Page 28 of Amber: Deja Brew

“Who didn’t, dear?” their mom asks sweetly, and then her voice turns more harsh. “Is that my phone, Erin?”

“It is! Juli called to say we can come this weekend!”

“He did?” Mrs. Wade’s tone instantly changes. “Oh, that’s great news!”

“I thought he was too busy to see us,” Kris says.

“He clearly changed his mind,” Taylor replies.

“Erin!” I say loudly, before the entire conversation gets derailed. “Can you ask your Mom where the Montgomeries went?”

“Oh, sure, Amber!”

“Is that Amber on the phone, dear?” Mrs. Wade asks. “Say hi from me.”

“Mom says hi,” Erin repeats. “Oh, Mom, Amber was wondering where Mini and her parents went.”

“I took them to the airport. I was just telling you that an hour ago. If you weren’t on your phone all the time, maybe you’d—”

“Mom!” Erin whines. “Did you say they’re going to Australia?”

“They are. They’ve got family in a small town, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it’s called.”

“Mom says—” Erin starts to repeat, but Julian interrupts her.

“We heard, Ren. And we’ve gotta run. Tell Mom to text us the flight details.”

“I will. Bye, Juli!”

“Wait—” Mrs. Wade says in the background, but Julian hangs up before I can hear the rest.

“How could she just pack up and go to Australia?” he demands. “What about the bakery?”

“You’re worried about the bakery?” I ask.

“No, I’m not worried about the bakery.” Julian scowls. “But she worked so hard keeping it running. How can she just stop caring—”

“Because she’s Minerva. You heard what she said about how much she hates baking! She ran away the first chance she got.”

“It’s just not like her.” Julian shakes his head. “Well, not like who I thought she was. It’s just... never mind... I guess we’ll just wait until their plane lands and try calling again.”

“How long will that take?” I ask.

Julian shrugs.

“Depends where they’re going in Australia,” Chase chimes in, “but it looks like all the flights have stop-overs.”

He taps away at his laptop, and Julian and I move to stand behind him so we can see the screen. Wes joins us, and finally, all three of my guys are within hugging distance. Except that no one seems to be in the mood for hugging.

“I guess we just keep calling,” Julian says. “Worst-case scenario, we’ll reach them when they get to Australia.”

“Shit,” I mutter, looking at the list of flights, some of which stretch over several days. “What if they switch to a local number once they land? Or don’t turn their phones back on?”

“We’ll think of something,” Wes says, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“We can get our existing customers to leave good reviews,” Chase suggests.

“That’s a good idea,” Wes nods in approval.

“It is!” I grin. “How many do you think we need?”

“Minerva left seventeen one stars,” Chase says. “I know that sounds bad, but we already have six five star reviews. Eleven more, and we’ll get our rating up to a 3 star average.”

The fact that he said ‘our’, just like Wes, makes me feel all warm and gooey inside.

“That doesn’t sound so bad...” Julian says thoughtfully.

“It doesn’t.” I grin. “All we need are eleven happy customers. How hard can that be?”