Sugarcoated by Erin Nicholas

Author:Erin Nicholas [Nicholas, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: EN Fiction, Inc.

11

Zoe felt as if she’d just opened the industrial oven and had been hit by a wave of hot air. She swallowed. “I’m glad you remember it distinctly,” she said somehow. “Because if you keep talking about how great Hot Cakes is, you’re not going to have anything but a memory.”

The corner of his mouth curled. “Well, you’re right,” he finally said. “No one would compare Hot Cakes to Buttered Up.”

She narrowed her eyes. That wasn’t exactly admitting Buttered Up was better.

“And I might only have one employee,” Zoe went on. “But she knows I want to take care of her. She knows I’ll cut into our profits to make sure she has what she needs. She knows I’ll work extra if she needs time off. I really doubt the Lancasters have taken a cut in their own pay to increase the amounts in their employees’ checks or ever rolled up their sleeves and done any of the work themselves. I’d be shocked if Whitney can even turn one of their machines on.”

That actually got a frown from Aiden, but he looked more thoughtful than anything. “You’re probably right.” He straightened again. “But it’s easier to take care of one person than three hundred-some.”

Zoe shrugged. “Not if you have three hundred times the money and resources.”

Aiden didn’t say anything to that.

Zoe turned back to the cookies, feeling less defensive as he continued to seemingly think about what she’d said. “Your dad’s job was pretty stable, right?” she asked. “Healthcare and vacation time and all that?”

Aiden also faced the worktable again and picked up another cookie. “Yeah. Very. And his seniority with the company mattered to them too. Even when he started drinking hard, they gave him a lot of chances. He had an assistant and coworkers who covered for him and a boss who was sympathetic.”

Zoe swallowed hard. She remembered when Aiden’s mom had died. She’d been devastated. She had only been ten and hadn’t really realized moms could die. Not that young anyway. She remembered seeing Aiden torn up, sad, angry. She also remembered her own mother being almost manic—cooking, baking, cleaning, doing things because if she sat still she’d have to think about losing Julie. It had been an awful time all around.

Zoe also remembered the change in Aiden’s dad. Dan had always been a wonderful guy. Happy, friendly, outgoing. He’d coached the boys in baseball from peewees until they started playing on the official school team. He’d been the one to allow a trampoline in the backyard and had assured Zoe and Josie that, no matter what the boys said, they were welcome to jump on it anytime they wanted. He’d been the one to pick Zoe up and carry her home after she’d fallen out of his tree and fractured a rib.

Then Julie died, and Dan had changed overnight. He’d been sad. All the time. Quiet. He didn’t go out, didn’t want to socialize. And he’d started drinking. Zoe hadn’t really known what that meant, but

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.