Page 21 of Right Where You Left Me

Emma

“ A rthur.” I watch as the old man takes his plate of cinnamon rolls from Piper. “Just because they’re sugar free doesn’t mean you can have a plate full of those. I’m pretty confident your wife would want me to take at least two of those back from you.”

“You made them for me, and what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” He grumbles, glaring at me before winking.

“She will if I tell her.” Piper chirps. “And you aren’t the only diabetic in this town, Arthur.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Arthur gasps, clutching his plate to his chest. He looks down at it forlornly. “Maybe I should take them home to eat later?”

“Probably wise.” Piper says with a laugh. “Have a good day, Arthur.”

Piper knocks my shoulder with hers. “You’ve been in a good mood today.”

I feel my cheeks twitch as a small smile hits my face. “I suppose I am.”

“Is it because you have a work day that isn’t filled with having to deal with my sister?”

I choke out a laugh. “What? No! Where is she by the way? I thought she was on the schedule this morning.”

“I texted her when I got here that she could stay home, figured you’d want a break from her honestly. She’s basically a walking storm cloud.”

“Oh,” I start. “Well, we’ve um. Reconciled.” Reconciled?! Who even says that.

Piper smirks, walking to the register as a customer walks through the front door. “Hm.” Is all she says before pointing at the espresso machine, signaling me back to work.

There’s no way she doesn’t know. Sage had to have told her. They’re sisters, and don’t sisters tell each other everything?

The rest of the morning moves smoothly. I’m able to slip away from the counter to do an inventory count for our kitchen order next week and decide while I’m in there that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to batch some cookie dough too.

I start pulling out ingredients when Piper calls my name from the front.

“Got a line, Piper?” I ask, walking out onto the floor and stopping in my tracks when my eyes meet Sage’s. Her mouth tilts into a smirk as she looks me up and down.

“Flour looks good on you, Em.”

“What?”

She points to her cheek and I can feel mine burn as I swipe them quickly. “I was making cookies.” I say dumbly.

“Mm.” Her eyes rake over me again.

I clear my throat, trying to will some of this embarrassment away. “What are you up to today since Piper didn’t need you to help out this morning?”

She leans closer to me, her forearms pressed against the counter. All the colorful tattoos that decorate her tan skin glimmering like a dew speckled garden in the light above us. “I have two clients today, but then I’m free the rest of the day. What about you? Any wild plans when you’re done here?”

“Nope. Nothing wild. Probably just curling up with a book and watching home improvement shows with my mom.” Could you sound any more boring, Emma?!

“Mm.” That noise again. “I was thinking.” She says, her fingers tracing circles on the counter in between us.

“You could come over later and I could take you up on that offer to teach me how to bake.” Her eyes lift to meet mine and I can feel them burning into me.

The heat in them making my insides feel fuzzy.

“Okay.” I choke out. “Yeah, yup. I can do that.”

She stands up straight, knocking her knuckles against the counter. “Great. I’ll text you my address.” She winks. “See you later, Emma.” She starts walking backwards toward the door, grinning. “And you still have flour on your face!”

My hand grazes my cheek again, but this time the warmth there isn’t from embarrassment. I take a deep breath and try to get my brain back online when Piper comes up beside me.

“Have time for that menu conversation you wanted to have? We’re pretty slow so I figured we could do that now.”

“Oh! Sure.” I say quickly. “I just had a few thoughts the other day when I was making the croissants that I wanted to run by you.” I take her nod as a go ahead to keep talking.

“I noticed that you don’t serve breakfast sandwiches, which I know isn’t your main focus for the cafe since you roast the beans and focus more on the coffee side of things, but I just feel like you’re really missing an opportunity for growth here.

If you had a bigger menu, and carried over the sandwiches for lunch you’d bring in so much more money. ”

“I agree.” She says with a sigh. “I had thought about it, but I just never could wrap my head around how I’d make it work with just me and Sage occasionally. Keeping it simple for food was easier.”

I nod. “I get that, for sure. But, you have me now.” I say and hope I don’t sound too pushy and conceited.

“And I can help you with the business logistics too. The marketing and budget changes for the extra ingredients. I’m good for a little more than the kitchen stuff.

” I laugh softly. “If you’d want.” I tack on.

“I wouldn’t want to add to your work load, Emma. You’re already here most days.” She says hesitantly, but I can see there’s a spark of something in her eyes. She likes this idea.

