A Moment Like You (The Baker’s Creek Billionaire Brothers #2) - Claudia Burgoa Page 0,79
Also, I’ve been driving to Portland to take my cooking classes and check on the new building.”
“How’s that going?”
“The cooking…I’m not cut out for that,” I confess. “I burnt butter five times, but it’s all part of the process. At least, that’s what the instructor says each time I manage to burn the food.”
“What’s your excuse for not going to the house tonight?”
“I have a headache?” I lie.
Blaire growls. “I wish he hadn’t told you he loved you until he had gotten rid of his problem. This wouldn’t be a thing.”
“You could stay,” I offer, pulling out a tub of ice cream from the freezer. “Dessert?”
“My man is waiting for me,” she protests but grabs a spoon. Thankfully, her morning sickness has lessened, and she’s now craving sweets again. “What do you think, Leyla?”
“We’re staying. I’m not in the mood to deal with the Aldridges or Martina,” she concludes, going into the wine fridge and pulling a bottle of champagne for us then turns to Blaire and asks, “Water?”
Blaire nods and asks, “At what time do the strawberries arrive?”
I look at the clock. “They should be here soon. Are we just eating sweets?”
Henry keeps sending me a dozen chocolate covered strawberries every night. I hate him and I love him even more. I can’t seem to be able to think about anything else but him and how much I miss him.
“No, I’ll order us some food,” Leyla offers.
“Martina learned a new lesson today,” Blaire states while I’m looking at the menus.
I try not to grin because every story they tell me is better than the last one. The other day she went to the stable to feed the animals and Ally chased her all over the barn.
“Who was it this time?” I ask, taking a spoonful of the upcoming flavor peach melba and champagne. Maybe I can’t cook, but this flavor was my idea and so far, everyone has loved it. “You guys need to stop teasing her and be a little more understanding.”
“This time it was Arden,” Blaire answers. “No one does anything to her. If it were the guys, you’d be just laughing at whatever happened to them. They are also a bunch of spoiled brats learning how to live like the rest of us mortals.”
“True,” I agree.
“Anyway, Martina left her cosmetics all over the bathroom the night before. Mills was making breakfast. The guys and I were at the gym and little Arden got ahold of her stuff. He took it upon himself to apply the makeup on Martina.”
Blaire shows me a picture, and she looks like she got a bad face paint job from a carnival.
“I bet she wasn’t thrilled.”
“Nope, and she began to yell at my boy,” Leyla complains. “According to Mills, Buster put himself in front of Arden and began to bark at Martina. You know how my guy is pretty protective of Arden. It’s funny now, but it wasn’t great while it was happening. She was threatening to put my dog down and to teach Arden a lesson for being a stupid brat. I had a few words for her.”
“Her excuse is that she doesn’t know how to be around children,” Blaire explains.
“As I told her, she shouldn’t be talking like that to anyone. It was mean and just degrading,” Leyla says flustered. “Mills had a few words for her too. She’s not allowed to be close to Arden.”
“But she’s not bad,” I repeat what she said earlier.
“I’m trying to see the good in her as Blaire does. Because there’s always something good inside everyone, but that woman…she’s not great. We should start digging further to figure out how to get rid of her or one of these days I’m going to ask Ally to sit on her while she’s asleep,” she concludes.
They continue complaining about Martina and though she sounds like a nightmare, I can’t help thinking about how she must feel being in a house where everything is different from what she grew up with.
Thirty-Two
Sophia
The next Monday, I call the factory to let them know I’m going to stay in Baker’s Creek to deal with Merkel. After my daily run and workout, I go to Love You A Latte for my daily dose of caffeine. I haven’t met Martina, but I’ve seen her picture on social media.
When I spot her at the coffee house, I’m tempted to leave. I don’t. This town is too small to avoid her forever. It’s not like she knows who I am. Chances are she’s just