The Player and the Single Mom

ChapterFourteen

Sera

Istood in the open garage at Cash’s house and took a deep breath. It had been a long time since I had moved and even with not having to pack or lift a box, I still felt overwhelmed. Given that we’d just returned from Louisiana I was exhausted but determined to keep a clear head and help direct the movers.

The garage was rapidly filling up with the kids’ bikes, my lawn mower, beach chairs, and various boxes that were en route to the house. Cash was trying to shift items toward the garage walls to keep a path clear for the movers. His once tidy garage was pure chaos.

“What’s in this freezer?” I asked, wondering if we could ask the movers to shift it. It stuck out further than it probably needed to. “Does it have a lock?” I started towards it.

Cash put his hand out and stopped me. “It’s got bait in there. You don’t want to look with your stomach the way it is right now.”

I paused. Why did he look like there was more to it than that? “Well, does it have a lock?”

“On the outside? No, but I can get one.”

“Unless it has the safety feature where if a child climbs inside they won’t be trapped.”

“Who climbs into a freezer?”

“Kids.”

I took a step toward the freezer. Cash blocked me again.

“What is in that freezer?” I demanded. “Do you have a dead body in there?”

“No. Just you don’t want to look, trust me.” He backed up and leaned against it.

“Move out of the way,” I said firmly. “You’re being very sketchy.”

“Sera.” He gave me a beseeching look.

“Move.”

He sighed. “Shit.” He shifted so I could access the freezer.

My heart was racing. What the hell was in there?

I yanked open the lid, expecting to see fish guts or deer heads.

Instead I saw pink boxes stacked on pink boxes. My jaw dropped. Each box had the Sugar Lips logo. I was so astonished I started laughing.

I glanced back at him. “Cash Young, how many cupcakes are in this freezer?”

He cleared his throat, looking sheepish. “I’m not sure exactly.”

“You’re the one who has been ordering four hundred cupcakes a month for the last six months?”

He nodded.

That was insanely sweet. And absurd. “What were you planning to do with all of these?” When I thought about the cramps in my hand from all the piping, I kind of wanted to kill him, but his heart was in the right place.

“I donate a lot to local shelters and to an organization that delivers meals to shut-ins. I have shipped some to my family. Sometimes, if I have extras, I pass them out in areas where there are a lot of homeless. The s’mores one is always a big hit.”

“That’s good to know.” I closed the freezer lid after seeing the safety mechanism I was looking for on it. “You never cease to amaze me. This is a very sweet thing, for all kinds of reasons. Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to feel like it was me giving you business.”

“That’s exactly what it is. Why would I be upset by that?”

“Because I know you work really hard at being successful. I didn’t want you to think I was just trying to pad your bank account.”

“I guess eventually we need to have a conversation about the bakery, don’t we?” That was the last thing I felt like dealing with when we were buried under moving boxes but I couldn’t avoid it forever.

“Only if you want to.”

“In a minute.” I shifted a couple of the boxes around. “There’s no bait in here. Don’t lie to me to protect me. Seriously. The lying is worse than whatever you think you’re protecting me from.” After what John had done, that was not going to fly with me.

“I wouldn’t call it lying, exactly, but I understand what you’re saying. I’m sorry.”

I sighed and closed the freezer. “I don’t know if I want the bakery anymore. I really don’t. I just want to be a mom for a while. Marigold’s manners are questionable and she seems immature for her age to me, Johnny’s spending half his time looking at boobs on the internet, and Ava is both snarky and sneaky. I want to focus on making sure my kids are good people.”

“I fully support that idea. I don’t want you to feel pulled in so many directions. Jolene Hart actually approached me about investing in the bakery because she has that hit song with the same name, Sugar Lips. She wants to throw her team behind the marketing. It would allow you to hire full-time bakers and a manager and just act as creative director.”

That was definitely an intriguing possibility. “I really like the sound of that. I want to finish my degree because I only have one semester to go. I told you the bakery wasn’t really my dream anyway, it was John’s misguided attempt to be an entrepreneur and get rich. With me doing all the work. But I don’t like to fail at something so if we could breathe life into it and make it more profitable without me doing all the heavy lifting, I think that’s fantastic.”

“What was your dream?” Cash asked.

“All I ever really wanted was to have a family. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that, because we’re supposed to want it all, right? But I just wanted what I never had. A well-adjusted, loving family.” Without warning there were tears in my eyes. I had no idea where those came from.