“Do you want to try some one-on-one time with him?” she asked. “You could take him to the aquarium.”

Matt sat up. “Am I ready for that?”

“Probably not, but you’re only going to get ready by doing it. The aquarium gives you something to talk about. He’s small, he won’t last long before getting tired. You’ll spend more time driving there and back than actually looking at the fish.” She frowned. “I guess you’ll have to borrow my car, or your mom’s.” She smiled. “Hers is newer and probably less embarrassing for you.”

He shook his head. “I’ll buy something. What’s the safest car out there? A Volvo? I’ll do some research online.”

Now she sat up. “Matt, you don’t have to buy a car to take Gabe out. That’s crazy.”

“Why? He’s my son. I’ll be seeing more of him. I need a safe car. I’ll get one this week.”

Of course he would. Because for him, buying a new car was as much an expense as her picking up a pack of gum.

She slid back down in the bed and sighed. Everything was different. On the surface it all looked familiar, but that was an illusion. They’d all changed and pretending otherwise didn’t alter reality.

She’d had a baby with Matt, had just made love with him and still she didn’t know him. Didn’t know what he was thinking, what he wanted, what he needed, what made him laugh, what he resented. He was a stranger with a familiar face, nothing more. No matter what her heart kept telling her, she had to remember that.

“Jesse?”

“Hmm?” She turned toward him.

He rolled toward her and kissed her. A slow kiss that reminded her of how it used to be. A kiss that made her wonder and maybe even hope.

“Get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll wake you in a couple of hours.”

And then he was gone, leaving her alone in his bed.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“CHECK THE OVENS,” JESSE called Monday morning as she carried in a stack of boxes and set them in the rear of the kitchen they’d rented. It was smaller than they were used to, but only a short-term solution. A restaurant had closed and the owner was renting to them until a new tenant was found, but for now, it was enough.

Sid opened the top oven door and checked the temperature. “We’re on,” he said. “Four hundred.”

“Great.” Ovens that worked were the most important thing.

“Where do you want these?” Jasper asked, carrying in two laptop boxes.

“Out front,” Jesse said. “We’ll take orders and do shipping in the front of the restaurant.” Why not? They didn’t need the tables and chairs for anything else. It would give them the space to spread out and keep the kitchen clear for baking. “Are the phones working?”

Jasper picked up the receiver. “We have a dial tone,” he yelled.

“The phone company said they’d be forwarding calls by nine.” Jesse glanced at her watch. It was eight-thirty. “Call the old number and see if the referral is working yet.”

Jasper began to dial.

Jesse moved around the rented kitchen, energized by the work and the possibilities. Once the rest of their supplies were inventoried, they could start baking. Brownies would go out that day. Tomorrow, someone on the other side of the country would taste one of her brownies and his or her life would change forever. At least that was the plan.

“Controlled chaos,” Nicole said as she leaned against the counter and looked around.

Jesse nodded, not sure what to say. So far her sister hadn’t talked very much. She seemed to be staying out of the setup. Was that because she was giving Jesse a chance to prove herself or was this more about being pissed off? Jesse wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“We had our delivery this morning,” Jesse told her. “I did a preliminary check and everything seems to be here. You saw the shipping supplies. We have our first pickup this afternoon.”

Nicole frowned. “What are you talking about? What pickup?”

“For our orders.”

“How can we have orders?”

Jesse didn’t understand the question. “I told you the Web site went up yesterday.”

“I know that, but we already have orders? Is that possible?”

Jesse laughed. “It’s beyond possible. Come on. I’ll show you.”

She led the way to the front of the restaurant to where D.C. had opened the boxes and was setting up the two laptops they’d already bought. Jesse walked over to her computer, sat down and typed in the Web address.

“The site went up yesterday. Normally it would take a while for people to find us, but with the publicity about the fire, we’ve had more activity than expected.”

The site loaded quickly, a clean, appealing page featuring enticing pictures of the brownies and the famous Keyes chocolate cake. She scrolled down to a small icon in the bottom corner, clicked on it, then typed in the user name and password. The page changed to columns of numbers.

“Here’s the latest info on hits,” she said as she pointed. “We’re getting—” She stopped and blinked. “That can’t be right.”

“What?” Nicole peered over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“This says we’re getting over a thousand hits an hour. That’s not possible.”

“Sure it is,” Sid told her. “Didn’t you watch the news last night?”

“I was too busy debugging the site. Were we on it?”

“Yeah. A great story about how Keyes Bakery had been in business for years and burned down unexpectedly. And how we’re using technology to stay in business. You looked good, Nicole.”

Jesse stared at her sister who straightened, looking uncomfortable. “You were interviewed by the local news and didn’t tell me?”

“They were covering the fire. I was in shock. I barely remember what I said.”

“You told them about going online and how you wanted to keep your employees working until you could rebuild,” Sid told her. “That there were many business models these days and you were going to take advantage of what the computer age offered.”

