conferences, but she hadn’t really led anything important. Certainly not launching an entirely new product including everything from the recipe to the labor needed.
This whole new-snack-cake thing had been her idea.
And they’d ended up with alpacas at the taste-testing event.
She swallowed. “I just think we should start small,” she said. “Maybe we can transition one of the machines for a night shift three nights a week. We’ll offer overtime and hire a small crew and let them know it’s temporary work for now. I don’t want them to think they’re coming on full time if it doesn’t take off the way we’d like.”
Aiden watched her for several seconds. Then he nodded. “Whatever you think.”
She felt her gut tighten. That might have been the worst thing he could have said.
Grant glanced from Aiden to Whitney then back before he nodded. “We’ll follow your lead, Whitney.”
Her gut tightened even further and she felt a little sick.
Whitney forced herself to take a deep breath. She needed to relax. This was how a new product launched. Probably. They had to actually launch the product to see how it went. It couldn’t be successful if they didn’t put it out there.
She never should have pitched the idea of a new snack cake to the guys. Or she should have gotten all of this together before she did. Why hadn’t they asked about all of this before they put together a big event to choose what kind of snack cake they’d be adding? Obviously they needed machines to make whatever it was. And packaging. And a name for it.
She felt her heart racing.
They hadn’t asked because they didn’t know how to do this. They’d been trusting her to do it. They’d been following her lead. She was the one who should have known the proper steps to take and what all they needed to do.
Fuck.
“Cam!” A voice called on the computer. A voice Whitney knew very well. “I need the food processor!”
Cam met Whitney’s eyes through the computer screen. “She does not need the food processor.”
Whitney felt a little tension leave her shoulders as she smiled. “No, no she does not.”
“I can’t make guacamole without it!” Didi called.
“You most certainly can!” he called back. “Hand mashed guac is the way to go. As we discussed this morning.”
“So you hid the food processor from me? In my own house?” Didi demanded.
“Yes. But I’m not sure I needed to,” he told her, “since you’re looking for it in the bathroom!”
“Are you making fun of me having memory problems?” Didi asked.
He grinned. “Of course not.” He turned back to the group. “I need to go.” He disconnected without waiting for anyone to say anything.
Whitney wasn’t sure if she should laugh, or hide under the table, or head straight home.
The guys all laughed as Aiden closed his laptop.
“I so fucking love that he’s being kept on his toes all day and that it’s a seventy-something-year-old woman doing it,” Dax said, shaking his head.
“Cam and Didi Lancaster,” Aiden said. “I did not see that one coming.” His gaze landed on Whitney. “This is… an interesting development.”
“Talk about grand gestures,” Dax agreed.
Whitney suddenly found herself ready to tell everyone what was going on. That was weird. She recognized it was very unlike her—or anyone in her family—to tell personal details, especially to work acquaintances. But she still heard herself saying, “My grandmother is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. She needs someone with her for all but very short periods. She didn’t like the woman I hired, so during their dessert date she talked Cam into being her companion until she moves into Sunny Orchard.”
They all took a moment to process that.
Aiden was the first to speak. “I’m sorry, Whit.”
“Thanks. It’s been hard,” she admitted. “But I know it’s going to get worse. I’m grateful she’s excited about Sunny Orchard,” she said to Dax. “That will be better for her. But we’re just in this in-between stage right now since my family went to Dallas.” She frowned. It wasn’t as if her family had been a ton of help when they’d been here, honestly. A lot of it had still fallen to Whitney and she and Didi had both preferred it that way. But Whitney had been left out of so much at Hot Cakes that she never felt that she was missing anything at the office by not being there.
“You’re okay with Cam being there?” Aiden asked.
She glanced up, refocusing on the men around the table. She wasn’t missing out now.