Chapter 27 Smashing Success #2
Now, he was standing in the screened-in catio, one cat perched on his shoulder, another one in his arms batting at his overlong beard.
He was glowering at all of us crawling all over his yard, the guys laying down the drip system and the gals planting agave and other desert plants, all of this following Annette’s hand-drawn plans.
Tito was in the catio too, lazed on a deck chair, his ever-present hat over his face, a cat wrapped around the top of his head, and one curled up on his chest. All of them were asleep.
I looked from Tex and Tito to the action.
Gabe was working with Mo, digging a trench to lay some drip line.
Eddie was crouched, laying some of that line with two of his sons, Alex and Dante, helping out.
Landon and Liam were hauling bags of fertilized soil toward where Jet and Joey were setting in some plants (three bags each on their shoulders, because why would superheroes pretend to be normal even when doing yardwork?).
And Shanti was eyeing up Liam while pretending to adjust her garden gloves.
Also, Knox was shooting daggers out of his eyes to where Brady and Luna were yukking it up next to a newly planted paloverde tree (by the way, Knox’s girlfriend Cheyenne was not there, which was no surprise, I’d noticed that Cheyenne wasn’t a posse type of gal).
Someone called Luna, and she walked away.
Brady watched her.
But when Brady noticed Knox also watched her, so he was no longer watching Brady, Brady’s eyes went right to Gem.
Right to her.
Like a shot.
It was then I turned to Gem just in time to catch her noticing that Brady noticed her. Immediately, she tripped over a mound of dirt.
Obviously, at this juncture, my eyes moved back and forth as Brady smiled at her like he thought she was adorable.
Then Gem noticed he’d noticed her trip, and she also couldn’t miss his smile.
She got red as a beet, ducked her head and tucked some hair behind her ear, doing both before attempting an escape, which only made her trip again over another mound.
At this point, Brady grew concerned, and he started to move toward her.
And at this point, Gem grew freaked out, and she scurried across the yard, jumping piles of dirt, skirting tubs of trees and plants and disappearing into the house.
At her retreat, Brady had stopped and now he was staring at the house where Gemma vanished inside it.
Okay…
Um…
What was that?
On my way to relocate Gabe in order to go to him and ask, my eyes skimmed over Liam, then they skimmed right back.
Shanti was no longer pretending not to watch Liam. She was now crouched next to Lottie, and they were doing the delicate work of pulling an agave from a tub.
That was when my eyes pinged between Liam and Shanti, mostly because Liam’s eyes weren’t pinging anywhere.
They were glued to Shanti.
My heart skipped, my gaze flew to Gabe, only for him to be reading me through our strong bond (at least, that was what I liked to think was the reason he could read my mind), and I found his gaze was on me.
I started his way.
He shook his head.
I stopped and bugged my eyes out at him.
He shook his head again.
He’d noticed all of this was going on, and he wanted me to stay out of it.
I, however, did not want to stay out of it.
Thus, I bugged my eyes out bigger at him.
He smiled at me, face soft, eyes warm, affection and love snaking across the dirt and plants to wrap me in a comfy, delicious, loving hug.
I forgot all about everything except Gabe, how beautiful he was when he smiled, how happy I was those came often these days, and how good it felt to have his love.
Cesar, Eddie and Jet’s youngest, took his attention by struggling past with another paloverde that was way too heavy for him to carry on his own.
Gabe went to help him.
Annette barked, “No loafers!” in my direction, and when I looked to her, she said, “We’ll never get this done with people standing around.”
I gave her a crisp salute.
She rolled her eyes, hefted a roll of drip line on her shoulder and stomped toward where Shaw and Cap were laying it.
I got back to work.
In the end, after a very physical day that still was fun because the posse was all together and Tex had gone down, in both front and back yards, Annette’s vision come to life was insane.
I mean, it could win awards.
Nancy was beside herself with glee.
Tex was crotchety, but not more than normal, so I supposed that meant he was a good loser.
All worth it.
And I won ten dollars when the bets were divvied up.
So…
Yippee!
* * *
Another week later…
“Fuck, I want them all,” Jacob declared.
We were doing their cake tasting at my place.
Yes, I could have done a fancier to-do with champagne and flowers and a starched white tablecloth at a chef’s table at SC.
But first, Jacob was not a champagne and flowers type of guy.
In fact, he wasn’t a cake tasting guy, telling Alexis, “Whatever you want is good with me,” (this being his attitude about the entire wedding), so she had a time of it just getting him to show.
