The Ingredients of You and Me (Hopeless Romantics #3) - Nina Bocci Page 0,3
Why not just take a vacation or work less? You’ve got all of us to pull the weight,” the woman who ran all things ordering and IT asked. She’d been willing to learn more of the business end of things in the past few months because she saw how burned out I was becoming.
The tears that I had hoped wouldn’t come plopped on my hands. “That’s a valid point, and that was the first thing I considered. You know I’ve been taking a few weekends off here and there since the summer. And it’s helped. I thought about not selling and just taking a step back instead, turning over the reins just enough that I could seek out other avenues—like going back to teaching classes or even just trying my hand at baking for restaurants part-time—while still being involved with the bakery. But in the end, I needed a solid break. You know I’m not a half-in kind of person. It’s all or nothing for me. And if I leaned on you guys more, I didn’t want you to feel the exhaustion that I’ve been feeling. Or worse, for D and V to suffer. This is about keeping D and V the best possible bakery that I can while maintaining my own mental health and yours. All of you guys are the best and will do a fantastic job taking over when I’m gone.”
My lead baker held on to one line from my speech. “You wanted to teach again? I thought you hated it?”
I laughed. “I’m sure it seemed that way. Believe me, working on opening the business and getting it off the ground, plus teaching classes on the side on the perfect piecrust, was not ideal, but I needed the cash while I was starting D and V. But remember a couple months back when that bridal party came in wanting to learn how to make a crème brûlée? It sparked something. I forgot just how much I loved instructing. I didn’t really consider it as an option because I was always here. If they hadn’t asked…”
“None of this would have happened.”
I shook my head. “No, I think it still would have. This wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment decision. I’ve been feeling the changes coming on for a while. It’s sort of been the perfect storm of reasons all leading toward this moment.”
“You’ll have more time with your new man.”
I smiled. “No comment.”
I hadn’t explicitly told them that I was seeing someone, but when asked why I was so cheery, I didn’t deny it, especially when I’d take time off. We’d had some tense moments where my being busy with D&V caused some waves. But I was sure my newly established free time would remove any barriers from us moving forward in our burgeoning relationship. He didn’t know about the sale yet, but I was eager to tell him and see where things led.
My team was quiet for a moment, glancing worriedly at each other before one of them finally broke the silence with the question that I knew would be coming next.
“What about us?”
I smiled, which seemed to put them slightly at ease. “You’re all remaining on, with raises—if you want to, of course. The Confectionary has big plans for this place. Contractually, everything operationally stays as-is, which, of course, includes all of you.”
“Except the face of D and V will be gone,” my lead baker said, wiping away her own tears.
Yes, I had become the face of D&V. And now I couldn’t wait to get me back.
Two Months Later
You’ve made these nine hundred times, and yet here you are forgetting ingredients, measurements, and— Shit, I forgot to wash out the mixing bowl.”
It wasn’t just that my KitchenAid mixer held a suspect-looking substance, but the same goop was dripping from the bottom of my white cabinet. When I’d plugged the mixer in, I didn’t realize I’d left the switch in the on position. Needless to say, everything went flying up and out of the bowl.
Now chocolate, or something formerly resembling chocolate, was oozing down the side of the cabinet, plopping onto the counter and right onto the paper where I was desperately trying to write down the recipe I’d been creating.
It had been like this all morning; nothing was going right. First, I’d tried to open a bag of chocolate chips with one hand. They skyrocketed out of the top with such force, I was surprised any of them landed in the double boiler. I’d be finding those in