Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,122

and make Hot Cakes a more exclusive item.”

Grant seemed to be thinking about that. But he did not, for once, keep an unreadable expression on his face. He nodded, then smiled, then said, “I like it. Let’s talk more about that.”

“Yep, and if Gordon Perkins comes crawling back,” Aiden said, “we’ll let you decide if we work with him or not.”

“I might tell him to fuck off.”

“That’s your call,” Aiden said with a wink.

Whitney turned a huge grin up to Cam.

He gave in then and bent to kiss her.

It was just a quick, sweet one, but it seeped into his bones and made him, quite simply, happy.

“Mr. McCaffery?” a nurse asked from the doorway.

Cam turned, but he knew she was talking to his father.

“You can come with me now,” she said.

Steve was clearly relieved. Cam, Zoe, Aiden, Josie, and Jane gave him hugs. He knelt before Henry to give him instructions to be a good listener and to text him if he needed anything.

“I’ll call you later and you can talk to your mom if she’s up to it,” Steve told him.

Henry nodded. “Okay. But I’ll be all right.”

Steve looked up at Didi, then stretched to his feet. “I know you will, son,” he said. He met Didi’s gaze. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she told him. Then she reached up and put a hand on Steve’s cheek. “I wish I could have known you sooner.”

Steve looked a little choked up. Letty had been his mother. This was her childhood best friend. What wounds Letty and Didi hadn’t been able to heal, he was able to heal with Didi. At least a little.

He put his hand over hers on his face and said, “We have time for that.”

She smiled. “I look forward to it.”

Then Steve turned and left with the nurse.

Everyone else just stood quietly for a moment.

Until Didi asked Josie, “If we’re riding back with you, does that mean we can stop at the bakery for pie?”

The mood officially lightened, everyone laughed and Josie slipped her arm through Didi’s—the one that wasn’t holding Henry’s hand—and said, “Absolutely. Pie makes everything better.”

“We will be right behind you,” Jane, the ultimate pie lover, announced.

She and Dax stopped and hugged Cam and Whitney and Zoe and Aiden. So did Ollie and Piper.

And then it was just the four of them.

Cam settled on one of the waiting room couches near the far wall and pulled Whitney down beside him, while Aiden and Zoe took the couch closer to the door. They were together, but this way the couples could chat in private.

“So you know,” he said as Whitney snuggled into him. “I’d really love to have your grandma stay at the house and not move into Sunny Orchard yet.”

Whitney stiffened in surprise and looked up at him. “Really?”

“Really. Things are going great. She’s doing well. I love being with her. I know we haven’t had any really bad days yet and I know things will get worse. There may be a time when Sunny Orchard is the right place for her but…” He’d been thinking about it a lot over the past week as the end of his month with Didi had been getting closer. “I think we could keep her at home longer.”

Whitney didn’t say anything. She just studied him, a soft smile on her face.

“What?” he asked finally.

“I really like hearing you say we and home and talk about the future like that.”

His heart kicked hard in his chest. “Me too.”

“And, yes,” she said. “I mean, I love having her there. If that’s what she wants. And you’re up for it.”

“Turns out that Hot Cakes needs a lot less legal work than Fluke did and, well, I’m damned good at being a stay-at-home grandson.”

Whitney’s expression softened. “Oh, man. You really are sweet. Those tattoos and muscles are a total cover-up.”

He laughed. “Just with you. And Didi.”

“And your mom. And Henry. And your sister. And Piper. And—”

“Okay, so my badass reputation is trashed.” He grinned down at her.

“Totally trashed,” she said with a nod. “But… at least you still have the tattoos.”

“You like those, don’t you?”

“So much,” she said in a lusty sigh.

He kissed the top of her head. “Maybe we should get you some.”

She didn’t say no. He looked down at her.

“Whit?”

“Just thinking about what I would get and where,” she said. “Especially if you would want to lick them as much as I like licking yours.”

Predictably, hospital waiting room or not, his body responded to that. “I would,” he said. “Very