AllFreeNovel
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My heart was racing.
Me: OMG. What kind of challenge?
Kilyn: That’s the tricky part. She’ll throw it on you when you’re least expecting it. Don’t let her see your weakness!
“Who are you texting?” Nic asked as I jumped and let out a yelp.
“Oh, um, Max.”
More lies.
“Nervous little thing, isn’t she?” Katerina said.
I swallowed hard as I glanced up at Nic. What in the world am I about to get myself into?
He glanced up in the mirror and winked. Then he mouthed, I’m sorry, and all my fears melted away.
“So, my oldest son has decided to go against his parents’ wishes.”
Don’t. Show. Fear.
“Mama,” Nic warned.
“An Italian,” she huffed under her breath.
I’m so screwed.
Me: She’s going to eat me up and spit me out! Why does she not like Italians?
Kilyn: No she is not! Okay that’s a lie. She probably is. Um, I think Thad dated one once and things didn’t turn out well. Listen! You walk into that bakery and you own that bitch! Well wait, you do own it. You stand proud. And whatever you do, don’t look her directly in the eye. She has a direct path to your soul!
Me: God help me.
Kilyn: You’re gonna need more than just him.
MY NERVES WERE rattled as I walked into the back hallway of the bakery. Katerina’s eyes were everywhere, taking it all in.
“Excuse me, I need to find Max. You’re more than welcome to hang out in my office or in the bakery.”
Katerina forced a smile and nodded. Turning to Nic, I gave him a weak grin and headed to find out what was going on. Please don’t let it be anything bad.
When I walked into the bakery, I was happy to see it was pretty full. I would have died if there hadn’t been anyone here.
I walked up to Max. “What’s up?”
He spun around and looked at me. “The mixer won’t start and we need to make thirty lemon mascarpone cakes to be picked up tomorrow evening.”
My mouth dropped as my eyes widened in shock. “Why?”
“Someone called earlier and asked if we could manage it. We were slow and had a working mixer, so I didn’t think it would be a problem. Charity ran an errand and I haven’t been able to reach her.”
“I don’t understand, why would someone need that many cakes?”
Max shrugged. “I don’t know. She said she had stopped by the bakery before and had some. Said it reminded her of her grandmother’s lemon mascarpone cakes.”
My heart stopped. He loved my lemon mascarpone cakes. What if I’d been found? “What did she look like?”
Max shrugged. “She called, Gabi. I have no clue what she looks like.”
“Oh, right. Um, did she happen to leave her name?”
Staring at me as if I’d lost my damn mind, Max said, “Yes! But, Gabi, the mixer is not working and we need to get them made and you’re worried about her name?”
I nodded. The fact that she mentioned it reminded her of her grandmother’s recipe is what threw me. That recipe was my grandmothers, and I used it right down to the secret ingredient. “Right. Sorry, let’s look at it. I can’t imagine anything going out on it. It’s only a year old!”
Max and I headed to the mixer only to find Nic was already working on it. I quickly glanced around to see where Katerina was. She was walking off, heading into the dining area of the bakery.
Focusing back on Nic, I asked, “Do you have any idea what’s wrong?”
He glanced up and smiled. “Yeah, the breaker tripped.” He turned on the mixer and it came to life. Relief washed over my body.
“Thank God that was it!” I jumped into Nic’s arms the moment he stood. “Thank you for fixing it.”
With a chuckle, he kissed me on the forehead then looked at Max. “You didn’t think to look at the breaker?”
Max gave Nic a deer in the headlights look. “The breaker?”
“Yeah, Max. Somehow the breaker was tripped.”
“Why in the world would I think about that? I’m a pastry chef, not an electrician.”
Spinning on his heels, Max quickly set off to getting everything ready to make the cakes. I turned back to Nic. “We received a huge order for lemon mascarpone cakes. I need to stay and help.”
“Where’s Charity?” Nic asked.
I shrugged as I put an apron on. “Max said she left to run an errand when things were slow and he hasn’t been able to get a hold of her. I’m so sorry, I need to stay and help.”
Nic flashed that amazing smile of his. “Let me take my mom back to her car, then I’ll come back and help.”
My stomach dropped. This man was a dream come true. I felt so foolish for how I had acted earlier.
“I’d love that.”
Katerina cleared her throat and we both turned to face her. “Nonsense, I’ll stay and help.”
