You Belong With Me (Book 1 in The Love and Dessert Trilogy)
You Belong With Me
Book 1 in the Love and Dessert Trilogy
By
Shannon Guymon
To my incredible, amazing and beautiful children.
As always, this book is for you.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1- Changing Luck
Chapter 2 – Possibilities
Chapter 3 – A New Life
Chapter 4 – The Offer
Chapter 5 – Treats
Chapter 6 – Wolves
Chapter 7 – Tears
Chapter 8 - Michael
Chapter 9 – Disturbance
Chapter 10 - Romance
Chapter 11 – Blindsided
Chapter 12 – Locked Away
Chapter 13 – Men trouble
Chapter 14 – Dancing Around
Chapter 15 – Ready or Not
Chapter 16 – The Parade
Chapter 17 – Sabotage
Chapter 18 – Snagged
Chapter 19 - Fallen
Chapter 20 – Landon
Chapter 21 – Lies and Lawyers
Chapter 22 – Surprises
Chapter 23 – Space
Chapter 24 – Good Things
Available Now Book 2 in the Love and Dessert Trilogy, I Belong With You
Sneak Peek At Chapter 1 in I Belong With You
Acknowledgments
Biography
Prologue
Belinda shut the door on her lawyer and turned to stare at the love of her life, her bakery. She would be dead within two months. She knew it. She accepted it and she’d made peace with it. Breast cancer had finally beaten her when nothing else could. Not her cold and harsh husband, not the son who broke her heart. Not even loneliness. Life had hurt her, but it hadn’t beaten her. Every time life had thrown a new punch her way, she’d just turned around and poured all of her love and soul into her bakery. But there was no ducking this punch. Cancer was the enemy that would never stop, never take a break and never give up. And it was just about time to throw in the towel.
Belinda wandered over to the now empty glass cases and thought of all the beautiful pastries and cupcakes and bread she had made throughout the years. She leaned tiredly against the case and rested her chin on her hands. Cancer might have beaten her, but she wasn’t giving up yet. The chemo and radiation hadn’t been able to help, but there was still some living to do. She’d live on through her granddaughters. If they took her gift. Changing her will to make her granddaughters her beneficiaries was her grand finale.
The girl’s mother hadn’t wanted her bad influence on the girls. Her reason being, it must be her fault her son had turned out so bad. Belinda felt the sore spot in her heart ache every time she thought of her son. He’d made his choices. All of them bad. But he had three beautiful daughters and they were amazing, smart and talented and those girls were the best part of her son. So she would make things right. It was time to bring those girls home.
She looked at her reflection in the glass and closed her eyes against the haunting sight. Gone was her beauty, her youth and her health. What was left was a pale, thin and used up shell. The only thing she had left to give the world was her legacy. But her granddaughters had a choice. They could always sell and take the money and run. But she prayed they wouldn’t.
That weasel, Alex Foster had been pestering her daily now to sell the bakery to him. Not while she still had breath in her body. She turned slowly and walked toward the stairs leading to her bedroom. She’d be going into hospice pretty soon and she’d have the decorator she’d hired come in and redo everything. She wanted the girls to walk through this house and feel like this was the one place in the world they belonged. She desperately wanted to give them the one thing her son couldn’t or wouldn’t. Stability. Happiness. Belonging. What everybody wanted really. She paused and looked over her shoulder one more time before turning the light off.
And love. She hadn’t had much of that herself to be honest. Not from her husband and not from her son. She’d closed herself off she supposed and that’s why she hadn’t fought to have a relationship with her granddaughters the way she should have. Sometimes it was just easier not to try than to put yourself out there and get kicked for your troubles. No, she’d messed up. But it wasn’t too late to fix it. If her granddaughters accepted her gift, if they came and gave it their all, they could have everything they’d always wanted. Stability, happiness and belonging.
But the love? That would be up to them.
Chapter 1- Changing Luck
Layla stared at the letter in her hand and blinked a few times in surprise. Good things didn’t happen to her. Her life had been an uphill battle from day one. The Grandmother she hadn’t seen in years had left her, along with her two sisters, ownership of a bakery in her will. Their grandmother had been buried for two weeks before they’d even been notified of her death.
Layla closed her eyes for a moment and thought of the strong, solitary woman who had chosen to suffer through breast cancer alone. She hoped Belinda hadn’t been by herself in the end. She hated to think of her grandmother not having anyone to hold her hand as she left this world.
She turned around and stared at all of the boxes littering her small apartment in Seattle and sat down on the floor, ignoring her Bassett hound Bubba as he made himself at home on her lap. She read the letter again, still not really believing it. Her life had just changed on a dime.
Layla had just given up the lease on her apartment, deciding to take a job working for an adoption agency in California. She gently pushed the large, stubborn dog off her lap and stood up. She needed some air and she needed to talk to her sisters, Jane and Kit, the other new owners of Belinda’s Bakery. She grabbed Bubba’s leash and grinned as he howled in delight. She snapped on the leash, grabbed her pepper spray and keys and headed out the door, locking up automatically.
