8.
C OREY
When I pulled up, Lawson was relaxing on his motorcycle as he scrolled on his phone but looked up when he saw me approach. “Since when do you want to stop here?”
“I thought it might be nice to change things up.”
“The bakery closes in ten minutes. You just want to see if Janis has exploded yet.”
“Maybe,” I admitted.
“Let’s see,” Lawson said, as he looked back down at his phone. He swiped the screen until he came to the app he was looking for and then said, “She started her quest on Saturday, but we decided that was a freebie, so the countdown officially began on Sunday. It’s Thursday now and . . .” Lawson stopped talking and looked up at me with his brows furrowed. “Are you in cahoots with your brother?”
“Did he pick today?”
“Yes.”
“No. I am not working for my brother’s interests in this. Are we going in or not?”
“Testy fucker,” Lawson grumbled as he got off his bike. “You’ve been pissy all week. What’s up?”
“ Your friend .”
“Gotta be more specific. I’m a likable guy with a lot of friends.”
Lawson and I walked together toward the entrance of the bakery, and just before he opened the door for me, I said, “I don’t understand what the fuck Janis thinks she’s going to accomplish with this shit, and I’m not sure I like being her target.”
“Has she talked to you any more since the party?”
“No.”
“So what makes you think you’re the target?”
“She told me.”
“But she hasn’t talked to you since?” When I shook my head, he said, “I get it. You’re just waiting on the other shoe to drop and for her to pop out somewhere and start screaming. It’s a valid fear.”
“I’m not afraid of her. I just want to know why she picked me.”
“Because you can’t stand each other.”
“Something else I’ve always been curious about,” I muttered as I walked past him. Once we were both inside, I said, “I’ve always wondered this, but never asked. Do you know why she suddenly decided to make me enemy number one and put Zane at number two?”
“Technically, you’re interchangeable depending on which one is near her at the time.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” I pointed out.
“Nope. I sure didn’t.” Lawson waved at the woman behind the counter and walked past it to the back room. I had made it a point to stay as far away from Janis and her bakery as I possibly could and rarely ever came inside. The only time I’d ever been in the back was when I asked to use the restroom, and even then, I only saw the storeroom. It was crazy to see the actual kitchen where the magic happened because that was really the only way to describe Janis’ baked goods.
Everything I had ever tried from her bakery was delicious, even though I never got it fresh from the counter. Even after a few days of sitting on someone else’s counter, usually my mom and dad’s, the pastries and donuts were still delicious. So, seeing the place they were made and all the equipment that it took to make them was a surprise.
What was even more surprising was seeing Janis sitting on a rolling stool with tears in her eyes as the woman in front of her apologized profusely.
“It’s okay, Cami. It’ll be fine for a bit until my meds kick in, and I’ll finish up. I know you’ve got an appointment, so you need to get out of here anyway.”
“Let me see if one of the girls can stay late and help you.”
Janis laughed, but even I could tell she was in pain. As we walked around the counter, she spotted us at the same time that the woman with her did. She sniffed and smiled before she told her employee, “Go on, Cami. I don’t want you to be late.”
“One of them can do it! I’m sure they’re strong enough.”
“It’s okay. I’ll call my brother and . . .”
“What do you need?” I interrupted.
“Before the dough is ready to proof overnight, it’s got to go through the stretch and fold process, but I’m just not strong enough to do it alone. Then there are the cookies, and we’ve got to get the . . .”
“Show us what to do,” Lawson interrupted as he stepped up beside the other woman.
“Go on, Cami. I’ll take care of everything. Don't worry!” Janis ordered. Once Cami was gone, Janis gave me a tight smile and said, “Corey, did you come for a tour of the kitchen?”
“I came for something to eat, but that can wait. What’s wrong?”
“Are you having a flare? Why aren’t you at home? I’ll take you,” Lawson offered.
“I can’t go home. I’ve got too much to do. It’s not that bad yet, and I already took some meds to help hold it off. As soon as they kick in, I’ll finish what can’t wait and then go home.”
“What happened to your usual helpers?” Lawson asked. “You’ve got two, right?”
“They are both down with the stomach flu. I’m probably going to get it, and that’s why I’m feeling like this right now. You know how it goes. I talked to them earlier, and they’re sure they can be here tomorrow, so all I've got to do is get through this afternoon’s work, and they can take over in the morning.”
“Well, you’ve got two new helpers. I’m not sure how much help we will actually be, but we can take direction and at least do the heavy lifting,” I assured her.
“Have you ever worked with dough or iced anything?”
“I like ice in my tea,” I joked. Janis didn’t crack a smile. Instead, I watched pain flash across her face before she winced. I knew that no amount of joking would make her feel any better. “I haven’t done either of those things, but today seems like a great day to learn.”
