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“How long have you been here?” Gina asked. “You had your own family farm, didn’t you?”
“Dalton took it over,” he said. “I worked at Chestnut for a while, and Becks and I have been here…what?” He glanced at her. “A year?”
“A little over a year, yeah,” she said.
Luke gestured toward her. “We’re gettin’ married.”
Gina chuckled and shook her head. “I heard, Luke. Why do you think I’m here, when I could be going home for a nap?” She pulled his chair away from him. “I’m sitting down. I’ve been here since six a.m., and I’m tired.”
Luke laughed too and said, “I’ll go get another chair.”
“I promise this won’t take long,” Becks said. “Starla’s handling all the food. I just need you to do the wedding cake and the individual desserts.”
“You’re not going to serve the wedding cake?” Gina asked as Luke left the office.
“Here’s the thing,” Becks said, and Gina wouldn’t like anything her friend said next. Especially with the way Becks suddenly had to check something on her giant desktop computer screen.
“Becks,” Gina said. “You want what? A sixteen-tier cake? What’s the big deal?”
“I want white wedding cake,” Becks said. “White frosting. Silver decorations. No color.”
Gina waited, but Becks didn’t say anything. She did meet Gina’s eyes. “Okay,” Gina said. “And the desserts? They have to be separate.”
“Did you show her the folder?” Luke asked, re-arriving in the office with a chair and a grin.
“Not yet,” Becks said through nearly clenched teeth. “I didn’t want to scare her away in the first ten seconds.”
“Oh, come on, love,” Luke said. “Your insane demands weren’t what drove the other caterer away.” He plunked the chair down on the corner of the desk and sat. Gina could only look at him, and since she felt no weight on the side of her face, Becks had to be doing the same. “What?” he asked.
“Did your other caterer call your…demands insane?” Gina asked, swinging her attention toward Becks.
“I maybe changed the menu a time or two.”
“Or six,” Luke said cheerfully, and Gina wondered if he wanted to get married or not. He sure wasn’t acting like it.
“Anyway,” Becks said, every syllable laced with venom. “I don’t think they’re that hard to accommodate, especially now that I have the menu all decided.”
Gina nodded and strained to see what Becks had called up on her computer. “So can I see it?”
“You’re exactly who I needed,” Becks said. “I’m so glad you’re here.” She beamed at Gina, her eyes warm and full of friendship. It streamed through her, and Gina hadn’t felt that in a while. Her whole life in Dallas had been built around the time she could clock in and start creating. She’d go out for drinks with friends, but she didn’t date there, and she rarely talked about anything other than baking.
She didn’t want her life to be like that again. Here, in Chestnut Springs, she wanted to live again. She wanted to rebuild her life, and she wondered if Blake was still handy with a hammer. Maybe he wouldn’t mind helping her to rebuild things.
“…Gina?’
“Yes,” she said, her mind sharpening again. It had gone soft for a few moments, and she blinked her vision back to sharp as she looked at the folder Becks had opened in front of her. The wedding cake stood about six tiers tall—not that uncommon for a wedding—and it was decorated with silver balls and roses, as well as what looked like bark.
“Do you want the bark to be edible?” she asked, the concoction well within her ability.
“I want it to be rustic,” Becks said. “Yes. Bark and such. That’s why we need other desserts.”
Gina shook her head. “No, you don’t. I can make that look like real bark and have it be edible. Chocolate, pretzels, fondant, all kinds of things can be made to look like bark.”
“Maybe the Lord did send her here,” Luke said.
Gina swung her attention toward him again, and he still wore that bright smile. She definitely thought the events of her life had led her around and around, and yes, she was back in Chestnut Springs.
“How long will you be here?” Becks asked. “Through the wedding?”
