Chapter 17
EVERETT
I step back and look from the image on my phone to the project on the table.
That’s pretty good.
I’m not bad at this.
Sure, it took me nearly forty minutes to do one cookie. I’m going to have to get faster. But now I’m going to have more time for practice, so soon I’ll be able to crank out…like three of these in an hour.
I snort.
“How’s it going in here?”
I look up as Adrianne comes into the back room of the bakery. She’d gotten me started but then been called up front to consult with a customer about a bridal shower. She’d told me to go ahead and…I had.
I point to the cookie I just finished. “What do you think?”
She comes over to check my work.
She doesn’t say anything for several seconds.
I slide my phone over to show her the image I had been using as inspiration.
She clears her throat. “Oh.”
“You didn’t say which bugs you wanted to start with but you said frogs and bugs, so I figured a fly made sense.”
She nods. “It’s very… realistic.”
“Thanks.” I smile. I’m especially proud of the detail on the wings.
“There is a lot of black and gray,” she adds.
“I mixed the icing myself.” I’d taken notes at Christmas when Mia showed me how they mixed the buttercream and had kept them in my phone.
“Oh.” Finally, she crosses to the long worktable across the room and picks up a tray. She brings it over and sets it next to my array of supplies. “This is what I was thinking.”
I look from my black-and-gray cookie to her purple, blue, and orange neon-colored butterflies, worms, and nondescript insects with polka dots, zigzag stripes, and googly eyes.
“Oh,” I say weakly.
Her laugh finally escapes. “I didn’t show you these before I rushed out or give you any further instructions. That’s my fault. I should’ve told you the birthday boy's five.”
The cookie I decorated does have big eyes. But they are gray. Which go with his gray wings and black body.
I can’t help but laugh. My cookie is as nearly the opposite of hers as it could get.
“Does your expert-in-biology husband know that you are teaching kids that bugs are purple and bright blue?” I finally ask, grinning.
Adrianne shakes her head with a big grin.
“Mason and I realized a long time ago that our jobs are pretty different. Where it overlaps is mostly that he helps grow some of the very basic ingredients that end up in my baked goods. But it kind of starts and ends with those crops being picked from his fields.”
I chuckle. “That makes sense.”
She studies my cookie. “Honestly? You’re very good. It’s just not the…aesthetic I was going for. But it’s good. The way I am decorating is actually easier. You should give a few a try.”
I study her tray. “I just might. This is fun.”
She props her hip against the worktable. “Is it? It’s interesting to me that a businessman who loves numbers would enjoy decorating cookies.”
I nod. “I’m a little surprised, too. But I’ve never tried this before. I don’t do much that’s creative.”
“It’s always fun to find a hobby. Especially one that’s so different from what you normally do. I think that’s a good thing.”
“I agree. I think I steer away from creative endeavors because of my parents. Everything creative seemed to come with melodrama and chaos. Which, in retrospect, isn’t fair.
I know not all creatives are like that. But that was my experience.
So I sought out things that were the opposite.
Order and organization. That naturally took me to numbers and things that always added up and made sense. ”
“That’s so insightful, Everett,” Adrianne says. “And it’s completely understandable. But I’m glad you’re open to trying some new things now.”
“I really am. More and more lately. I’ve realized that nearly everything I’ve done has been motivated by someone else. First trying to use steer clear of my parents’ lifestyles. Then finding a way to partner with Graham.”
I am not surprised to see Adrianne’s eyes light with even further interest at my mention of one of her children.
“Tell me more about that,” she says.
And I know she’s sincerely interested. I know it has to do with Graham, but I also sense that she’s truly interested in me. Adrianne Riley is incredibly easy to be around. Her warmth and genuineness make me want to linger in her bakery.
I had stopped by to run some ideas past her that I have for starting up her mail-order business. I’d found her elbows deep in cookie decorating and had asked if I could help.
We both knew that I wasn’t going to be much help, but she’d happily found me an apron.
I don’t know if she realizes I am actually in town to see her daughter.
Ginny will be getting back from Texas tonight, and I want to be here when she gets home.
It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that Adrianne realizes that, but she simply seemed glad to see me and welcomed me into the bakery and her kitchen.
Now I’m happy to stay as long as she’ll let me.
“When I met Graham, I didn’t have a specific plan for my college major or my future.
I knew that I wanted to do something where I could be completely divorced from my parents' names and their money. Numbers and business made sense. When Graham started telling me about his plans, I immediately wanted to find a way to fit my skills with his. I loved being around him, and we just clicked. So IES was a natural outcome.”
Adrianne smiles. “I am so happy about that.”
“I’m glad that you’re glad.” I mean that sincerely.
“You’ve already done amazing things. We were surprised when Graham first told us about the company and everything you’ve already accomplished.
But then Mason and I realized that we shouldn’t have been.
Graham has always been somewhat of a dreamer, but if he found the right person to ground him and push him forward, his dreams are the kind that can change the world.
That he found you just seems like kismet. ”
My chest tightens, and I struggle to swallow. Adrianne clearly reads the change in my expression. “Oh no,” she says. “What’s going on?”
I don’t know if all mothers are this caring and insightful.
Having grown up with one who didn’t even live in the same state I did much of the time, I have a sense that they’re not.
I think Adrianne Riley is special. I still love that, even though I’m not one of her children, she notices and cares about my emotions.
