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I take out my phone to check my schedule. If Dan gets an appointment, I need to be here for it. She can still tell me no.

Chapter Three

Baylor

I come in through the back door of Serendipity’s.

I always use this door. Usually, it’s because I have cupcakes to unload. Today, all I have is a headache that has gotten worse every time someone says six weeks.

One of Ellie’s employees passes me with a cart of cinnamon rolls. Another is sealing boxes at the stainless steel table where I used to spread out my cupcake orders before I got my apartment kitchen approved. There are delivery labels lined up beside her, each with the name of a different café.

Ellie is going to put Seredipity’s cinnamon rolls on the map. Or at least, all over this town.

I step out of the way with a smile and a small wave. I know everyone who works here by name, but they’re moving too fast for me to stop anybody.

"Baylor?" Ellie comes out of her office with her phone against her ear.

"You know what? I’ll have to call you back. Okay, great… thanks." She hangs up and waves me toward her office. "How bad?" she asks as I walk in, closing the door behind us.

"Six weeks without a kitchen."

Her mouth drops open.

"Yeah. That was my reaction too."

Ellie’s office is small, with just enough room for her desk, a filing cabinet, and the two chairs she insisted on buying because she was tired of meeting with suppliers while standing in the kitchen. A stack of order forms takes up one side of her desk. The other has a framed picture of her gran holding a tray of cinnamon rolls.

"Sit down. I’ll be right back." Before I can say anything, Ellie is out of the office and headed down the hall toward the café.

Three minutes later, she comes back in with two cappuccinos in white cups.

She hands one to me, then sits behind her desk with the other. "Okay, now we’re ready. Tell me everything."

She knows about last night. I called after Wolf and Rooks left because she was blowing up my phone demanding proof of life. I came straight here after the walkthrough with Ronny and Dan.

"They have to replace the cabinets and floor," I tell her. "The kitchen’s getting sealed off. They offered me another apartment forty-five minutes away, which doesn’t help when my truck and customers are here."

"And that takes six weeks?"

"That’s the estimate. Dan has another team for Wolf’s bathroom, so it won’t hold mine up. Mine has more damage."

"You can stay with me," Ellie offers immediately.

"Thanks, but I can stay in my apartment, for the time being, at least. They’re going to turn the water back on in my bathroom. The kitchen will be sealed off."

"If that changes, my door is open."

"I know." I nod.

She takes a sip of her cappuccino and then looks back up at me. "Wait. What about baking?"

I look down at my cup.

"I’m not sure yet."

"Call Beau."

I put my coffee on her desk. "No."