the space, exposed brick walls contrasted with the long, honed Carrara marble countertops interspersed with softly lit curved glass cases. Inside the cases, pyramids of freshly baked cookies and shortbreads, rows of French pastries dusted with powdered sugar and striped with chocolate ganache, trays of delicate piped meringues, and ranks of miniature custard tarts bejeweled with glazed fruit were intended to tempt even the most calorie-conscious Grand Opening guest.
Now, under her abuela's critical gaze, Maggie began to see all of the imperfections in her brand-new layout and equipment. Had she tried to cram too many tables in the café area? Did the coffee bar's metal stools look cheap and junky instead of interesting and vintage?
She hated that all of this silent judgment instantly made her feel like an insecure teenager again.
"Maggie," her mother greeted her, smiling.
"What are you—I mean, why are you here?" Maggie blurted.
Oh, real smooth, she chided herself in disgust.
She hadn't seen any of them since that disastrous Christmas two years ago, when she'd traveled to Bearpaw Ridge to celebrate the holidays with her family and they'd tried to ambush her with an arranged mating.
"We came because we saw you on the news," Papá said.
Maggie couldn't read his expression, and the rich perfumes of coffee and crème pâtissier drowned out his scent. Her chest tightened further. Is he finally going to say that he's proud of me?
Abuela Inez interrupted. "Everyone saw you on the news." She glared at Maggie with the frown that struck terror in every Ornelas clan member. "Margarita Inez Ornelas, how could you expose yourself like that!"
She paused and directed her glare at the swinging door at the rear of the retail space, obviously looking for eavesdroppers.
But Maggie's staff had retreated and were prudently hiding somewhere in the back of the bakery.
Abuela lowered her voice and continued in a hissing whisper. "You endanger all of us when you call attention to your special abilities like that!"
"But I couldn't just leave them," Maggie protested. "They were just little kids!"
"Kids who told reporters that a black panther saved them," Papá said. He sighed deeply and shook his head. "Oh, Maggie."
Dammit. I was hoping that part hadn't made to the national news, Maggie thought.
The disappointment in his tone was ten times worse than her grandmother's disapproval. Because for as long as Maggie had been alive, Abuela Inez had always disapproved of something that Maggie had done, was doing, or planning to do.
But she desperately wanted Papá to be proud of her, the same way he was always so proud of everything that her brother Manny accomplished.
"But the reporters all thought that the kids were talking about that movie and not an actual black panther," Maggie protested.
While the three grownups and the older children had kept her secret, as promised, it had been too much to ask of the younger ones.
Thankfully, the kids' parents, and more importantly, the press, hadn't believed their stories of a black panther, bears, and other beasts coming to the rescue. And to Maggie's relief, only a few of the news stories had mentioned it, and only in the context of a crop of recent superhero films.
Apparently, though, her parents and grandmother didn't feel the same way.
Abuela Inez snorted. "Bad enough that you've been calling attention to yourself on all of those Food Network programs and baking contests! But this—!" She shook her head. "Selfish! You've always done exactly what you wanted, without a thought for anyone else in the family."
She glared at a silver tray of neatly stacked macarons in pastel shades and added, "It took us months to get Felipe Balam and his clan elders to agree to a match…and what did you do? You ran away. Back to San Francisco!"
She made Maggie's adopted home sound like a fate worse than death.
"That was three years ago," Maggie reminded them. "And you should have asked me if I wanted a mate!"
"And here you are, still single!" Mama didn't miss a beat as she chimed in. "Be honest—are you even dating anyone?"
That was a low blow. Just once, Maggie wanted her family to be proud of everything she'd accomplished since moving away from Bearpaw Ridge, instead of reminding her what a disappointment she was to the Ornelas clan.
Maggie set her jaw and fought to keep her tone polite. These were her parents and grandmother, after all. "Look, I've been really busy with Cacao, and launching all of my new locations. Los Angeles is doing really well, and once everything is running smoothly here, I'll be