Your Love Came Late, I Chose Another novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Monday

"Belong to Kearney," I said.

"You developed them on Kearney time. In Kearney kitchens. With Kearney butter." He jingled his keys. "The packaging is printed. Brandon Kearney Signature Bakes."

"Brandon can't make toast."

"Brandon is the face of the company." He looked at my dress, my bouquet, the man coming up the gravel behind me. "You were going to be family. Now you're an employee. Be at work Monday and we'll talk about your future."

"My grandmother taught me that coconut cake when I was eight years old."

"Then your grandmother should have filed a patent."

He got in his car and drove away over the gravel.

Ronan stopped beside me.

"You okay?"

"No."

"Want me to throw something at his car?"

"Yes," I said. "But don't."

He put his jacket around my shoulders anyway, though it wasn't cold.

Monday morning I walked into the Kearney flagship on Broad Street at six-thirty, the way I had every weekday for five years.

I wasn't in my whites.

I was in jeans and the T-shirt from my culinary school graduation, the one with a whisk on it.

The morning crew was loading the dessert case.

Fourteen people behind that counter, and every one of them stopped moving when I came in.

One of the baristas mouthed, "Oh my God."

The case was full of my work.

Benne cookies in neat rows, brown-butter dark at the edges.

Peach hand pies with the burnt-honey glaze still setting.

Three coconut cakes on glass stands, seven layers each.

The general manager came out of the back office with a coffee and a nervous smile.

"Noelle. Hey. Mr. Kearney said you might want to talk about a new role."

"I quit," I said.

"Okay. Do you want to put that in an email?"

"No. I want to say it in front of everybody I trained."

I looked around the room.

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