“Where does it hurt?” Lawson asked quietly.
“Shoulders and left hand so far, but I’m right-handed, so I can do the fine details,” Janis answered just as softly. “You guys don’t need to spend your evening working in the kitchen.”
“I disagree,” Lawson said before he looked around the kitchen and asked, “What do you need me to do first?”
“I’m in,” I said as I walked toward the sinks against the far wall. “Wash up first and then what?”
“You’ve got pets.”
I had just turned the water on and wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly, so I asked, “What did you say?”
A little louder she said, “You’ve got pets, right?”
“I do.”
“Lawson does too. I’ll need you to at least change your shirts before you put on aprons. Go do that before you wash up. Top shelf on the right in my office,” Janis explained as Lawson walked past me.
I shut off the water and followed him along the wall past equipment that was completely foreign to me and then turned into a room that was obviously Janis’ office. It was dim, with just one lamp on the corner of the desk, but I could see it wasn’t a regular office by any means.
There was a desk, of course, and it had a closed laptop centered in front of the chair, but there was a twin bed pushed into the corner of the room that was covered in a patchwork quilt and had a mound of pillows scattered down the length of it. In the other corner of the room, there was a hammock hanging from two industrial-sized hooks on the ceiling with a small table nearby that had a wax warmer with a small glowing light inside.
Lawson followed my gaze and explained, “When she’s hurting, the bed is sometimes too hard . . . or too soft, depending on how she feels, so she uses the hammock to get comfortable enough to sleep.”
“She sleeps here? I thought she had a house over by . . .”
Lawson interrupted me with a laugh before he said, “She has a house, but she’s barely ever there. She lives and breathes this bakery. It’s just easier for her to sleep here, especially if she’s working on an extensive project. The holidays are the worst. I don’t think she went home more than a handful of times between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“Damn. I didn’t know owning a bakery was so time-consuming.” Lawson pulled his shirt off and tossed it onto the chair in the corner and motioned for me to do the same. Once my shirt was off, he handed me a T-shirt and pulled one out for himself. “What’s up with the clothes?”
“She’s a fanatic about cleanliness, which is a good thing if you’re serving food. She furnishes shirts for all of her employees, but they’re not allowed to wear them home. She launders them and keeps them here so that they can change before their shift to make sure that no one gets a cat hair cupcake or dog hair donut.”
“Shit. I never thought of that, but it’s a genius idea.”
“She’s very, um, what word am I looking for here?”
Without thinking, I said, “Different from what I ever imagined.”
Lawson looked at me curiously and asked, “What does that mean?”
I shrugged and said, “There’s more depth to her than I thought.”
“Still waters run deep, and I’m not sure you’re the one that should be exploring them.”
“What does that mean?”
“Most people only see the mean side of Janis because they don’t take the time to pay attention to the rest. You’ve spent half our lives at war with her. I’m not sure why you’d want to try to do anything other than that, besides to watch her fail, which she’s not gonna do because it’s not in her nature. If you’ve got any other thoughts in your head about it, you’re wrong and should give them up.”
“How do you know?”
“Are you telling me that you’re actually interested in her and not just this weird experiment?” Lawson asked as he pulled the T-shirt over his head. “You’re really considering this?”
“I’m not considering shit. I’m just curious about how long she can hold out on this nice thing, and I want to be around when she explodes.”
Lawson studied my face until I turned to leave the office, and right before I turned the corner to go back out into the kitchen, he said, “It’s one thing to push her temper, but don’t fuck with her heart, Forrester.”
“She’d have to have one first.”
Janis didn't hear me coming, so she didn’t shield herself like usual. I saw her in a different light - unguarded and vulnerable, two things that I hadn’t been sure she was capable of. It kind of pissed me off how much I was learning about her, only because she already took up space in my mind.
I blamed everything on Janis, whether she was involved or not. If I got a pain in my side, it was Janis fucking with my voodoo doll. If I was having a shit day, it was probably because she had cast a spell that was meant to sabotage my life. I had a flat six months ago and found myself wondering if Janis had anything to do with it.
She hated me so much that I wouldn’t put it past her.
But seeing her like this, in pain but willing to work through it just to get things done, I felt a fissure form in the icy part of my heart that I had long ago reserved for her. When she heard Lawson walking up behind me, she glanced over her shoulder, and I saw the mask slip over her face right before she smiled and said, “I’m feeling a lot better, so you guys can just go home.”
“Bullshit,” Lawson barked as he passed me. “You’re just a control freak who is worried about us fucking something up, so you’d rather kill yourself trying to get everything done alone than risk it.”