Life in Seattle could be dangerous at times as she knew all too well. Being a social worker for the State of Washington for the last four years had taught her that the world was no place for the weak and unprotected.
Layla ran lightly down the stairs and headed down 1st Ave to Pike Place Market. She ignored the market crowd and headed toward the pier. For a major decision like this, she needed the ocean. She needed the smell and the sound like she needed her heart to beat. Fifteen minutes later, she was leaning against the old, white washed wood railing and staring at the water. She just needed a few more minutes before she called Kit and Jane.
She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and listened to the instantaneous sounds of Kelly Clarkson’s What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. She knew it would be Kit before she even glanced at the screen. Layla looked down and smiled in surprise. She’d been wrong. It was Jane, her youngest sister.
“Hey sweetie. Are you reading the same letter I am?” Layla asked, with a wry grin as she watched tourists throw French fries up to the Sea gulls.
“Layla, can you believe it? I am so excited I could die! This is the answer to my prayers. When can you move down to Fircrest? I’m heading down tonight, I am so excited,” she said again, squealing in happiness.
Layla massaged her forehead and grinned at Bubba as he let out a large belching sound. “Jane, I thought you were taking that job with Jensen’s Accounting. Are you really sure you want to give up a dependable pay check and good career to run a bakery with your sisters? Because I’m not sure that I do,” she asked, sounding just as skeptical as she felt.
Jane paused on the line before answering. “Layla, I told you I was having doubts about going into business. I got my de
gree because it was the sensible thing to do, but the thought of sitting behind a desk all day every day, staring at numbers is kind of giving me the willies. I was going to take the job, but now I don’t have to,” she said, the relief in her voice undeniable.
Layla smiled and shook her head. “Well then, to answer your question, yes. I think I will head down to check it out. I have a job offer in California working for the adoption agency I was telling you about but regardless, we need to see what this is all about. We need to get down there, and either decide if we want to try running it ourselves, or talk to a realtor about selling the place.”
Jane’s gasp of distress had Layla wincing. “Layla, are you kidding me? Grandma Belinda left us her bakery. How can you even talk about selling it? We’ll finally get to be together, working together and hanging out like we used to. It’ll be fun. Now stop worrying and get your butt down to Fircrest. Pronto.”
Layla groaned and leaned her head in her hand as she leaned against the wooden pier. “Jane, this isn’t a fairy tale. This will be a lot of hard work. It won’t be slumber parties and cookies. Besides, we don’t know anything about our Grandmother’s finances. What if she had a lot of debt? We might have to sell the building to pay those off. We really don’t know what we’re dealing with yet. And until we do, we shouldn’t get our hopes up, okay?” she said in a soothing tone of voice.
Jane snorted rudely in the phone. “Put Ms. Kendall the social worker away for a few minutes and enjoy this with me! We just inherited a bakery! See you tomorrow morning,” she said and hung up.
Layla grimaced and stuck her phone back in her pocket. “Crap,” she muttered to herself, but felt her heart lighten at the thought of seeing Jane again. Jane had been in school for the last four years, earning a degree in business with a minor in accounting. Between her two sisters, she’d always had a soft spot for Jane. Jane had been the shy book worm with a romantic streak a mile wide. Layla had always looked out for her since their mom had constantly been working to support them. Kit on the other hand had always been the independent one. Layla loved her like crazy, but had never felt needed.
Layla felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and Kelly Clarkson’s voice yet again. This time she knew it had to be Kit. Kit was the least romantic person she knew. She might look like every man’s dream of romance, but inside was a cynical and pragmatic heart.
“Hey Kit,” Layla said as she gave up on the pier and started walking down the sidewalk. Bubba needed the exercise and she wasn’t going to find any peace talking to her least peaceful sister.
“How much can we get for the property do you think?” she asked immediately.
Layla felt a head ache sneak up the back of her head and winced. “We’ll have to go down to Fircrest and get it appraised. As of right now, I have no idea.”
Kit sighed and popped her gum in the phone making Layla grind her teeth. “What’s Jane say about it?”
Layla smiled a little as she ignored the appreciative stare of a business man walking past. “She’s already packed up and moving down tonight. She’s picturing the three of us working in the bakery together Kit. She’s um . . . , pretty excited.”
Kit paused in her gum popping before talking. “Seriously? She thinks we can make a go of it?”
Layla blinked in surprise as she heard speculation in Kit’s voice. “Well, yeah. She does. She’s a business major, so of course she thinks she can run anything. You know Jane though. She’s a little romantic and naïve.”
Kit laughed. “Well, someone needs to believe in happy endings in this family. Heaven knows, that’s not you or me.”
Layla closed her eyes in pain and breathed in deeply. “I used to. I used to think I could give every abused child the happy ending they deserved. After I realized no matter how hard I tried, I would end up failing most of the time, part of me just died. I don’t even know if I’m alive anymore,” she said, being brutally honest to the one person who wouldn’t judge her or expect more than she could give.
Kit sighed, “Sorry sis. That came out wrong. Look, you need a break from real life. I need a break from my life. Why don’t we hop on Jane’s little fairy tale for a while? We could give it a try, hang out together and then when it fails, we can sell the sucker, have a vacation in Hawaii and then get back to the big bad world, because heaven knows, it’s always there waiting for us,” she said dryly.
