiping the dropped cheesy glob off the counter. "You don't even have any idea what she did to me."
"Oh, here we go," Mace said.
"She's manipulative. She—" Archer looked angry. "I wasn't born a billionaire, obviously."
"Of course," I said.
"McKenna thought I wasn't moving up the Forbes richest men list fast enough. Instead of going into hotels, McKenna wanted me to stay in investment. I wanted to start Greyson Hotel Group with Mike. McKenna tried to manipulate me and come between me and Mike and break up our company. Then when that didn't work, she tried to seduce Greg."
"Goodness gracious." Archer's brothers seemed to barely contain their anger as Archer told the story.
"And when that didn't work—because if anyone is immune to crazy manipulative women, it's Greg—she lied to me and said Greg tried to force himself on her. You know what the worst part was? I believed her," Archer spat.
"You were trying to be the advocate," I said. "You are a good man and came from a bad situation. You wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt."
"All my brothers sided with Greg. I didn't speak to any of them for months. The only reason I found out was because McKenna bragged about it on a group text message with her sorority sisters."
"That is really crazy," I said.
"Yeah, I'm an idiot," Archer said.
"You're not," I said, putting a hand on his arm.
"Now she's trying to ruin my convention center," Archer said unhappily.
