Thirty-Two
L auren looked around the kitchen of the bakery with a sense of satisfaction. She caught up with the baking and even planned ahead for the week by getting the cookie batter ready. If she wasn’t there, all Melody would have to do was put them on the baking sheet and in the oven. The customers would have to be happy with freshly baked cookies for a week instead of freshly made cookies.
She crossed off baking on her mental list of tasks she needed to do just in case her father had to spend more time at the hospital, or she needed to stay at home with him when he was eventually released. They’d managed fine during the past few days, but if Lauren hadn’t come in that morning, she wasn’t sure they’d have enough baked good to sell for the rest of the week.
She glanced at the clock. She had enough time to go home and clean up before Scott picked her up for dinner.
They hadn’t been spending much time together, and she was looking forward to the few hours of respite before having to go back to the hospital.
“I found a grant. But the deadline’s at midnight. You’re better at this than I am. Can you help me?”
Lauren looked at the clock on her phone. There was no way she could help Olivia with the grant and make her date with Scott.
“Shit. Tonight’s your date with Scott, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“I swear, this isn’t intentional. Look at the deadline date.” Olivia held her phone out for Lauren to see the screen. “Don’t worry. I’ll give Elizabeth a free haircut in exchange for her help. I’ll just make sure we don’t use any similes or metaphors.”
“No. It’s okay. Get set up at a back table and I’ll call Scott. There will be more dinners, but there won’t be another grant.”