He didn’t, however, like soda. Interestingly. He didn’t drink it. Claimed to not like it. But after they’d bought Hot Cakes and gotten it running well under their new management and had very successfully launched a new product and rebranded themselves, things had slowed down a little and now Ollie was feeling restless.
In part, because very few of the things they’d done with Hot Cakes had been his doing anyway.
Aiden had taken the lead, since the company was based in his hometown and buying it meant not only saving the town from losing its major employer, but also giving him a great reason to come home and be with the woman he was crazy in love with.
Dax had come along because Dax was always up for an adventure and was great with people. All people. In all situations. They’d needed Dax to help smooth things over with the disgruntled employees.
Grant had come along because he was the money guy. He’d never intended it to be a permanent move to the tiny Iowa town but, then he’d fallen in love with a hometown girl and now he wasn’t going anywhere.
Cam was also from Appleby and had rekindled his relationship with his ex. Who just happened to be the granddaughter of the founders of Hot Cakes. The two of them had been the force behind the new product launch and its huge success, and everyone knew that their next new product, which was already in the works, would be just as big.
So that left Ollie just… being here. Being here with his best friends because he truly didn’t have roots anywhere else and he could do his creative work for Warriors anywhere.
Which meant Piper was here too. She ran Oliver’s life. She definitely helped all the guys and Fluke at large, but she’d been hired to be Oliver’s assistant and he definitely needed the most… caretaking.
But now Ollie was bored. He’d been a little bored along the way since he’d had less direct investment, other than money, in Hot Cakes. But he’d enjoyed supporting his friends and brainstorming things like new snack cake ideas and names and the big launch event.
Now that was all over and he was looking for a new project.
Why? Why wasn’t Warriors enough? He was the imagination behind that entire world. Everything that existed in Warriors, even now under new ownership, was because of Oliver. Why wasn’t that enough?
And if he did have free time and had room in his brain for more, why couldn’t he do something more meaningful than soda?
Ugh.
“I think soda lines up well with my brand,” Ollie said. “Video games, snack cakes, soda.” He nodded. “That makes sense.”
“Your brand? What brand is that?”
“Oliver Caprinelli… let’s have a good time.” He paused and looked at her. “I’m working on a tag line.”
Piper took a deep breath. “You need a tag line? Like you individually need a tag line?”
“I guess.” He shrugged. “The guys are done with Warriors for the most part. And I’m more than Hot Cakes.”
Piper wished she wasn’t holding the water pitcher because she really needed to rub her forehead where a headache was starting. She had two types of headaches. The one right between her eyes, which came on quickly and she assumed had to with eye-rolling and frowning. She called those the Ollies. The ones that started in her neck and crept more slowly up the back of her head were the Olivers. They were tension headaches that came from stress and holding in all the are you fucking kidding me? that threatened throughout her days.
And she said some of them. She didn’t have, or need, a lot of filter around her bosses. Which was great. They were more like brothers than bosses. They respected her, they needed her—and knew it—and they listened to her.
Except for Ollie.
“You’re more than Hot Cakes?” she repeated. She agreed. But she’d never heard him say it and she was curious what he meant.
He swiveled his chair back and forth.
He was a big guy. Six-three, two-hundred-ten-ish pounds. He was wide and solid. He ran to keep in shape. In part because of that love of snack cakes and the amount of time he spent sitting and creating behind the computer.
He was wearing a custom-tailored suit that cost more than a lot of people’s house payments in Appleby.
But he was pouting. And Piper wanted to put him in time out.
“I mean, I need something more to do,” he said. “Aiden was the one who branched out into Hot Cakes. Grant’s got his consulting business. Dax is running the nursing home. Cam has turned into a house-husband. What’s my thing?”
The guys did all have pursuits outside of Fluke that they were enthusiastic about now. Projects and people that took up a lot of their time and energy. Additionally, the guys were all-in with their new relationships and the families and time that went along with those.
They were happy. Happier than Piper had ever seen them. And they were all still a unit. But Aiden, Dax, Grant, and Cam definitely shared a bond in being boyfriends and fiancés that left Oliver out.
Ollie was the only one who was still involved with Warriors. And he didn’t seem to have another passion.
“So you’re bored and your idea to branch out is soda?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Yeah.”
Clearly he was very passionate about this new company. Piper rolled her eyes, making the jab of pain in her forehead worse.
“Oliver, you need to find something to care about,” she said.
Like me, a voice said in the back of her mind.
She told that voice to shut the hell up. She and that voice had been over this before. She couldn’t explain why she loved Oliver, but she did. However, Oliver would make her crazy.
Oh, and he wasn’t interested. Clearly.
“I care about growing my brand.”
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed. “Your brand? You want your brand to be video games and crap food? You can do better than that, Ollie!”
He lifted a brow. “Like what?”
He wasn’t challenging her. He actually wanted her to tell him what he should do.
Oliver Caprinelli was a handsome, intelligent, charming-when-he-wanted-to-be, funny-usually-accidentally-but-sometimes-on-purpose, crazy successful creative genius.
Who drove her insane.
It was all Aiden’s and Grant’s and Dax’s and Cam’s fault.
They’d all been enabling this man since they’d met him. They treated him like he was delicate. Like if they pushed him too hard or told him no, he’d lose his spark and wouldn’t be able to create any longer.
They treated him like he was a spoiled royal prince.
Oliver had never had an idea that Dax hadn’t said, “Hell yes!” to. He’d never made a mistake that Grant hadn’t bailed him out of. He’d never created something Aiden hadn’t been able to sell for big bucks.
Oliver had also never booked a hotel room or a plane ticket on his own and had no idea how to even use the Instant Pot in his hotel suite. Because Piper did those things.
But that had been her job. She hadn’t enabled him the way the guys had.
It was really their fault he was the way he was.
But as she studied the good-looking guy who looked like a very successful functioning adult, she admitted that a lot of this was her fault too.
Ollie was bored because he truly had very little to do or take care of.
They’d all given him so much time and space to be creative that he had very little actually filling his days. Nothing real anyway. Nothing practical. His entire job was to sit down and imagine stuff.