“I really don’t mind, Piper. How about I draw up the plan and we can go over it together, just to see if it’s something you’d want to try out.”

“Alright.” She says and grins. “I’m really glad I hired you, Emma.”

My chest swells with pride. I know I’m good at my job.

I don’t really like to brag about it, but I have had a successful career, and I’ve been baking for so long now, that I do know what I’m doing.

I get a lot of personal satisfaction knowing that people enjoy the food I make, and that I get to have a job that I love doing.

But, knowing that Piper is happy with my work— that I’m helping her to improve her business— that feels even better.

“Me too.” I say. And I really, really am.

I double check the bags in my passenger seat to make sure I have everything we’ll need for tonight.

I’m sure Sage has some of these ingredients in her pantry, but I got everything on the off chance she doesn’t.

She did say she doesn’t bake, so it isn’t a wild leap that she doesn’t have baking powder or vanilla extract.

Or a… cupcake tin. Okay, maybe I did go a little overboard. Oh well…

I gather up the bags and when I get to her door I knock twice in quick succession, my stomach fluttering with nerves as I wait for her to answer. I texted her that I was on my way, but it isn’t her gorgeous face that greets me when the door opens.

“Well, hello Emma.” River says with a cheeky smirk.

“Um.” I try to look behind him, but his body is blocking the doorway.

“Move your giant ass, and let her in!” I hear Sage shout from inside the apartment.

River chuckles and grabs the bags from my arms. “Come on in, the kitchen is back this way.” He says as he leads me inside.

The apartment is, in a word, eclectic. The walls are painted a creamy beige, with the wall holding the TV a bright orange.

The furniture is a hodgepodge of different eras and lounging on their equally bright orange couch is a cream colored cat.

Its giant pale green eyes follow me as I walk deeper into the apartment.

“I didn’t know you had a cat, Sage.” I say, looking over to where she’s perched on the island in their open concept kitchen.

“I don’t.” She says nodding her head at River. “He came with the cat.”

“Excuse me, you love Pistachio just as much as I do!” River says scooping up the purring pile of fur and nuzzling into it. He’s babbling a string of French at the cat that I don’t understand, but it’s incredibly endearing.

“I don’t think anyone loves that cat as much as you do. You have her tattooed on your neck.” Sage says with a warm chuckle. She moves over to where I’m just standing in the middle of the living room. “If you couldn’t put it together, River is my roommate.”

“Ah.” I say. “Makes sense.” I look deeper into the apartment, absorbing every detail, and notice that there’s three bedrooms down the hallway. “You guys have a lot of space.”

River sets Pistachio down gently on the couch and nods. “My sisters moved here with us.” He says a little stiffly. “They’re a lot younger than me, and they were finishing up high school when we left Chicago. I had guardianship of them, so we got a three bedroom so they had a room to share.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry?—”

He waves me off with a dismissive smile. “Don’t be sorry. My maman—” He shakes his head. “She is a free spirit… it was better for everyone that they were with me.”

Sage clears her throat, sensing the tension building around us and I’m grateful for it. I feel like I stuck my foot in my mouth, even if River seems okay talking about his past. “So, what goodies did you bring for us?” She asks peeking into one of the bags River set down next to the couch.

“I thought we’d make cupcakes.” I say, and Sage’s face lights up at that.

“I love cupcakes.”

“I remember.” I mumble and grab the bags, setting them down on the kitchen island. “Do you have a big bowl we can mix the batter in?”

Sage looks around, a wrinkle in between her brows. “Um…”

“Yes.” River says with a huff. He reaches up in one of the upper cabinets and pulls a few down. He pulls open a drawer and grabs the measuring cups and spoons, dropping them next to the bowls. “You’ll have to forgive her, Emma. I do literally all the cooking in this house. Sage burns toast.”

“You mother fucking?—”

“And I volunteer to eat these cupcakes.” He continues, ignoring Sage. “Wouldn’t want you to get food poisoning.”

“Get out of here!” Sage screeches as she shoves him hard and he just laughs, letting himself get pushed out of the kitchen.

I fight the laugh building as Sage huffs about the kitchen. “Don’t worry, I’m a good teacher. No one will be getting food poisoning tonight.”

“I can cook some things.” She says with a pout that is too adorable to be taken seriously. “I’m not a totally lost cause just because I’m not a fucking Keebler elf like you are.”