Layla frowned and walked over to a bench overlooking the water. It sounded so good. The last year had been so brutal on her soul that hanging out with her sisters even for a little while sounded like heaven. She had wanted to work with adoptive families and babies in the hopes of getting her head on straight but maybe being around her sisters and baking cakes and cookies would give her the solace she was searching for.
“I guess we could try,” she said softly as the wind whipped off the Puget Sound and ran its cool fingers through Layla’s long, straight, blond hair.
Kit laughed bitterly. “Why not, right? It’s not like I have anything else to do.”
Layla frowned and blinked as what Kit was saying sank in. “Wait, what do you mean you don’t have anything to do? You were going to have a showing next month. You told me Jake was getting ready to propose. He’s not going to like you ditching him for a little bakery in Fircrest,” she said suspiciously.
Kit sighed unhappily. “Layla, there isn’t going to be a showing anymore and the engagement was never going to happen. I guess it was kind of all in my imagination. Jake decided to schedule a showing for a beautiful sculptor named Jasmine instead. They’re really cute together. At least they were two nights ago when I walked into Ralph’s and saw them at the bar making out in front of the whole world. It’s like he wanted to get caught,” she said tightly.
Layla covered her mouth in shock. “Oh Kit, what did you do?” she whispered already wincing at what she might be getting ready to hear.
Kit snorted. “What do you think I did? I walked up to the bar and threw his drink in his face and then I threw her drink in her face and walked out. I’m packing up my stuff as we speak. This letter came at a pretty good time for me Layla. It’s like it was meant to be. I honestly, have nowhere else to go,” she said quietly.
Layla sighed and closed her eyes. Her sisters needed this. She needed this. “Okay then. Let’s do it Kit. Looks like you, me and Jane are going into business,” she said hesitantly.
The loud whooping sound over the phone had Layla holding her cell away from her ear as she smiled. She hung up a moment later and started walking back to her apartment. She looked up at the blue sky and grinned. “What do you think Mom? Are we going to get a happily ever after or is this going to be a Stephen King Horror story?” she asked out loud.
Layla had fallen into the habit of talking to the clouds whenever she needed to talk to her mom. Lori Kendall had died two years ago in a car accident driving down a slick canyon road. She’d lived for three days before succumbing to her injuries. Because of her mom’s head injuries, she never got the chance to say goodbye. Her sisters were the only family she had now.
She smiled as a warm breeze caressed her cheek and walked up the stairs to her apartment. Looked like her mom was all for it. She locked up behind her and unhooked Bubba’s leash walking automatically to the kitchen to grab him a treat. She needed to make a call to California. She was moving to Fircrest tomorrow.
Chapter 2 – Possibilities
Layla made the drive in the U-Haul in just over an hour and a half. Fircrest was on the outskirts of Tacoma and close to the Puget Sound. At least she wouldn’t be too far from the water, she thought trying to be positive. Living in Seattle meant that there was always a good restaurant within walking distance, at least three decent bands playing on any given night and interesting people and conversation any time she craved the company of people. Fircrest on the other hand . . . Hmmm, quieter for sure. Not that she’d been craving company or conversation lately.
Layla pulled up to the 1915 Georgian Revival Brick Home and smiled
at the simplicity of the lines along with the attention to detail. The porches and decks surrounding the home gave it an understated elegance. Surrounding the bakery were countless flower beds filled with gladiolas and hostas and of course the mandatory fir trees. The first thing that caught her eye was the large sign in front, Belinda’s Bakery. She felt a lightening of her heart and so she took a moment to sit and look. The bakery took up the entire bottom floor and the second story would be their home. She and her sisters had grown up in apartments her whole life. She’d never actually lived in a house. This would be new.
Grandma Belinda had turned the house into a bakery after her husband Daniel had died. It had been her life’s dream and from snippets of conversations she’d overheard from her mother, she’d enjoyed every second of it. Their mother had resented Belinda’s success. Layla assumed it was because their grandmother had spent so much time and effort on the bakery that there hadn’t been any time to develop relationships with her granddaughters. Layla could only remember meeting Belinda a few times. Her business had been her passion. People? Not so much.
Layla couldn’t fault her. It was the lucky ones in life who found their passion. It was the people who endured life doing and being things they hated that brought so much misery to the world. Layla gave up and opened the door to the U-Haul and helped Bubba down so he didn’t do a nose-dive into the pavement. He howled appreciatively before he walked over to the nearest tree and relieved himself. She glanced at her silver Nissan Maxima she had hitched behind the truck and wondered what it would be like to have had a husband, boyfriend, brother or even father to help her pack up and drive.
She ran a hand through her hair and smiled wryly before running lightly up the steps to the front door of the bakery. Their father had run out on them shortly before Jane was born and she’d given up on finding prince charming a couple years ago after a painful break up. She was still young at 27 but too old in other ways. What she had seen of men in her years as a social worker hadn’t convinced her that she was missing out on anything. There had been too many battered women and children. Too many heavy fists and not enough kindness.