Jesse felt as if she’d been hit in the stomach. What was going on? Her sister could get all excited about what they were doing away from her while being difficult and uncooperative in person?

“It was a good story,” Sid repeated. “Maybe it got picked up by some other local stations. You know they’re always looking to fill time, especially on the weekends. That could explain the hits.”

Something had to, Jesse thought. She clicked on the order page and gasped. “We have one hundred and twenty orders.”

Nicole stared at the screen. “That’s not possible.”

“Apparently it is.” She scrolled through the list. “Mostly brownies, which is good. They’re faster to make. There are a few cakes, though. We’ll have to sort through the orders and figure out what we’re baking first. Our overnight delivery pickup is at five-thirty. We’ve got to get as many of these orders out today as possible.” She looked at Nicole. “We’re going to need more help.”

“I’ll call Hawk. Maybe some of his players or their friends want a temporary job.”

Temporary meaning they would be replaced by full-time workers, or temporary meaning this wasn’t going to last?

Jesse decided not to ask. She had enough going on without fighting with her sister right now. They had the illusion of getting along and she didn’t want to disturb that.

“I’ll get the inventory finished so we can get baking. We have orders to fill.”

The sisters went in different directions. As Jesse counted large bottles of vanilla and bins of walnuts, she found her mind straying toward Matt and what had happened a few days ago…after the fire. Except she didn’t want to think about him, either. It was too confusing.

She glanced at the computer. The order count was increasing by the hour. Adrenaline kicked in. At last a crisis she could get behind.

MATT HOVERED AWKWARDLY as Gabe climbed out of his car seat. His new BMW 5 Series had state-of-the-art safety, including curtain air bags. Still, he’d driven to the aquarium slowly and carefully, never once going over the speed limit. If this had been anywhere other than Seattle—the land of polite drivers—he would have been pushed off the road by passing cars.

“I’ll get the door,” he told the boy and slammed it shut. “I was, ah, doing some research online. There’s an area where you can touch a lot of stuff. Plants and animals.” He frowned. “I guess not animals. Marine life.” Starfish. He remembered that they would be able to touch starfish. Which were what? A kind of fish?

Gabe looked up at him as they came to a stop at a light. “Are we crossing the street?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“You gotta hold my hand.”

“Oh. Sure.”

Matt took the small hand in his own. He felt oversized and inept. What had he been thinking, wanting to spend time alone with Gabe? He didn’t know what he was doing. He hadn’t even known which car seat to buy, let alone how to put the car seat into his car. His mom had helped with that.

The light changed and they crossed the street. When they arrived at the aquarium, Matt paid for their admission, collected a map and led the way inside.

“They have different talks all day long,” he said. “I thought maybe you’d like the octopus one.”

Gabe’s eyes brightened. “Yeah. That’s good.”

Matt pointed to the map. “What else interests you?”

Gabe glanced at the open paper, then back at Matt. The light faded from his eyes. “I can’t read, Dad.”

Matt swore silently. “Sorry,” he muttered, feeling like an ass. “Let’s walk around and see what’s fun.”

Gabe sighed heavily as he followed at his side.

It shouldn’t be like this, Matt thought, more frustrated by the second. The was his kid. They should be able to spend a couple of hours together without bumping into each other on the curves.

Not knowing what else to do, Matt followed the signs to the Underwater Dome. They walked in through a tunnel that opened up into an area in the middle of a massive aquarium. They were surrounded by water and fish. Gabe pointed and ran over to the glass.

“Look! Look!”

He raced from side to side, unable to take it all in. Matt watched him and relaxed a little. Maybe everything was going to be okay.

They spent a long time in the Underwater Dome. At one point, Matt saw a couple of boys eyeing Gabe. They were older, bigger and each had a squirt gun in their hands. He strolled over, came up behind them and put a hand on their shoulders.

“Don’t even think about it,” he told them.

They looked up, swallowed, then took off.

“Want some ice cream?” he asked his son.

Gabe nodded.

They got ice cream and soda, then went to the octopus talk. Gabe listened attentively for about fifteen minutes as he licked his cone and got ice cream all over himself, then he started squirming. Matt led him out and was about to ask where they should go next when Gabe stumbled, clutched his stomach and promptly vomited all over the cement floor.

A woman in an aquarium uniform stopped next to him. “Poor kid. Too much ice cream, huh? The bathroom is over there. I’ll call for a cleanup.”

Gabe stood there, looking miserable. Matt didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t thrown up since a long night of drinking in college, but he remembered it wasn’t fun.

“Come on,” he said and ushered the boy into the bathroom. “You done?” he asked. “You need to throw up again?”

Gabe shook his head. Matt grabbed paper towels, dampened them and began wiping Gabe’s face. He didn’t know what to say. The ice cream had been kind of large. Matt hadn’t finished his, but Gabe had gotten the whole thing down…except the part that had melted on him. And the soda. That had been a mistake.