Chapter 5
Gracie eased a golden and delicious tray of cream puffs from the oven, then checked the day’s receipts so far. All good…and about to get better.
Slipping into her office, she closed the door to change for her late afternoon date.
She’d grabbed an ice-blue sweater with a pearl-trimmed collar and her favorite black jeans, which felt perfect for walking around town, grabbing dinner, and spending time deepening their budding romance.
Barely able to wipe the smile from her face, she freshened up, re-applied her makeup, and brushed out her strawberry blond hair. Adding some jewelry she never wore at work and slipping into low-heeled boots, she glance at the full-length mirror in the powder room, happy with the final result.
Taking a deep breath, she shut down her computer, grabbed a small bag, and stepped out into the kitchen.
“You sure you don’t mind covering for me until close, Amanda?” Gracie asked her manager as she passed.
“Not a bit, Gracie.” A talented baker and a good friend, Amanda was by far her most reliable employee. “I’ve got the pies handled, too.”
“You’re the best. And if it stays this slow, feel free to close up early.” Gracie leaned her palms on the counter, looking around at the tables, for once not doing a head count on the customers.
Not today. She didn’t want to think about work today, just the date that would start in ten minutes.
A couple rose from a table near the window and Gracie automatically pushed off the counter to clear the cups and plates they’d left behind.
“I got it,” Amanda said, putting her hand on Gracie’s arm. “You’ll get chocolate on that beautiful top.”
The door dinged, opening to new customers, so Gracie smiled at Amanda. “I’ll fill this order, then. Thanks.”
She turned to greet the customer, blinking in shock at the sight of Bianca Hampton, who was intently perusing the glass display, eyes on Amanda’s last batch of buttercream cupcakes.
“Oh. Hello.”
“Hi.” Bianca didn’t look up, shifting a few shopping bags—all from high-end boutiques on Main Street—from one hand to the other. “I’ll take a red velvet cupcake. And a cream puff. Oh, throw in that chocolaty ganache tart thing, too.”
“That’s Olivia’s favorite,” Gracie told her.
The other woman finally looked up, sucking in a breath. For a heartbeat or two, she stared over the glass display case, her expression blank enough that Gracie thought she didn’t remember meeting this morning or riding to Snowberry Lodge together.
“Oh, it’s you,” Bianca said. “Uh…Gloria?” she guessed, making a face. “Sorry, I’m terrible with names.”
“Gracie,” she supplied. “It’s nice to see you here. Is Olivia out there, or…” She looked around. “With you?”
“She stayed at the lodge to play with her little friend.”
“Benny. My son.” Gracie tried to smile politely, but struggled. Had Bianca already ditched Olivia? Hours after arriving?
“Right, Benny. I just…” She threw a look over her shoulder in the general direction of Craving Clean.
“Marshall insisted I come see his cute little…endeavor. After that, I had to do a little shopping but now I’m starving.
And I can’t go to Marshall’s because…” She made an embarrassed wince.
“There’s not a decent thing to eat at that place and I have a sweet tooth for some reason.
I thought Sugarfall meant this might be a candy store. It’s like his, though. A bakery?”
“Only with sugar,” Gracie deadpanned, ignoring “he insisted I come” and “cute little endeavor.”
“Exactly what I need.” Bianca gave a self-conscious laugh. “I know I shouldn’t, but”— she lifted the bags—“retail therapy is best ended on a sugar high, I like to say.”
So she’d visited his store, shopped for clothes, and now was hitting up Sugarfall—all without the daughter she’d flown here to see?
“Well, choose whatever you like,” Gracie said, trying to keep her jumbled thoughts straight. “You can always keep it in the fridge in your cabin and have a midnight snack.” She couldn’t resist adding, “With Olivia, who really does love the ganache. Be sure to ask her where it gets its shine.”
Bianca gave a flat smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Where what gets…what?”
“The ganache,” Gracie said, hating that she felt a blush bloom under the surface of her cheeks.
Why? Bianca was the one who knew nothing about her own daughter’s love of science.
She should be blushing. “She’ll explain how the sugar crystals melt at a certain temperature to make it…
” Her voice faded out in the face of the clueless expression Bianca wore.
Gracie swallowed. “In a box to go, then, Bianca?”
Bianca glanced at the freshly bused table by the window…the window that looked right at Craving Clean. “Give me a decaf with that, so I can stay here.”
Really? She was going to stay? Which meant she’d see Marshall in less than ten—
“How long have you worked here?” Bianca asked, eyeing her phone as if the answer didn’t really matter but she had to make small talk.
