Sprinkled with Love

For now, he had to set aside the finances because it was time for his next baking lesson.

Jillian volunteered the use of her kitchen again since his was still under construction. And she’d mentioned working on a special project for the fundraiser. She cleared off the counter next to the stove for him before she settled at the breakfast nook to work on her jewelry.

Avery straightened and closed the fridge. “You’re out of eggs.”

She snapped her fingers. “I knew there was something I needed to pick up on the way home.” Her gaze met his. “Is that why you’re frowning?”

He didn’t know he was frowning. He did his best to change his expression to something more neutral, but he was obviously unsuccessful as Jillian continued to study him.

“You know,” she said, “you’ve been wearing that glum expression since you got here. If you’re not up for a lesson tonight, we can put it off until tomorrow.”

He shook his head. “I don’t have time to waste.” He grabbed a saucepan from under the counter and placed it on the stove before adding the appropriate amount of butter. “The first round is this Saturday and I want to be prepared. So I’ll caramelize the butter and then let it cool while I run to the store.”

“So if it’s not the lesson or the fact that I forgot the eggs, what’s bothering you?”

He really didn’t want to tell her, because he didn’t want her to look at him differently. Although, it would feel good to talk with someone—someone he trusted. Jillian had always been there when he had problems with the kids and she’d been discreet. Avery hadn’t realized it until now, but he just took it for granted that Jillian would always be there for him. Now, this was his chance to recapture that closeness.

“Avery, what is it?”

“It’s the ranch.” He stopped. Words like failed, rejected, and

turned down stuck in his throat. Jillian would think less of him if he admitted the truth to her.

“What about the ranch?” Her eyes lit up with interest. “Have you been working on the financing for it?”

He nodded as he turned his gaze back to the butter that was now melted. He grabbed a plastic spoon from the crock next to the stove.

“Not plastic,” Jillian warned. “It’ll melt. Try the drawer to your left. There should be metal spoons in there.”

He did as she instructed. It was so much easier to concentrate on baking rather than admitting to his failure. He just didn’t want to see the disappointment reflected in her eyes.

Her voice lowered to a soft, comforting tone. “I take it things aren’t going well?”

He swallowed hard. “You know that the banks turned me down.” When she nodded, he continued. “So I tried some of the rodeo sponsors. Even though I was last year’s champion, they want this year’s leader. And thanks to my injury, it’s thrown me too far back in the rankings to ever make it to the top again this season.”

“Well, there has to be another way to raise the money.”

“None that I can think of.” And he’d spent every wakeful moment considering all plausible solutions, but none of them held up.

“Don’t give up. I know how important this is to you. Sometimes it takes a lot of patience and a heap of faith to see dreams through to fruition.”

“Is that what you did in order to open Tangled Charms?”

She nodded. “It is. There were a lot of times when I didn’t see any way to make my dream a reality. The bank didn’t want to issue me a line of credit and the owner of the building already had an interested party. The list of problems went on and on.”

He knew where she was headed with this. “But you didn’t give up.”

“Exactly.” She glanced at the pan. “Keep stirring or the butter will burn.”

Jillian continued to tell him what she’d overcome to make Tangled Charms a reality. It amazed him how many hoops she’d had to jump through in order to open her own business. His own journey was beginning to look less daunting. Perhaps there were some other online resources he could try. Or maybe he could take on a partner like Jillian had done.

“Thanks for the advice.” He glanced at her.

“I don’t know that I would call it advice. But I hope it helps.” She smiled and a warmth grew in his chest. “I have a feeling this is all going to work out.”

Maybe he should adopt a bit of her optimism. What would it hurt?

A few minutes later, he pulled the caramelized butter from the stove and placed it a cold water bath. “While that cools, I’m going to get the eggs.”