I assume that’s why my next words to her are, “I am madly in love with your daughter.”
I think Adrianne’s brief pause is simply surprise that I said it so suddenly and bluntly, rather than because of the words themselves.
She confirms that a moment later when she smiles and nods. “Yes, I know.” She tips her head. “Has Ginny told you she’s madly in love with you, too?”
I lift a brow. “She has. Did she tell you that?”
Adrianne shakes her head. “She didn’t need to. I know my daughter very well. Even though she’d like to think she’s tough and mysterious.”
“She’s really not. At all.”
“I know.”
“She’s loving and passionate and wears her heart on her sleeve.”
“I know.”
“And she cares so much that she’s easily hurt and offended and angry and riled up.”
Adrianne laughs. “I know.”
“She also loves deeply and loyally.” I blow out a breath. “Everyone who is loved by her is so damned lucky.”
Adrianne is still smiling but looks a little choked up. “I know.”
“I think that’s why this latest thing with the investors in New York got to her.
Because she actually understood where they were coming from—wanting to protect their family business, wanting to believe another family business was as strong and good as theirs.
She got it, and it bothered her that someone would question her loyalty to her family and to them.
” I realize I’ve been staring at the cookies, and I lift my gaze to Adrianne.
She’s smiling at me. “Sorry. I got carried away.”
“Never apologize for understanding and loving my daughter like that.”
I smile. “Okay.”
“I love people who love out loud.” Adrianne laughs. “Obviously. Look who I’m surrounded by.”
“You know, I always thought I was just really rational and emotionally even keeled. I thought I fought being emotionally volatile because my parents were, and I hated it. But…” I frown.
“I think I just hadn’t found things and people to feel strongly about.
” I give Adrianne a smile. “Because I feel very strongly about your daughter, your family, your town, IES, IAS…a lot of things. It’s like since I met Ginny and got to know you all, my emotions have all awakened. ”
“Wow,” she says. “I love that. Keep going with that, Everett.”
I huff out a relieved breath. “And because of that, I’m quitting IES. I’ll stay around and help Graham however he needs me, of course, but I’m going to step down as CFO.”
Adrianne frowns. “Please tell me you’re not quitting because you don’t want to feel those strong feelings.”
“Oh, no.” I shake my head. “Actually…the opposite. I’m starting my own consulting business.
I’ve already got clients lined up. My last day with the company will be—” I blow out a breath and shove a hand through my hair, then realize that I have plastic gloves on, and they are covered with frosting.
I now have black frosting streaked through my hair, no doubt.
I grimace and say, “As soon as I tell Graham. I was planning to tell him on this trip before I go back to Denver.”
Adrianne takes a moment to take all of that in, then she nods, “Okay.”
I look at her, suddenly needing to hear her reassurance. This is Graham’s mother. She knows and loves him. If she tells me this is going to be okay, I can believe it.
“Do you think so? That it will be okay? That Graham will be okay?”
“Of course. But I don’t think that you should leave IES because of Ginny.”
“It’s what will make her most comfortable.”
Adrianne nods. “I appreciate that, and that might be what she thinks. We should all respect that. And I very much appreciate that you are respecting that. But I think that you should leave IES because that’s what you need.
” She steps closer and reaches out to put her hand on my forearm.
“You need to do something for yourself, Everett. You need a chance to see what it’s like to do something that’s totally for yourself.
Not because you’re trying to avoid your parents or because you’re trying to stay close to Graham. ”
My chest squeezes. “Because of Graham, I’ve gotten close to all of you. I don’t want to lose that. Not working with him every day will change things.”
Adrianne gives me a soft smile. “Yes, things will change. But you’ll always have Graham, Everett.
I suspect the changes that will come from severing your business partnership will be even better.
You’ll see that you can have relationships, true friendships, people who love you purely just because they love you.
It will have nothing to do with a work relationship.
It will be just because of who you are. You and Graham will stay close.
Maybe even get closer. And you and Ginny will have a relationship that is purely about the two of you, with no worries about any other complications.
You’ll be able to get to know Carver and Mason and Lauren simply as Graham and Ginny’s family.
You’ll have personal relationships. I really want that for you. I think this is great.”
My chest is so tight, I’m having a hard time taking a deep breath. All of that sounds so tempting. And a little scary. I’ve not done a lot of that. Or maybe any of that.
“Thank you, Adrianne,” I say, my voice a little rough.
She squeezes my arm. “Of course. And I’m so glad that I’m going to get to see you so often.”
“So often?”
“Oh yes.” She laughs. “If you think you’re going to live anywhere but Sapphire Falls, I think you need to reconsider telling my daughter you’re in love with her.”
Live in Sapphire Falls… My chest tightness is now not because of any kind of trepidation, but a mix of excitement and eagerness to see the woman I love.
“I guess that means that I can practice cookie decorating until I get really good at it,” I say.
She eyes my very realistic housefly cookie and slowly nods. “Yes, I guess it does.”
I laugh.
“And there is one business relationship I’m going to continue with your family,” I tell her.
“There is?”
“We are definitely going to talk about this mail-order option for the bakery.”
She grins. “But you’re going to be right here. You don’t need to order things by mail.”
“No, but my new company is business consulting. And it is my professional opinion that the world needs a chance to taste your buttercream.”