Josie handed her one of the whoopie pies. It was a traditional chocolate with a white cream filling.
Zoe took it, looked at it for a long moment as if it held all the answers, then bit into it. Josie held her breath.
Zoe chewed and swallowed. Then took a deep breath. Then nodded. “Amazing. Of course.”
Josie felt the breath whoosh out of her lungs. “You think so?”
Zoe smiled and shook her head, setting the whoopie pie down on the plate. She brushed her hands together. “Of course I think so. You’re amazing. You are an extremely talented baker and…” She sighed. “I know everyone knows that you’re behind the awesome decorating, but yeah, they probably don’t realize how awesome you are at the baking part because Buttered Up doesn’t give you a lot of chance to really show that off.”
She looked sad for a moment, then she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
Josie frowned. “For?”
“Not letting you do more. Not even realizing all of what was going on with you.”
Josie was shaking her head before Zoe even finished speaking. “I was purposefully keeping all of this from you, Zoe. You couldn’t have known.”
Zoe nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Listen,” Josie said, “I love working with you. I’m not looking for something else or something instead. I just want to get a little creative and to have some fun on my own too.”
Zoe took a few pieces of the cereal mix and tossed them into her mouth. She chewed, then smiled. “This is so you. Sweet and salty, colorful, and unique. Something to make a normal movie night on the couch or a game night around the table or an afternoon at the ball field a little different and fun.
Josie’s breath caught in her throat. Okay, it was pink cereal mix. It was cereal pieces covered in white chocolate and strawberry powder and mixed with mini pretzels, cashews, and pink and white M&M’s. It was silly to get choked up over someone complimenting that.
But it wasn’t the cereal mix. It was how Zoe described how it made her feel. That it made her smile. And that it was Zoe.
Josie swallowed, her eyes watery.
Zoe noticed. She looked worried. “Are you okay?”
Josie sniffed and nodded. “Yeah. I just… I like making stuff that makes people happy.”
Zoe gave her an affectionate smile and moved around the corner of the island to pull her into a hug. “I know.” She squeezed and then let go. “I love you so much for that. I think because it’s always been who you are, and I’ve known you forever. I never really thought about how you don’t get to truly shine at the bakery. I know that you love seeing people light up about the stuff you decorate. It never occurred to me that you might want to do even more.” She grimaced. “I’m a terrible friend.”
“No.” Josie shook her head. “I never said anything.”
“Well, we can definitely do this at the bakery. We can do the whoopie pies and even make a case—half a case—for healthy stuff. We can have a secret menu for the naughty stuff and the stuff for potlucks and class treats and school so that people can still pass them off as their own if they want to and—”
“Zoe.”
Zoe stopped and look at her. “Yeah?”
“I… appreciate that, but I want to do this on my own.”
Zoe was quiet for a long moment. And then another. Taking that in and processing it.
“I’ll make you a partner,” Zoe said. “Watching Aiden and the guys together, I realize how amazing they each are on their own but how much more they are together as a team. I need you. We are an amazing team too.”
Josie felt her heart flip. She smiled. “That’s really nice. And a month ago I would have taken you up on that. But…” She looked around her kitchen again. “I’m ready to be on my own a little.” Josie took her friend’s hand. “I don’t want to leave the bakery, but I might want to eventually just do the big decorating jobs. You don’t need me to be doing the simple chocolate chip cookies and things like that. You can hire someone else for that. But I’ll come in and do the bigger, more elaborate projects that I love. And then I can do this”—she looked at everything on the center island—“on my own.”
Josie met Zoe’s eyes. “I won’t do anything the bakery already does. I don’t want this to be a situation