“Just some things I wanted you all to try, then tell me what you think.” They all shot me a questioning look, but no one said anything. Jocelyn sat napkins down beside the containers and cut the items into several pieces so they could all try each of them. They grabbed them up. They filled the next few minutes with moans and remarks on how wonderful everything was. They each tried all five of the items like I had. When they were done, they looked at me.
“Where in the hell did you find this? Is this yours, Jocelyn?” Rebel asked. He was our resident sweet tooth. She shook her head no. “Then where?”
“Those were made by the woman Jocelyn recommended we hire to run the bakery. I wanted you all to taste what she is capable of.”
“Did you hire her?” Demon asked.
“No, because she wanted to open her own catering business, not work for someone else. So, I wanted to ask you guys what you thought about giving her a percentage of ownership in the bakery? That way she is working for herself to a degree and still producing things like that for us.” They got silent.
Bear, our treasurer, asked, “How much of a percentage are we talking? We’ve never had a partner before. I’m not opposed to the idea if we all think it’ll work. She’s an excellent baker. I know we can sell her stuff, especially if everything she makes is this good.”
Jocelyn spoke up, “I’ve tried a lot more than this and it’s all on that level. She went to culinary school then apprenticed with a top baker. If she doesn’t know how to make something, I have no doubt she’ll figure it out. She cooks as good as she bakes.” This caused more muttering among the guys. I let them discuss it. I was all for us giving her a percentage. Yeah, we’d never done it before, but it hadn’t been suggested either.
Tank chimed in next. “Okay, say we do this, what percentage would we offer her? I understand wanting to give her some ownership, but we’d still want to keep the majority.” I looked at all of them.
“It has to be enough for her to consider saying yes. What do you think if we offer her twenty percent and then if she says no, we can negotiate up to thirty as our max?”
All of them sat there thinking. Bear spoke up again, “I think we’d still make a decent profit. If this is any sign of what she can do, then we will attract business and not just from our town. I can see others finding out about it and coming to have their special orders done. I’m okay with offering her a max of thirty percent.” The others, one by one, agreed.
“Good. I’ll talk to her tomorrow. In the meantime, we need to make sure we get The Dark Angel moved. Jocelyn will work with us and Madisen to see what all we need in the bakery and help with the layout. She’d know better what we need and how to best lay it out than we would.” They all nodded their agreement. With this settled, Jocelyn and I headed back to the house.
We found Devyn sitting at the counter on her laptop listening to her headset. She smiled at us. “Did you have an enjoyable ride?”
“It was great, and we think we might have found the perfect person for the bakery. We talked to Madisen,” Jocelyn told her. Devyn didn’t seem surprised about the bakery idea, so either Ace or her mom had told her about it. She got excited.
“Madisen would be perfect! She’s so good. I hope you guys get her.” They chatted a couple of minutes about Madisen while they pulled things out of the fridge and pantry for dinner. I offered to help, but they ran me off to watch television. I watched a bike show as they worked and chatted in the kitchen.
Later, after another magnificent dinner, the three of us went outside to sit on the deck in the back. They each had a glass of iced tea and I had a beer. We’d been out there for a half hour when we saw Ace coming toward us. Devyn stiffened and stood up. He called out to her, but she went back inside. His shoulders slumped, but he continued toward us. I told him to have a seat. He dropped in one and held his head.
“What am I going to do? She won’t look at me or talk to me. I’ve called, texted, and even came to the door. Nothing.” He looked up at Jocelyn. “I swear I didn’t kiss that bunny. I wasn’t paying attention to her and I know I should have. I’d never do that to Devyn. I love her, Jocelyn. I can’t lose her. Tell me what I can do. Please.” He looked like hell. He had dark rings under his eyes and his face looked drawn and pale.
She leaned forward and put her hand on his knee. “I know you didn’t and wouldn’t, Ace. She’s hurt and it will take time for her to settle down. I wish I had a magic way you could get her to talk to you, but I don’t. I think you need to stay persistent. Come by, call, and text every day. But the one thing you don’t want to do is to be around other women. If she finds out you’ve been hanging with the bunnies, even if it is innocent, she won’t forgive you. I hate to say it, but I think my relationship with her dad has made her think men aren’t trustworthy. He abandoned me as soon as he found out I was pregnant. As much as I never badmouthed her dad, she had to resent him. Just don’t give up, okay?”
He nodded. “I know how you were treated when you got pregnant. She told me. I can see how it could affect her outlook on men, but I’m not like her dad. I love her and I’ll always take care of her. She looks up to you, Jocelyn. She told me how rough you two had it as she was growing up. You worked more than one job, you ate ramen noodles so she could have most of the food and the healthiest you could afford. That she always had a place to sleep and warm clothes. No one could ask for a better mother. I think I’ll head back to the clubhouse. Thanks.” He nodded at me as he stood up and walked off. I stared at Jocelyn. She noticed.
“Why are you staring at me like that, Nick?”
I stalked over to her. “You never told me you struggled that much. I knew it couldn’t have been easy, but you starved yourself to make sure she was fed, didn’t you?” She avoided my gaze. I grasped her chin so she couldn’t look away. “Didn’t you? Tell me what jobs you did and what else you sacrificed, Jocelyn.”
“I did what I had to do, Nick. I wasn’t going to let anyone take away my daughter. So yes, I worked two jobs most of the time. I waited tables until I was old enough to be a bartender. I cleaned peoples’ houses when I wasn’t working those jobs. Sometimes, others would pay me to watch their kids. I was lucky a woman in my apartment building had little kids and she worked. We traded off watching each other’s kids so we wouldn’t have to pay a babysitter. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“The hell it’s not! You did all that and still put yourself through college. Fuck, you have no idea how special you are, but I plan to show you how much for the rest of your life. Now, if you’re done with your tea, let’s go to bed. I need to make love to my woman.” She smiled and let me help her to her feet. I took her upstairs and spent the next two hours showing her exactly how special she was and how much I loved her. God, I’d hit the lottery when I found her.