23. Liz
LIZ
Was that why he’d been so evasive on the phone this morning?
“So, who’s coming exactly?”
“We’ll let them tell you,” Paisley said.
My God, the girl was sassy. Her parents were going to have their hands full with her in a few years when she was a teenager. Gran said the Maxwell boys had been intent on giving everyone white hair, but girls could be just as rambunctious. My sister and I were proof of that.
“When are they arriving?” I asked.
“In probably two seconds,” Gran replied, pointing to the entrance.
My stomach somersaulted when the door opened and Declan came inside. The Maxwells were right behind him. He was holding a huge bouquet of flowers. I took them from him, feeling like I had a million butterflies in my stomach.
“Thank you,” I murmured, putting them in a glass full of water against the wall, at the farthest point from the hot oven.
He had an ear-to-ear smile, though he did glower a bit as he said, “I was going to surprise you.”
“I know. Gran told me.”
He groaned. “Oh come on, Gran. You even ruined the fact that I wanted to tell her I’d planned a surprise.”
She smiled sheepishly. “I wanted to give the girl a heads-up.”
“And I appreciated it,” I said. It didn’t give me enough time to change and remove any traces of dough from my forehead or anything, but still, it was better than nothing.
Behind Declan were Tate and Lexi. I thought it was lovely how Tate’s eyes lit up when he saw his daughter. He put an arm around Lexi’s shoulders as they both came in.
“This place looks and smells great. And we hear you need a lot of help eating what you’ve baked,” Lexi said.
Luke, Travis, and Tyler came next. Kendra was alongside Tyler.
“Hey, no, no,” Travis said, clapping his hands once. “Everyone, please line up one behind the other and stand in the street.”
“What?” Declan asked.
“I have a plan. If people see that we’ve lined up, they’ll want to see what’s going on.”
“But I’m not open for the public,” I said nervously.
“Doesn’t matter. The point is we need to create some buzz, and the best one is the one you create yourself.”
“Was that how you created the hype around your own company?” Luke said, patting his shoulder.
“Hell, yes. You bet we did. And what do you think happened next? People started getting interested. Influencers, bloggers. Come on. There’s a gazillion Maxwells. We’re the perfect decoy group. Someone should snap a picture of us.”
Wow, he does sound like a man with a plan.
Luke patted his shoulder again. “Brother, anyone posts a picture of us on Instagram, there’s going to be at least a hundred people who know exactly who we are. Not sure if that’s going to help Liz or not.”
“No pics, then. But we still need to line up,” Travis went on.
“But I’ve got plenty of goodies for everyone,” I countered.
“And we’ll get them,” Travis said seriously, “but in due time. Go on, line up, one behind the other.”
“You know what? I think this is a good idea,” Kendra said. “You can’t give us the stuff all at once anyway. It’ll create interest, we’ll tell them when your opening is, and they’ll come back.”
Declan looked at me. “Do you already have your business insurance effective today, just in case non-Maxwells actually show up?”
“Yeah, I do,” I said.
“Oh, come on, brother, relax,” Tyler said.
Luke shook his head. “Impossible. That isn’t part of his vocabulary.”
“Hey, stop giving my guy a hard time. He’s looking after me.” And I was swooning at that. I really was. I felt like the luckiest girl on the planet right now. “Give me a minute, then. I need to go in the back and freshen up.”
“Sure,” Travis said.
“I’ll come with you,” Declan added.
“Great.”
Turning around, I headed straight to the bathroom, feeling him right behind me. When I stepped inside, he came too and closed the door, locking it.
“I’m a mess,” I said, looking in the mirror.
“Liz, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just super, super nervous. Look, I have flour in my hair.”
Putting his hands on my shoulders, he turned me so I was facing him.
“Babe, I can make everyone go away if you want. Trust me, I know they can be a bit much.”
“No, this is honestly great. I mean, I wasn’t expecting everyone, of course.”
“Neither was I,” he murmured.
“Are you talking about the surprise Gran spoiled?”
“Yeah.” He touched my lips with his thumb. I shuddered, my skin instantly breaking out in goose bumps. “It involved just the two of us. Me taking care of you, showing you how much I love you.”
I gasped. “You love me?” I murmured.
“Oh, fucking hell. I’d planned to do this differently—not in the bathroom while my entire family is lined up in the front.”
“I love you too. So much. Oh my God. This day is even better than I thought,” I said.
Rising on my tiptoes, I gave him a quick kiss. He immediately put a hand on my back, pressing me against him, and deepened the kiss.
Heat coursed through my body, but before things got too crazy, I pulled back, clearing my throat. “No, no. I need to compose myself.” I was so giddy. I couldn’t believe it. Happiness radiated through my pores, and my heart felt as big as my whole body.
Declan loved me.
I turned around, staring in the mirror.
“There’s no way I can make myself look better.” I tried to get the flour out of my hair by wetting my hand and dragging it along the strands of hair that had white streaks. It was pointless and actually made it worse.
Declan laughed, kissing the right side of my neck.
“You’re a baker, Liz. Own it. A little flour in your hair makes it more authentic.”
I laughed, putting my right hand on the arm he had around my waist and leaning back against him. “Let’s stay like this for a whole minute.”
“Okay,” he said, kissing the top of my hair. “You smell like sugar.”
