AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Vivian dunkedher finger in the frosting I’d just finished making.
Muriella slapped her hand away. I was secretly pleased that she couldn’t stop sampling what I’d made. Vivian ignored her and swiped the pink frosting again.
“How’s it going at the magazine, Baker?” Muriella asked, giving up on Vivian.
I dipped the icing spatula in the bowl and slathered the creamy frosting on the first layer of chocolate cake. Sonya had insisted.
“I always thought it would be my dream job, but until I actually worked there, I had no idea how true that was.” She bounced Ella in her arms. “About time to feed her isn’t it?”
“Close,” I said over my shoulder. “Show them the photos from the cover shoot.”
“Ooh. Yes. Let me see.” Vivian edged closer to her.
“Something smells good,” Stone said as he entered the kitchen.
Carlos swept his eyes across the room. He turned toward his sister. “Where are Holly and Gabriel?”
“Gabriel had a stomachache, so they went home,” Muriella said.
Without a word, he turned back toward the direction he’d just come from.
“Carlos, thank you for helping me today.”
He paused and offered me a kind smile. “Anytime.”
He muscled past another person who was behind them. My breath caught in my throat. Andrew’s hair was all over the place in the best looking mess I’d ever seen. He held his jacket over one shoulder, and the top few buttons of his shirt were undone.
“No tie?” Inwardly, I cringed. It was one thing to say that if I’d left our date under normal circumstances, but since I’d disappeared without a word, it was absurd.
His expression was unreadable, but a few of the lines around his eyes relaxed.
“This guy saved our asses today,” Stone clapped Andrew on the back. Muriella gave her husband a look of disapproval. “Sorry, darlin’.”
“Trish?” Daniel looked at me with a lifted brow in an unspoken question.
I gave a slight nod. As nervous as I was, more than anything I was relieved to see Andrew.
“I appreciate what you all did for me.” I glanced down at the floor and swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I can’t imagine where I’d be without you.”
Muriella reached for my hand. “You don’t have to.”
“Uh, Trish. If you don’t have that cake finished soon for Sonya, it’s gonna get ugly,” Vivian said.
My laughter came out a strangled sound, but she was right. “I’d better get to it then.”
Just like that, the somberness in the room lifted and normalcy resumed. I positioned the next layer on the cake and slathered another glob of icing on top. Two layers wasn’t good enough for Sonya. She wanted six.
My body hummed with awareness, and I focused more of my attention on my work.
“I was worried, Bright Side.” It was in his roughened voice, and I hated I was the cause for concern.
Slowly, I spun. He was close, but not enough to touch. All I wanted was to throw myself into his arms and make him promise that everything was going to be all right. Instead, I clutched the spatula so tight, I almost snapped the wooden handle in half.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I had to go.” The excuses sounded lame even if they were the truth.
“Did I push? Too much too soon?” His lips twisted down, his eyes uncertain.
“No.” I fiddled with the spatula, though I couldn’t look away from him. “I told you. There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
