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“Jess,” she answered at the same time Kevin said, “Jessica.”
Zach looked back and forth between them, then made the correct decision. “Jess, what day would you like me to start?”
“The bakery’s opening day will be this time next week. Can you be here at six thirty in the morning next Wednesday?”
“Absolutely. Mind if I poke around the shop and get my bearings?”
Jess lifted an arm in invitation. “Have at it.”
Kevin leaned over to Jess when Zach was a safe enough distance from them. “Is it just me or is it absolutely crazy that Blake scored him?”
“Blake is unfailingly loyal and loving, doesn’t surprise me at all,” Jess responded, scrolling through her list of to-do’s. Pick up the dishes and mugs she ordered from the restaurant warehouse. Stock the bins with flour and sugar. Write out the bakery menu on the chalkboard they hung up yesterday. Swing by the discount shoe store and see if she could find a new pair of clogs to work in.
“So Blake can get it.” Kevin leaned back into his chair.
Jess whipped her head around and glared. “Do you take any of this seriously? We have so much to do and you can’t seem to ever focus on the task at hand.”
Kevin’s eyes went wide at her abruptness. “Geez, Jess. Not everything is about work.”
“You have a business that’s failing. Right now, everything should be about work.”
He looked like she punched him in the gut. “Twist the knife, why don’t you?”
“I’m only being honest.”
“Yeah, me too.” He shifted in his seat so he was fully facing her, his knees knocking against hers. “Listen, I am pumped that we’re working together and that you’re getting things organized for us. But there is nothing stopping us from having fun while we do it. So I’m going to need you to lighten up a little bit.”
“Lightening up won’t get us anywhere.”
“Neither will forcing yourself to be miserable your whole life. It’s like you’re a glutton for punishment or something.”
She sucked in a breath, ready to serve the snark right back, when the front door slapped open. Rory looked frazzled—her mahogany hair tied up in a bun, her rainbow painted nails chipped, her seafoam-green eyes blazing with anxious energy.
Jess stood up, instantly worried. “Everything all good?”
“Um, well, actually—” Rory started.
“Do I need to beat Tyler up?”
Rory’s shoulders relaxed. “No, no, this has nothing to do with Ty.”
She couldn’t help being protective of this girl. When Rory came into Post Road that past fall, makeup running down her face from crying and a phone perched to her ear, something cracked in her chest. Despite her best efforts to stay out of all of the Scoopers bullshit drama, she found herself offering advice. Because god knew that’s what she needed when she was seventeen—someone to speak truth into her life.
Even if she warned Rory off falling in love in high school, the girl seemed hell-bent on dating her best friend. But now when she saw her and Tyler together, constantly touching when they thought no one was looking, for some reason their relationship felt different. Like Calvin and Melanie’s. It made her wonder where she’d gone wrong.
Jess ignored the regret that always seemed to simmer in her stomach when she thought of Charlie. “Then what’s up?”
“Do you want the good news or bad news first?”
“Good news,” Kevin blurted before Jess could reply. She decided not to fight him on it.
Rory reached into her canvas tote and pulled out her laptop. “The good news is, I finished the logo.”
Kevin whooped as Rory opened up the screen. At the center of the logo was a simple drawing of a bike with a basket, and inside the basket was a loaf of bread. Port Wheels was written in a clean sans-serif font below the bike, with Bikes + Bakery in a smaller version of that same font below.
Kevin gasped, holding his hands to his chest. “Rory, it’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
“Yeah?” Rory flushed, looking at Jess for confirmation.