I closed my eyes, loving the way he felt around me.
“One minute down. Let’s go,” I said, blinking my eyes open.
He was looking at me intently in the mirror.
Oh, no, no. I know that look. It meant he had sexy thoughts, and I absolutely had no time for that.
“Come on. Out,” I said, opening the door to the bathroom.
When we returned to the front of the bakery, Travis was tapping his foot, looking at the group. The bossy streak was clearly a thing that permeated through the whole family. Declan went over to where Tate and Lexi stood.
“I’m wondering who’s going to give in,” Gran whispered to me. “It’s always fascinating to watch.”
“They’re all bossy, right?” I whispered back.
“To the moon and back.”
“How do they not kill each other?”
“They take turns letting one of them boss the rest. It’s like a mutual understanding. Usually the guy with the best idea wins, and I’ve got to say, Travis is on to something.”
Gran came from behind the counter and walked down to the side of the store, standing in line. Everyone in the family followed. Was it Travis’s bossy streak that convinced them? Or was it Gran leading by example?
“Take your time,” Travis said. “People need to see that line.”
“Got it,” I said, laughing to myself. God, this guy was something totally different.
But something happened when I looked straight into Paisley’s eyes and asked her, “What can I get you?” My palms sweated a bit, and I felt self-conscious, like I was serving a real customer.
"One of each, please."
"Paisley, did you have anything else today?" Tate asked calmly.
"No. Pinky promise. You can even ask Liz."
"No, she didn't,” I assured him. “We wanted to wait for everything to be ready and cooled before tasting them."
"Okay, then,” he agreed. “You can have one of each, but you will not eat everything today. You can keep some for tomorrow."
"Yes, I will," Paisley said obediently, but I did see a glint in her eye.
I took a box, barely believing it had my logo on it, and filled it with one serving of each goodie.
I'd cut the brownie and coffee cake in even bits, and I was thankful for my catering job and its training. I’d always baked for friends and family, but my presentation had been sloppy.
The catering company taught me how to make everything look pleasing to the eye for paying customers.
I carefully closed the box and gave it to Paisley. Lexi was next.
"What would you like?" I asked her.
"Also one of each," Lexi said.
I narrowed my eyes. "Is that what everyone is going to ask?"
"Probably. I guess it's what will keep the line going on forever.”
“It's Travis's world, and we’re going along with it," Tate said. "For tonight, anyway."
So Gran was spot-on; they did take turns giving each other the right to boss the group. That was something I had to learn from them. My sister and I would contradict each other until one of us gave up in exasperation, and we called that a win.
Gran came next, then Luke, and then Travis himself. To my astonishment, there were all already three people behind Declan at the very end.
"Oh my God," I said. "There are actual customers in line."
"Yes," Travis said triumphantly. "Finally. See? Proof my idea works."
"We never doubted you, brother. We had to give you some shit because you started running your own show like you owned the place," Tyler said.
"I was giving advice," Travis said, defending his stance.
"In a very bossy way," Luke pointed out.
"I don't mind. I like learning from the best. But I don’t want to open the cash register today. I’m on my own, and it’ll take forever to serve and pack everything, let alone cashing in. I'll tell them it's on the house."
Travis gave me a thumbs-up. "Do that, and they'll come back for more for sure. I've got another idea." He looked around. “How much more of this stuff do you have?”
"I don't know. I guess enough for twenty to thirty people."
He nodded. "Okay."
"Why? What are you going to do?"
"A friend of mine owns a food blog. I'll snap a picture of the people standing in line, and I’ll have her post it with a note that it's first come, first served, and you only have enough for twenty people. We'll see what happens."
"Thanks.” I blinked in surprise. “I was not ready for so much action this evening."
"Neither was I," Declan said, looking at his brother with a funny expression. I was definitely going to question him about that.
When he finally reached the counter and I was preparing his box, I asked him, "What's with that look you gave your brother?"
"What look?"
"That mix of annoyance and awe."
"Awe because it's a great idea. And annoyance because I have plans for you and me. It started with the surprise that my family blew up, and now the horde of customers probably will."
"I'm not sure many people will show up. I’m not even open."
"Wait and see. I like to tease my brother, but he's a genius."
Turned out Declan was right. Within fifteen minutes, there was a huge line that kept growing. I didn’t want anyone to leave empty-handed, so I came up with an idea to make the portions smaller so I had enough.
"Liz, do you need help?" Gran asked.
"No, no. I'll deal with it," I said. "I realized that I'm probably the only one who's allowed back here, insurance-wise."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, for goodness’ sake, girl, if I slip and break my leg, I'm not going to sue you to cover my insurance."
“It’s fine, really.”
Travis’s idea was spurring another one. What if I made this a regular thing? After hours, I could bake an extra batch and give samples to everyone who came by, first come, first served. I was going to brainstorm about it with him later.
When the first real customer came to the counter, I put on a smile and said, "I'm going to give you a selection of everything I’ve baked today. I'm opening officially on Monday."
"And it's free?"
"Yes, it is."
"Okay, then, I'm game for anything you want to put in the box."
I smiled even wider, starting to fill it. I knew it was silly, but I couldn't help finding this a great omen. It wasn’t even my first day and I already had customers, and this lovely bunch of people named Maxwell had made it possible.
And Declan loved me.
My life is absolutely amazing!