Read Online Keeping Her Love by Tiger Hill - Free Book Online Page B

Tula and I have been so good this whole time, though. We haven’t actually done anything wrong. At least, nothing sexual. Not that there’s anything wrong with sex.
    Rhett sighed again as he ran all of this through his head.
    I don’t know. I honestly don’t want to think about it. I want it all to blow over. No more bad things. I’m making giant assumptions about Tula’s family, and that’s totally unfair. Max kind of acts aloof around everyone, but for the most part he’s never around. Tula’s mom has been super kind to me, and has gone out of her way to help us find a place for the ceremony and reception. And Tula’s dad… He makes small talk with me and is generally a nice guy. I can’t go mentally pointing fingers at people. It’s not fair.  

Chapter 4
    From February on to April, not much of importance occurred. But then again, Tula and Rhett were so busy with their lives that they didn’t see much of each other. Someone had up and quit at the garage, causing Rhett to pick up more than a few double shifts. Karma’s Bakery had been given a spotlight in a big-name magazine, meaning that the little joint was often in high demand. Subsequently, Tula was often asked to come in early and leave late to handle the recent demand. When Karma passingly mentioned something about opening a second shop and putting Tula in charge of it, she was put in a crossroads of sorts.
    She entered Rhett’s room as soon as he had gotten home after an exhausting day at work. They both had grey patches under their eyes and walked like zombies, but still enjoyed being in the presence of one another.
    “What should I do?” She asked him, some marzipan stuck to her hair. “This could be really great for me—more responsibility and a pay raise. But I’m afraid that I’ll be so caught up with Karma’s business that I won’t have time to start my own.”
    Rhett shrugged, sitting back in his leather computer chair as he faced her. “It’s something you have to figure out for yourself. Karma’s Bakery is the way it is, for the most part, because of you. It would be more of a risk to open your own place, but it would be all yours. If you want to remain a manager for Karma, you’ll be able to go home every night without having to worry about everything.”
    “I already do worry about everything,” she said with a sigh as she sat down on the firm, plain bed. “I don’t know how I’m going to do this. Managing gives me good experience, but I don’t want to get too worn out working at that place. Karma is a great guy, but he already asks a lot of me. And I still haven’t told him that I want to open my own place. I don’t even know how I could tell him at this point. I feel like it’d break his heart to hear it.”
    Rhett couldn’t much argue with that. Putting himself in Karma’s place, there wasn’t much else he could feel about a worker wanting to leave the roost and go into open competition. “Business is business, Tula. You can’t let emotions get in the way. If something were to happen to the bakery, he would let you go in an instant. And anyway, if he can’t be happy for your success, he wouldn’t be a very good friend, would he?”
    Her lower lip pouted a little and she gazed down at the grey comforter. “I don’t know how I could get through this. I feel like I’m getting in deeper and deeper with him. Once I leave, he’s going to have a hard time keeping everything up to the standard that I had. No one at the bakery has the skill I do. And then he’s going to have to worry about all of his customers potentially coming to my shop instead of his.”
    “Karma will be okay. He’s no dummy. I mean, he was smart enough to hire you.”
    Tula sent him a compromising smile.  
    “You’re not planning on opening your own bakery for a year from now, right? And we don’t even know where we want to start our life together. Stop worrying so much. Do what you have to do to make your own life happy. You don’t