Page 33 of Sweet Rivals
“What is the anticipated opening date?” Joel said.
“Less than a week,” Jared said.
That was news to me.
Joel nodded begrudgingly as if he had wanted to be unhappy with the answer but couldn’t fault Jared for getting the place up and running so quickly.
“And you have hired a consultant?” Joel asked, glancing in my direction putting emphasis on "consultant" as if it were a dirty word.
I couldn’t read his expression. It didn’t hold any of the same hostility that he reserved for his brother, but it wasn’t exactly warm and welcoming either. If I had to describe it, empty might be the best word. Somehow, that felt worse than derision. I shifted uncomfortably, wishing I could just leave and take a shower. But if they planned on discussing the bakery, then I wanted to be there. It wasn’t my bakery (yet), but I had a vested interest in the opening. So, discomfort or not, I was staying put.
“Yes. She is planning the menu and helping with the opening and advertising,” Jared said, not glancing in my direction.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he was regretting our little wager and how much power he had inadvertently conceded, at least for the time being and potentially permanently if I won. For some strange reason, it hurt my heart just a little to think that he was embarrassed of me, but I couldn’t blame him because I was embarrassed at the moment, too. For all my disdain of their corporate empire of chain restaurants, I’m sure some of it came from a place of envy. Here I was, a small-town nobody trying to hold my own with men who dominated the business. Our little family-owned, beach-themed tourist trap couldn’t hold a candle to the kind of success even one of their locations brought in.
Joel’s sigh filled the kitchen. “Jared,” he began then glanced at me. “Perhaps we can talk in private?”
“We can talk here. Whatever you have to say, Jenna can hear. She is a professional and has a job to do here. She cannot be kept in the dark.”
I blinked several times. Wow. Jared was going to bat for me? Why? Every time I thought I had him figured out, he surprised me.
Joel sighed again, and I thought he should probably win some sort of prize for the most dramatic sigh in all of Cape County. “You know we have consultants on staff.”
“They don’t know Cape Shores.”
“Jared, I wanted to discuss my email. I appreciate your pet project here, but Dad and I both think it the wrong direction for the brand.”
My eyebrows tried to climb off my forehead. So, the brother was the one who sent the email and disapproved of this venture so strongly. Maybe Joel and I had more in common than I thought. Maybe I could use this new development to my advantage. I had to work on getting on Joel’s good side. As soon as I thought it, some nagging guilt whispered in the back of my mind. None of that, I thought. This was war, and I had to use everything in my arsenal to win.
“We have already had this conversation. I am not a brand. I have no problem supporting the brand, the chains, the family, the business, but I…” he paused, glancing at me, clearly regretting allowing me to be present for such an honest and vulnerable conversation.
Since meeting Jared, I had never seen him be serious. He hid behind his humor, and I kind of felt bad that his brother was taking him to task. He was being asked to lay himself bare in order to defend himself. I sighed and headed for the door. As much as I wanted to understand Jared’s motivations, I also didn’t want to be where I wasn’t welcome.
They started talking again as soon as I stepped out of the room. “I’d like to do something on my own,” Jared finished, but I didn’t think it was what he had originally intended to say.
“Then what’s with the girl?”
I paused then. I know. I didn’t want to eavesdrop, but they were talking about me, after all.
“Nothing is with the girl. She’s just some local that might help bring good feelings and ease the opening,” Jared said.
I winced, the words like a knife. It was stupid. I viewed Jared as my enemy since the moment we met. I was actively (although ineptly) trying to bring him down. I had no right at all to have hurt feelings. But I did anyway. It sounded very much like he was using me for good PR.
The conversation continued as I stood frozen, trying to process it. New Jenna, Jenna who won the bakery contents and didn’t take shit from anyone, would turn around and tell both of those rich assholes off. But new Jenna was still a fantasy, living only in my imagination. Real Jenna was a goddamn coward who let her feelings get hurt by some jerk she wanted to run out of town.
“Jenna?” It was Jared’s voice. “I thought you left.”
He sounded flustered. I don’t know if it was because of me or his brother. I didn’t care.
“I was about to, then I heard you talking about me. Thought it might be important for me to hear,” I snarled, my cheeks burning red even though I wasn’t the one who should feel embarrassed. But overactive blood vessels in my cheeks were just my lot in life.
“That wasn’t meant for you,” he said sternly.
I closed the distance between us, so I could whisper without Joel hearing. “You’ve been using me this whole time. Did you ever intent to fulfill your end of the deal?”
“Yes, of course,” he said. He may have been lying. I didn’t know Jared well enough to pick up on his tells. But I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t walking away.
“Good. Then I will bring you down.”