“I was taught to do everything I do with an eye toward being the best,” he finally said.

That wasn’t saying that it wasn’t about love. He did love the company and product that he and the guys had created together, but he knew that it was more that he loved having created it with the four men who were like brothers to him. He wasn’t sure he was quite in love with Hot Cakes or those products. Yet. Maybe it would come.

His gaze found Whitney over Didi’s shoulder.

She loved the company.

That made him want to at least like it.

And he should probably examine that more closely later.

“You undoubtedly got that from your grandmother too,” Didi said. “She always wanted to be the best.”

He nodded. He was aware that a portion of the town that was here was witnessing this conversation. That could be important. Listening to Didi Lancaster, founder of Hot Cakes, say nice things about his family could show that things were good between their families and would make everyone feel more secure about him being one of the new owners.

He and Aiden felt strongly about keeping Hot Cakes open and solid because it did matter to their hometown. It was important the factory stay here.

But, yes, Cam wanted it to be even better than it had been under the Lancasters. Not just a bigger operation but a better place to work and with better products.

“It’s too bad she was a stubborn ass,” Didi finally said. “We could have made something great together.”

Cam huffed out a surprised laugh. It wasn’t often you heard women referring to other women as asses, and certainly not older women wearing pearls.

“She was a bit hard-headed,” he finally had to agree.

Didi nodded. “The Hot Cakes cakes could have been better with her on my team.”

He lifted a brow. It was probably not a great marketing move to have the original baker and founder of the company saying that their products weren’t the best they could have been. But he couldn’t help but love that she was complimenting his grandmother in front of the town they’d split with their feud.

“You think so?” he asked.

“No question. She was always the better baker of the two of us,” she said. “But Dean had the big business ideas.” She glanced at Ollie as she referred to her late husband, the man who had made Hot Cakes the huge multistate company that it was today. “It’s wonderful to have ideas. You just need to have the goods to back it up. Otherwise it’s just a lot of hot air, and sooner or later, people catch on.”

Cam looked over at Ollie. Didi seemed intent on teaching his friend some lesson. He wondered why, exactly, but if Didi saw something in Ollie that she wanted to nurture then…what the hell?

Ollie hadn’t had a lot of nurturing. He was an only child and his parents were similarly brilliant people who were pretty detached. It had taken years for him to get truly comfortable joking around with the guys. But he was still puzzled by things like family dinners at Cam’s mom’s house once a week that also included Zoe’s two best friends and now, their significant others. The idea of big family gatherings and friends-that-turned-into-family seemed foreign to Oliver, even after a decade of being close to the four men who were his business partners.

“I’ve got the goods,” Cam said, pulling Didi’s attention back to him.

She smiled. “You sound like a typical McCaffrey.”

Fair enough. He tipped his head in acknowledgment.

“The problem there is that you’re not as open to being taught or changing,” she said.

That was also fair. The McCaffreys were well-known for being stubborn as hell. But he wondered if Didi had an underlying meaning or lesson for him as well. It wasn’t as if the McCaffreys were the only ones in the family feud. The Lancasters had been just as stubborn. Hell, it had been Didi who had taken the recipe for Butter Sticks from Letty and turned them into her own business.

“If you think there’s a way to improve this, you let me know,” he told her.

She dipped her fork into the edge of his pan of chocolate coconut bars. Her nose was already wrinkled by the time she lifted the fork. “Well, the first way to improve them is to take the coconut out.”

He laughed. “They’re chocolate coconut bars.”

“Yeah. So they already”—she looked at Ollie—“suck.”

Ollie grinned. Cam laughed.

“You’re not a fan of coconut?” he asked.

“You didn’t wonder why none of the Hot Cakes have coconut in them already?” she asked.

He sighed, pretending to be hurt. “So I’ve lost before you even taste it?”

“Yes,” she said simply. “But you still get to have dessert with me,” she added. “So that’s a win. We’re just going to have to go to your sister’s bakery for something good to eat.”

Cam was again pleasantly surprised by Didi’s public compliment of something to do with his family. “I can arrange that,” he told her.

Didi handed her fork to Piper. “But I also want to be fair. Here. What do you think?”

Piper tasted the chocolate coconut bar. She nodded. “Delicious actually.”

“Do you want to taste the lemon too?” Didi asked her.

Piper glanced at Ollie. “No. Oliver never adds enough sweetness to anything.”

Cam coughed to cover his laugh. She was annoyed with Ollie today, clearly. He looked at Ollie. He had his arms crossed and was watching Piper as if he was equally annoyed, but also confused as to what he’d done wrong.

“So I guess that means I win,” Max said from the end of the stage.

Didi looked at him. “Well, it is possible that I won’t choose any of these.”

Piper frowned. “I don’t know. We do need to have a new product to launch.” She glanced toward the crowd, probably looking for Whitney.

Cam looked for her as well. She was still standing at the back, chewing on her right thumbnail. That was the sure sign she was nervous about this. Well, she needed to get her sweet ass down to the front, or better yet, up here on stage, and take control.

He lifted a brow as she caught his eye.

She didn’t move.

“I’m not going to choose a subpar product for Hot Cakes,” Didi said, lifting her chin slightly.

The move was so familiar to Cam that he had to shake his head. Whitney’s stubborn, don’t-mess-with-me expression was an exact replica of her grandmother’s.

“The town helped choose these,” Piper said. “We had nearly a hundred entries. I promise these are not subpar.”

“Well, we’ll see,” Didi said, moving toward Max.

Piper handed her another fork.

Max held his pan out.

Didi lifted a forkful of caramel crunch bar to her mouth and tasted it. She chewed. She swallowed. She thought for a moment. But there was no nose wrinkling.

“These are delightful,” she finally said.

Max’s mouth spread into a huge grin. “Thank you.”

“Very good,” she said, nodding and setting her fork down. “But—”

Everyone froze. Piper actually groaned.

“You shouldn’t let other people tell you how to express yourself,” she told Max. “I would have expected more from you. Something bolder. Something with more… flavor. Cinnamon and cayenne,” she said. “Or maybe raspberry and dark chocolate.”