A Recipe for Reunion. Vicki Essex
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Second time’s the charm!
Nothing about working with his former high school crush, Stephanie Stephens, is ideal. Still, if Aaron Caruthers intends to save his grandmother’s bakery, he must. Good thing he has a lot of ideas he can’t wait to implement. He never imagines Stephanie would have her own ideas for the business. Or that they would clash with his!
It doesn’t take working with her long for Aaron to realize his impression of Stephanie as a helpless ex-cheerleader is way off. And the more of her kindness and strength he sees, the more attracted he is! Now to convince her…
It was freezing out here.
Maybe Aaron had trapped Stephanie on the porch deliberately so that she’d agree to his terms quickly. “What’s your grandmother’s stake in the business?”
“She owns the whole shebang. I’m basically acting as her business manager.”
“So only she can fire me.”
Aaron opened his mouth to form an objection, but then closed it. “Yes. She’s our boss.”
It must’ve killed him not to have seniority over her. If anything, she should have seniority over him.
“All right,” she said, holding out her hand. “Consider me your new assistant manager.”
Relief flooded Aaron’s stormy eyes. As he squeezed and pumped her hand, a pulse of something thick and hot blew through her.
Oh, no. Hell, no. She was not attracted to Aaron Caruthers. They weren’t just out of each other’s leagues; they were playing different sports.
Welcome back to Everville, New York, the town where my second book, Back to the Good Fortune Diner (Mills & Boon Superromance, January 2013), was set. I’ve gone back in time to a few months before Tiffany arrived to tell the story of how the county’s best roadside bakeshop became the very popular Georgette’s Bakery and Books.
Everville’s motto is The Town That Endures. To me, enduring means accepting change. As the wife of a civics nut, I enjoy learning about what makes communities work. As the town evolves, so, too, do the lives of Aaron Caruthers and Stephanie Stephens—the bookworm and the cheerleader who never thought they could be a match.
I love to hear from readers! Visit me on Facebook, Twitter (@VickiEssex) and my website, vickiessex.com, and watch out for more stories from Everville!
Happy reading!
Vicki Essex
A Recipe for Reunion
Vicki Essex
VICKI ESSEX likes eating baked goods, but isn’t great at baking them. She loves books, and isn’t a bad hand at writing them. To be showered with cookies, say hello to her at vickiessex.com, find her on facebook.com/vickiessexauthor and follow her on Twitter: @VickiEssex.
I’d like to thank my agent, Courtney Miller-Callihan, for being awesomely supportive and for really grokking me. *cookies*
Thanks to my editor, Karen Reid, whose insights are always, always helpful.
And as always, thank you to my darling, brilliant husband, John, whose magnificent brain inspired Aaron’s eclectic tastes and polymathic genius. I couldn’t do this without you, magoo.
Contents
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Two months ago...
NO ONE WAS eating her goodies.
Stephanie racked her brain trying to figure out why. She’d baked all the treats herself, tailoring each recipe to meet her friends’ varied preferences and dietary restrictions: gluten-free chocolate cupcakes and dairy-free carrot muffins; nut-free cookies, a plate of soy-free bite-size brownies and three different pies because Lilian didn’t like lemon meringue, Susan loathed pecan and Karen thought apple was “boring.”
The last time she’d seen all her high school girlfriends together had been Christmas four years ago. Yet, instead of being excited, a weird sense of disappointment had dogged her all evening. While everyone else was busy chatting, talking over each other like a gaggle of geese, she got the feeling that if she waded into the fray, she’d be nibbled and pecked to death.
But she had volunteered to host this holiday shindig, so she couldn’t hide behind the food forever. Steph brightened her smile and picked up a plate of sugar cookies, painstakingly frosted in B. H. Everett High’s blue and gold. Brandishing the treats and armed with good cheer, she circulated. She might not be the best convocation...conservation...talker, but