Thus, I did the champagne for her and me, a lovely bouquet of flowers, the cupcakes were presented on pretty plates with prettier doilies, and I went all out on decorating the cakes in some of the ideas Alexis had for her wedding day.
It wasn’t easy getting the color “Tuscany” in icing, but by damn, I did it.
And I wasn’t surprised by Jacob’s declaration. Once he was tasting, he didn’t hesitate to get into it.
They’d given me their ideas, and I’d pulled out all the stops to give them a baking experience the likes they’d never had before, nor would again (until their wedding).
“We can’t have six tiers, honey,” Alexis said to Jacob.
“Actually, you can,” I gently contradicted her. “Say, a smaller three-tiered cake with wings of other flavors. Or however many tiers you want, but I do cupcake towers with other flavors. We can make whatever you want work if you want them all.”
“That’s asking you to do a lot,” Alexis replied.
“I kinda like you both,” I pointed out.
Jacob grunted.
Alexis’s eyes got wet.
“Okay, look at it this way,” I urged so she wouldn’t cry during this joyous occasion. “You say you’re gonna have at least a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty guests, right?”
Alexis nodded.
Jacob grunted again.
Her movement was happy, expectant.
His noise was not.
This was because they both wanted a smaller affair.
The problem with that was, they were such good people, they had too many friends who loved them, so whittling down the invite list was proving impossible.
Nevertheless, Alexis was overall excited about being married to her man.
And Jacob obviously wanted that too, though he didn’t necessarily want to do it hosting a hundred and fifty people.
I forged ahead. “So that’s a hundred to a hundred and fifty people who all have birthdays, anniversaries. They’re gonna have babies. They’re gonna get married. And they’re gonna want to know who made Alexis and Jacob’s cake. Think of it as you letting me advertise at your wedding.”
“That’s a stretch,” Alexis said.
“But it isn’t untrue,” I returned.
Jacob was studying me with warmth in his gaze that was part yummy cake overload, of course, but mostly, it was that he liked how I was trying to give his woman everything she wanted.
Alexis was mumbling, “I love cupcake towers. And if we have those, people can just grab them and not have to wait for a slice of cake.”
The door opened.
We all looked that way and saw Gabe stride in.
He’d been giving us space for this occasion while he went out to hang with the guys.
“Yo,” Gabe greeted us, did a chin jut Alexis and Jacob’s way, then came to me and gave me a lip brush.
My heart fluttered and settled at him being home (and the lip brush).
He looked down at the cupcakes. “Sorry, thought I gave you enough time.”
“You did,” I said. “We’re doing the base cake in chocolate and peanut butter, the middle tier in Chantilly cream, raspberry and vanilla, and the top cake that’s saved for the first anniversary is chocolate with salted caramel frosting filling.
With three cupcake towers of the rest of the flavors. Right?” I asked Jacob and Alexis.
Alexis opened her mouth.
But Jacob answered, “Right.”
“Okay, so you have the three sketches I did for design. I’ll adjust them to add the towers. You talk them through with Bill, Zach and Tod, and give me notes. I’ll make any changes, and we’ll have finals. Then we’re a go,” I finished it.
“Want a beer?” Gabe asked Jacob from his spot in the open fridge.
“No, it’s date night,” Jacob replied.
Alexis beamed.
I beamed along with her.
Jacob wasn’t beaming, but he seemed a lot more chipper, so I knew how date night ended for them.
I also now knew how awesome date nights could be.
We said our goodbyes, including a hug and a “You’re the best, Willow” from Alexis, a longer, tighter squeeze than normal from Jacob, and they were out the door.
When I turned, I nearly ran into Gabe, he was standing that close to me.
I looked up at him, still beaming, but for a different reason this time.
“Well, what’s on your mind, hot stuff?” I teased.
“Not that, cupcake,” he said quietly. “Come sit down with me.”
I didn’t like his tone, and I didn’t like his look, one that registered belatedly.
So I didn’t hesitate in walking to the couch and sitting down with him, or on him, since he pulled me into his lap.
This felt nice, but I was beginning to freak due to his demeanor being freakout-worthy.
“Gabe, what’s going on?”
“Last night, William Dexter was found beside his bed, dead. On his knees, he took two bullets to the back of his head. Nothing was stolen. Nothing even disturbed. There’s no other way to look at it. That’s a hit.”
One could say that was so not a baseball bat to a kneecap.
“His two boys dropped off radar,” Gabe went on. “They’re probably dead too. Amy Small is AWOL. And Dillon Small was shivved in prison. He’ll survive, but it was bad, and the message was sent.”
I didn’t know what to think about this, though nothing good was coming to me.