“I’ve worked through pain like this before,” Janis said cockily as she started to get up. Lawson, mindful of the fact that she’d said her shoulders hurt, put his hand on the top of her head and held her on the chair. Janis growled before she looked up at him. “Let me go, Law.”
“No. I sent Jonas a text, and he’s going to drop by your house for some supplies, because I’m sure you don’t have any here.”
“Tell me what to do, Grissom, or I’m just gonna start throwing shit in a bowl and hoping it all works out.”
Janis turned her head, with Lawson’s hand still resting on top of it, and looked at me in horror. “You wouldn’t!”
“Try me.”
“The two of you are insufferable assholes, and I just . . . I just . . .” Janis sniffed and then sobbed loudly as tears filled her eyes. It broke my heart when they started trailing down her cheeks. She hated showing any weakness - I knew that much about her. Instead of letting it go, she said, “I can’t hate you as much as I want to because I need your help, and I hate that even more.”
“There she is,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood. “Give me some direction, and then you can tell me all about how you want to end me.”
Janis swiped the tears away with her right hand, and I noticed that her left hand stayed perfectly still in her lap. She sniffed once more and then gave a curt nod and said, “Okay, but you can’t go rogue. Ever. You have to follow the directions I give you, okay? If I say 326 grams, you can’t do 320 or 345, okay? That’s important.”
“I can follow directions.”
“I know some of your exes, and they said that . . .” Janis looked down at her lap and took a deep breath before she said, “Scratch that. I’m sure you can, Corey, and thank you in advance for doing it.”
“Damn, Grissom, you’re already in pain. Don’t hurt yourself even more on purpose,” I ordered.
Janis ignored me and said, “I need you both to wash your hands like you’re about to perform surgery. Use soap and everything, okay?”
I rolled my eyes as I walked over to the sink and made a show of waving my soapy hands at Janis before I rinsed them and then pulled out a few paper towels.
“Task one complete. Now what?”
“There’s a light switch with a stripe of green tape beside the back door. I need you to go flip that on and then grab a five-gallon bucket of flour on your way back.”
As I made my way toward the back, I heard some employees walk back into the kitchen. While they wanted to help Janis, they had a meeting that they couldn’t miss. As a group, they insisted that they were going to come back when the meeting was over, but Janis waved them off and said they needed to relax and start tomorrow with a full night’s sleep because she was almost sure she wouldn’t be of much help to them.
It seemed strange that they all had a meeting to attend, so when I walked back out into the kitchen, I asked, “What kind of meeting are they going to?”
“A business meeting,” Janis answered with a polite smile.
“What kind of business meeting?”
“A none of your business meeting.”
I smiled before I said, “Valid point, Grissom, and good job on the sweet-as-pie delivery.”
Janis’ chuckle was so dark that it was almost scary, but I ignored her and lifted the bucket to set it on the metal table in front of her. It was midair when she yelled, “No! Don’t put that on the table. Set it on the rolling cart and move the cart over here.”
“You weren’t kidding when you said you were going to be giving us specific orders,” Lawson joked as he put the two buckets he’d retrieved next to mine.
“That bucket has been on a shelf in the back and God knows where else. If you put it on the table, then that means the table is dirty, and since that’s your work surface, we don’t want that.”
“Shit. Never thought of that,” I said as I glanced at the table and then over at Janis. “Now what?”
Janis stayed seated on the stool and rolled toward a long table on the other side of the room. It had white bins stacked side by side on it, and on the lid of each bin was a clear plastic bucket that held various things. When I got closer, I saw that the one in front of me had different seeds, and the one next to it had Craisins, walnuts, and chocolate chips. I leaned over so I could see around Lawson and noted the ingredients on top of each bucket before I asked, “Are we about to make that bread with all the good shit in it? I call dibs on a jalapeno cheddar and one of those cranberry loaves.”
“I want a whole cranberry loaf straight outta the oven! Oh, hell yes.”
“No. Making bread is a marathon, not a sprint,” Janis muttered as she searched for something on her phone. She started a video and then held the phone out toward me so that Lawson and I could both watch. When we’d seen as much as she felt was necessary, she reached up and took the phone back. “Now, do that eight different times, including everything in the bucket on top of your bin into the dough.”
“Shit.That’s easy.”
“I want you to start with those loaves over there because they don’t have nuts in them. This isn’t a nut-free zone . . .” Janis looked up at Lawson and I before she lifted her hand and said, “You each get two shots.”
“Only takes one if you aim it right,” Lawson said cheerfully.
“My body is not a nut-free zone, and I might just show you what I’m talking about someday,” I said without thinking.
“Is that all you can come up with?” Janis asked with a bored look. She snapped the fingers of her right hand and said, “Get to work!”