Gracie carefully placed the red velvet cupcake on a plate, leaving room for the other desserts. “I opened Sugarfall when Benny was five, so six years now.”
“You…own it?” Bianca’s brows shot up.
“I do,” Gracie said. “I’m a pastry chef and this is my shop.”
“Huh.” Bianca looked hard at Gracie, clearly considering her in a new light. Not the dog walker, not the friend’s mom, but a business owner. The slightest grudging look of interest flickered in the woman’s topaz eyes. “Lucky you—working right across the street from my…from Marshall.”
How should Gracie answer that? How would she respond to that if she didn’t have a date with the man in less than five minutes? Diplomatically, that’s how.
“Well, I’ve certainly lost a few calorie-conscious customers, but that’s fine.”
“Is it?” the other woman challenged. “I mean, I can’t believe people would eat his raw honey oatmeal horrors when there’s…this.”
“Don’t knock the honey and oatmeal,” she said, forcing a smile. “Marshall’s incredibly talented in the kitchen.”
Bianca widened her eyes, looking down. “And elsewhere,” she murmured.
Gracie’s cheeks were pretty much a five-alarm fire with that comment, but Bianca didn’t see as she whipped out a credit card, looked at it and stuck it back in her wallet. With a huffed sigh, she grabbed a twenty-dollar bill.
“Keep the change, Grace.”
Gracie just kept on smiling and thanked her, resisting the urge to mention that tipping wasn’t necessary. “I’ll bring you coffee. Sugar and cream?”
“Yes, please. Lots of both.”
She whisked away to the table with a tray of treats, that white coat fluttering in her wake. Gracie turned to get the coffee, but Amanda was back.
“I got it, boss.” She jabbed a light elbow into Gracie’s side. “You go…wherever you’re going looking so pretty.”
Glancing at the front window, she spotted Marshall crossing the street, wearing a leather bomber jacket over dark trousers. He’d changed, too, which really made her feel good.
But…what about Bianca? The woman was halfway through the cupcake, eyes on her phone. Maybe they could get out unseen?
Marshall pulled open the door and strolled in, dark eyes leveled on Gracie as she slipped out from behind the counter. She’d barely come around when he lifted both hands to give her a hug.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said in a low voice. “You ready?”
She took a hesitant step closer, inhaling sharply, entirely unsure how to handle the situation. He didn’t give her a choice, closing the space with a hug that could have been between friends or colleagues…or a couple.
As she lightly hugged him back, Gracie glanced to her right to find Bianca staring right at them.
She stiffened and inched back. “You’ll never guess who’s—”
“Marshall?” Bianca rose and came toward them, her long legs eating up the black-and-white checkered floor in less than four strides.
He whipped around, his whole relaxed posture instantly on alert.
“Oh…Bianca. I thought you were…” He looked beyond her, then around. “Do you have Olivia?”
“No, no. She’s still at that…that Snowbird place.” She glanced at Gracie, her gaze lingering with a whole different level of interest. “Your mother’s little lodge.”
Was everything little to this woman? Certainly not her ego.
“And you’re just…” Marshall looked confused. “Here?”
“Well, I hit up a few cute stores and then I saw this precious bakery. You didn’t mention that Olivia’s friend’s mom owns this place.”
“We didn’t talk about it.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t say something while I was taking a tour of your bakery,” Bianca said, pressing her hands together.
“Gracie, have you seen it? The way he makes healthy food look so good and all the busy things in the kitchen. He’s come so far from the football field and I’m so proud of him. ”
Gracie managed not to roll her eyes, but it wasn’t easy. Every word that came out of her mouth sounded disingenuous.
Marshall replied with a quick, tight smile. “We should go,” he said to Gracie, reaching out his hand for hers and making zero effort to hide…well, anything.
Bianca’s gaze dropped to their joined hands, then rose back to Gracie’s face.
“How cute. You blush.” She trilled a laugh. “And here I thought you were the dog walker.”
Gracie didn’t have any idea what to say, but Marshall put his arm around her and guided her to the door.
“Don’t leave Olivia alone for too long, Bianca,” he said as they passed by.
Gracie snagged her jacket from a hook near the door, but he slipped it out of her hands and held it up for her to slide into. As she did, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Not that it could be any chillier outside than it is in here.”
She threw a smile over her shoulder and let him lead her out to the sidewalk. They stood there for a moment while she zipped her coat and they both slipped on gloves.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting her,” Gracie said.
He exhaled. “Neither was I. She showed up at Craving Clean a few hours ago, poking around, talking to me…being weird.”
“Weird?”