Page 32 of Secrets Bared
Maggie choked on air as she pulled out her used Chromebook. “Grace!”
“What? You don’t like dirty jokes?”
“I just… wasn’t expecting it.” She sat down, her cheeks heating up. Damn her pale complexion.
Grace snorted and lifted her phone to her ear. “I get that a lot. Hey, Tony! It’s Grace. I need a large pepperoni and sausage for delivery. Yeah, just send him around the back and have him buzz the delivery door. Thanks!”
“How much is the pizza?” Maggie asked, reaching for her purse.
“It’s my treat. Put that away.” Grace waved her off. “Let me go get my business binder and we’ll get started while we wait. He said it should be about a half hour.”
Grace’s personality switched from a budding friend into a savvy business woman. Her binder held everything Maggie needed, like hex codes and fonts, and Grace let her copy her graphics from her thumb drive onto her new-to-her computer. She insisted on Maggie looking up rates from a freelancer site and refused a discount.
“If you can get my social media accounts to take off, and for people to come in that aren’t local, this will more than pay for itself.”
Maggie supposed that was true. But it also presented a new challenge. “Have you thought about online ordering and shipping?”
Grace wrinkled her nose. “Online ordering, sure, but not shipping.”
“You could make it pick up only.”
She hummed and tapped her chin. “I’ll think about it.” Then she reached for another slice of pizza.
“What about deliveries? Do you do special orders?”
“Special orders, sure, but pick up only.”
“What about large cakes? You don’t do weddings?” Maggie thought that would be a bakery’s crowning glory.
Grace slumped. “I haven’t been able to afford a delivery van.”
“Can’t you get a business loan?”
She toyed with a string of cheese. “I’ll look into it. We don’t get a lot of big weddings around here. But you’re right, it’s something I should consider if we’re going to grow.”
After Maggie set Grace up as her first client, Grace helped her with a profile on a freelance site. She even came up with the name “Your Watson” for Maggie’s marketing business.
“It’s perfect! It’s your last name, and you’re going to be my Watson while I go Sherlock the bakery.” Grace snickered behind the hand that wasn’t holding a cookie. “Mm, Benedict Cumberbatch isso yummy.”
Maggie giggled. “I love it.” And once the divorce went through, itwouldbe her last name.
Chapter 9
Lukepeekedinonhis mom after his shower. “You all set, Mom?”
“Hmm? Yes, dear, I’m fine. You don’t have to hover.” She was sitting up in her bed with a book open on her lap, and her foot up on a pillow.
“Yell if you need anything, okay? I’m right next door.” He drummed his fingers against the door jamb.
“Come here a second and close the door.” Mom waved him in and he did as he was told. She opened the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out something that made his eyebrows rise.
“Is that…?”
She nodded. “He’s been leaving a wad of money on the counter almost every night. Luke… there’s got to be a thousand dollars here.”
He clenched his jaw and ran a hand through his hair. “I can help with the bill once it gets here, if you don’t want to take his money.”
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the help. Lord knows I would never ask, and I never charged either of you rent. But I’m worried. Where is he getting this money?” She rubbed a hand over her face. “You don’t think… my letter…”
