of the good ones.” Zoe gave her a wink, clearly enjoying this a lot.
Josie groaned. “This is such a mess.” Zoe didn’t even know all the ways that this was a mess.
A hot, gorgeous, bossy, protective, sweet mess.
Grant Lorre was like a molten lava cake covered in ganache. A little hard on the outside, but softer once you got past that outer layer, and downright hot and even gooey inside.
Okay, gooey might be pushing it. But the hot was exactly right.
Not to mention addictive.
And maybe bad for her in vast quantities…
“Hi!”
Zoe and Josie both swung toward the back kitchen door as Zoe’s mom and little brother came through.
“Hi, guys!” Zoe greeted.
She didn’t seem surprised to see them. Of course, Maggie and Henry came and went freely from the family bakery but it was early. The morning rush would have just died down, and this was the time Zoe and Josie spent cleaning up, restocking, and then diving into the orders that had been placed. It wasn’t as busy as the six-to-nine time frame, but they stayed pretty busy from six to noon every day. It wasn’t the best time for visits.
“Where do you want us to start?” Maggie asked, moving to the sink to wash her hands.
“You’re helping too?” Zoe asked her little brother.
Henry shrugged. “Mom said I can do cookies.”
Zoe nodded. “Great. But they can’t all be trolls.”
Josie laughed at that. The last cookies Henry had decorated in the bakery—a skill that Maggie insisted all three of her children learn—had been green blobs with eyes. He’d claimed they were trolls, but everyone knew they were Henry-didn’t-want-to-decorate-cookies cookies.
“Fine. I’ll do some ogres too,” Henry said with a grin. “But I’m going to need gray frosting.” He looked at Josie. “Do you have gray?”
Josie shook her head. “Sorry. All out. I made a bunch of ogres earlier this week.” Of course they could have gray frosting. They could mix any color. But Henry needed no encouragement.
He grinned. “Sure you did.”
“How about butterflies?” Josie teased. “Or teacups? Mrs. Landers loves to have teacup-shaped sugar cookies with her tea.”
Henry wrinkled his nose. “I have no idea how to decorate those.”
Maggie nudged him toward the sink. “Of course you could,” she said. “But I think Henry can do chocolate chip and peanut butter and the others that don’t need to be decorated. That might just be best for everyone.”
Zoe laughed. “I don’t know. I have to admit that we sold a bunch of those troll cookies.”
“All to Henry’s friends,” Josie reminded her.
“Still.” Zoe shrugged. “They had real money.”
They all laughed, but then Josie had to ask, “But why are you guys here helping—”
The back door opened again and a head poked through. “Hello?”
“Hey, Kelsey!” Zoe motioned for Jane’s little sister to come in.
“Jane said to come to the back, but I wasn’t sure if I should just walk in or what,” the slender brunette said, coming through the door. There was a pretty blond with her. “You guys know Aspen, my stepsister, right?” Kelsey asked.
“Sure. Hi, Aspen,” Zoe said. “This is so great. Welcome.” She crossed to give Kelsey a hug, then pulled Aspen in for a quick one as well. “I’m so happy that you’re doing this. It will be fun!”
She took Kelsey and Aspen over to the sink and showed them where to wash up and then grabbed them each an apron. Maggie and Henry had already moved to the other side of the kitchen. Maggie greeted the girls too, but she was busy pulling out ingredients and utensils for cookie making.
Josie just watched it all, stunned, and confused.
For one, what were they all doing here? For another, Aspen was here too? With Kelsey? The two girls, only a year apart in high school, fought all the time. Okay, lately they’d been doing better according to Jane. Dax had a lot to do with that apparently. But Josie had never expected to see them out together, just the two of them, on purpose.
Clearly, Jane had recruited them for… whatever this was.
Zoe came back to the middle island. Apparently she was going to teach Kelsey and Aspen cake pop making.
“What is going—”
But the back door opened again. This time Josie’s mouth actually dropped open.
“Hi, everybody!”
It was Paige.
Her sister.
“Paige! What are you doing here?” Josie rounded the island to go to her sister.
Paige was four years younger than Josie. Their other sister, Amanda, was four years older than Josie. She was married with two kids and was a teacher. She had her shit altogether.