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“Okay, I got this.”
“What?” she asked as I turned my back, but I was already gone, halfway behind the display case.
“Do you even know what you’re doing?”
I shrugged. “How hard can it be?” I stuck my fingers in my mouth and whistled, biting through the noise. “Listen up! We’re going to switch things to make the line go a little faster. Everyone will come up and order from me. If you want an autograph, I’ll sign either the bakery bag or box, then pass it on along with your order to—” I glanced at the Batter and Bake employee next to me who wore a shell-shocked expression.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Uh . . . er . . . um . . . H-H-Heather,” she managed. “It’s Heather.”
“Heather,” I continued. “And then the other young lady,” I said, motioning toward the third employee, “will ring you up. Easy. Nice and quick, like an assembly line. Now let’s get this line moving, shall we?”
An hour later, with fingers covered in paper cuts from signing and opening bakery bags, I breathed a sigh of relief. The last customer had gone, and after I relieved Big Joe of his duty, Scarlett locked the door behind him.
She leaned back against the cool glass and closed her eyes. “Thank you,” she said before she blinked them open again and pushed away from the door. “That was brutal.”
“It’s no problem.” I tucked my hands in my jeans, suddenly jittery at the notion of being alone.
“For a moment there, I thought we were going to have a stampede when everyone saw you. But the assembly line and autographs worked quite well.”
“I worked at a bakery once.”
“You did?” she frowned.
“No. I’m kidding.” I stalked toward her, heart beating in my throat when I reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
Her eyes met mine and her chest rose as she drew in a breath.
“Last night, after we celebrated with your parents and I suggested we go out for a drive, did you really have a bunch of homework to do?”
The thought that she’d lied had been eating at me ever since. After being gone most of the week, all I’d wanted was to spend time with her. But even after I insisted I stay and help her, she’d demanded I go.
“Um . . . yeah, of course,” she said. It sounded like a brushoff, but I couldn’t tell if she was lying.
I traced my thumb over her lower lip, watching as her thoughts churned, wondering what she was thinking and wishing she’d share when she cleared her throat and turned her face to the side, deflecting my hand.
“Anyway, thanks for helping. I should probably get back to the kitchen though. Mom and Dad had to drive to D.C. to sign the settlement papers from the lawyers, so it’s my job tonight to do all the prep work for tomorrow and fill about a billion customer orders.
My hopes of taking her out plummeted. “You have to work longer?”
She nodded. “Sorry, and even once I finish, I doubt I’ll have the energy to do anything worthwhile.”
“Okay,” I drawled, thinking it over. She could try to push me away all she wanted, but I wasn’t going anywhere. “Plan B, then. I’ll stay and help you.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I want to spend time with you,” I said, like she should already know the answer.
“But . . . there are no cameras here, no customers, no chance anyone can see you. What would be the point?”
“The point—” I said, rounding the display cases toward a hook that held the aprons the employees wore. With quick, sharp movements, I looped one over my head and tied it around my waist. “—is that I want to spend time with you,withouta crowd or cameras. What part of that don’t you understand?” I asked with a smile.
She could pretend this thing between us was nothing more than the arrangement we made, but we both knew the truth. I just had to make her admit it.
I stood behind a freshly cleaned work counter with Scarlett to my right. A huge vat of batter she prepared moments ago sat in front of us. She picked up what appeared to be an ice cream scoop and dipped it inside, showing me how to fill the cupcake liners with the correct amount of mix. “Just plop it in like this. You really can’t screw this part up,” she said, hiding her smirk because when I’d tried to make the batter myself, I’d accidentally added powdered sugar instead of flour.
“While you do that, I’ll start on the chocolate,” she added.
