Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,114

it worth their stop.

“And everyone thought I needed help?” Whitney asked. Ollie and Piper both knew the basics about the new snack bar, of course, but the details that Gordon and his team would need would come from Grant and Aiden. Or Whitney.

“Oh, we’re purely moral support,” Piper said, shaking her head. “Mr. Perkins and his team should be here in about thirty minutes. I made coffee here and ran over to Cedarville for muffins since the bakery is closed this morning.”

Whitney took a deep breath. She hadn’t even thought about that. How had she not thought about that? Of course, Buttered Up hadn’t opened this morning. Zoe and Josie were both at the hospital. The main person who filled in when they couldn’t be there was Maggie.

She felt a pang in her heart. God, please let her be okay.

She focused on the bakery. Not only was that a problem for them business-wise—obviously they couldn’t make money if they didn’t sell anything today—though that was less of an issue with both Zoe and Josie being engaged to millionaires—but it was a problem for the waste of the food inside the bakery and, well, it was a problem for the town. Not a horrible, natural disaster type of problem, of course, but if there were a way to have the bakery open, it would be best for everyone.

She thought quickly. “Can you check with Paige?” she asked Piper. “Maybe she could go over and open the bakery. At least for a little bit?”

Paige also filled in once in a while for her sister and Zoe. She liked to add zucchini and carob chips and almond flour and other healthy things to the recipes which drove Zoe a little nuts, but Paige wouldn’t be baking today. She could just run the register.

Piper nodded. “Oh, that’s a good idea. I’m sure she would. It’s a little later than they usually open, but we could put something up on the town Facebook page and send out a text to the community list.”

Whitney frowned. “There’s a community text list?”

“Yeah, Drew told me about it. It’s for announcements like the school closing because of snow. Things like that. But they also use it for things like announcing retirement parties for people. Funeral services. Birth announcements.”

See, that was why small towns were so great. “Do you think this qualifies?” Whitney asked.

“I think everyone will want to know that Maggie is in the hospital and that the bakery is open so people can go support the McCafferys,” Piper said, already typing into her phone.

Whitney thought about that too. The McCafferys were beloved in Appleby. That was just a fact. Her family had feuded with them for half a century, but that didn’t mean the rest of the town didn’t realize how loving and sweet and generous they all were.

She sighed. Wow, things had really been messed up for a really long time. She was so grateful that Aiden had started breaking those walls down and that now she and Cam could maybe help further the healing.

“You know what?” Whitney said. “I’m good here. If Ollie stays and represents the new partners with Gordon Perkins and his team, I think we can handle this. Could you go help Paige at Buttered Up? Then I could come over and help after this meeting.”

“You would help at Buttered Up?” Piper asked.

She nodded. “I actually did once before. When Aiden proposed to Zoe and swept her off her feet, literally, I got behind the counter and waited on customers. It was a great way to show the town that things were changing between the two businesses.”

“And this is all about the two businesses?” Piper asked.

Whitney blew out a breath. “No. Not anymore. This is about me supporting the McCafferys. But there are only so many ways I can do that. I can be here and make this meeting successful and I can then go help at the bakery and make that work.”

Piper hesitated. She opened her mouth. Shut it again. Frowned. Then said, “You could also just… be there. At the hospital.”

Whitney shook her head. “There are plenty of people at the hospital. But if I’m not here, there’s no one who can do this meeting and if we don’t go to the bakery, there’s no one there.”

“But being there for people… it’s about being there, Whit,” Piper said. “You don’t always have to do stuff or be accomplishing things or working.”

Whitney felt a shiver of… something… go through her. She was