You Belong With Me

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 1
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 degree 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.”