Chapter 8
Rafe
It had been a hell of a day. After Jojo left, I went back to the hotel long enough to shower, shave, and trade the polka dot apron for my suit. Then I returned to the Phillips House for two hours of wedding-party pictures.
Once the photographer finished, I headed back to the hotel, answered three calls from my team in Dallas, and managed to catch a few hours of sleep.
But I still couldn’t get Jojo out of my mind.
I knew she’d be at the reception since Lacey had hired her to cut and serve the cake.
That gave me one more chance to prove the night had meant more to me than a few kisses and a rescued cake.
When I got back to the Phillips House that night, the place looked like the kind of haunted mansion people usually paid me to build.
Black lanterns lined the front walk. Candles flickered behind orange glass.
Jack-o’-lanterns grinned from the porch steps while black roses climbed the columns. Guests crowded through the front door.
I headed inside, hoping to find Jojo. She wasn’t in the front room, but the cake looked exactly the same way it had this morning.
Even though I’d secured the skeleton bride and groom inside the coffin so well they’d need bolt cutters to escape, I’d still been a little worried that something might have happened while I was gone.
The ceremony would be starting soon, and I didn’t have much time. I stepped out of the way to make room for a server coming out of the kitchen and caught a glimpse of Jojo standing by the counter, arranging dessert plates.
She had on a dark green dress that hugged every curve I’d spent the night before trying not to stare at. Her hair fell around her shoulders in shiny waves. There was no polka dot apron, no flour dusting her jeans, and no streak of chocolate on her cheek. I missed all three.
“Everything ready?” I asked.
Her hands paused over the plates. “As ready as it’s going to get.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
“Well, the night isn’t over.” She glanced at me. Heat flashed through her eyes before she focused on the plates again. “You clean up well.”
“So do you.”
“I don’t know about that, but at least I’m not covered in frosting this time.”
“I liked the frosting.”
Her mouth twitched, but she picked up another stack of plates before the smile could take hold. “You should find Luke. The ceremony starts in ten minutes.”
“I know.”
She carried the plates toward the doorway leading to the room where the cake waited.
Message received. Jojo had no intention of talking about the kisses we’d shared in another kitchen—or what might happen once the wedding ended and I headed back to Dallas. I left her alone and went to find the groom upstairs.
Luke stood in the groom’s dressing room, fighting with his cuff links.
“You look nervous,” I said.
He smiled and let out a laugh. “I’m getting married in a house decorated with coffins.”
“You approved the theme.”
“Charlice approved the theme, and you know I’d do anything for that woman.” He held my gaze, letting that certainty sink in. No hesitation. No excuses. He had chosen her.
Lacey knocked on the door and told us it was time to head downstairs. Guests moved toward their seats, and I joined Luke under an arch of black roses and bare branches. Black lanterns lined the aisle. The light they gave off flickered against the walls.
I glanced up to see Jojo standing near the back with Lacey at her side. Even across the room, she pulled my attention.
Soft, eerie music filled the house, and I dragged my gaze away from Jojo as Charlice stepped through the doorway in a long black dress made out of lace. Her veil trailed behind her like a dark shadow. She started down the aisle, her eyes locked on Luke’s.
Just as she did, a woman in the first row pointed at something dark that ran across the floor. It stopped at the front of the aisle. “Oh no! A black cat.”
Charlice took a step forward and leaned down to look at Lucky. “Hi there. You almost missed the best part.”
She bent, scratched his head, then stepped around him and continued toward Luke.
The room broke into laughter.
Lucky took his time picking a chair to curl up underneath. I chanced another look at Jojo and caught her smiling. Her eyes met mine for half a heartbeat before I turned my attention to the bride and groom.
I expected the ceremony to drag me back to my own wedding day. To the empty room. The returned gifts. The tux I never wore. But it didn’t. As Luke and Charlice exchanged their vows in front of family and friends, I kept looking at Jojo.
I didn’t miss standing at the altar, but I missed the Burger Bonanza kitchen. I missed the crooked hairnet and the polka dot apron. Her hands fisting in my shirt while she kissed me.
Luke slid a ring onto Charlice’s finger. He had a busy life and a big career and had still chosen her now. Not after the next project. Not when his schedule opened. Now.
After the officiant pronounced them man and wife, everyone headed toward the reception area. I couldn’t stop thinking about the look in my best friend’s eyes as he stood in front of everyone and made a lifelong promise to his bride. What would it feel like to be that sure about someone?
I posed for pictures and greeted people until Lacey called everyone over for the cake cutting.
Charlice stopped when she saw the topper. Her hand covered her mouth. “Is that my parents’?”
Luke nodded. “Your aunt found it.”
“I thought it was gone.” Charlice leaned closer, her eyes filling with tears.
“She worked it into the cake.” Luke pointed toward Jojo.
Charlice crossed the room and wrapped Jojo in a hug.
Luke clapped a hand against my shoulder. “You saved the day.”
“I didn’t save anything.” I nodded toward Jojo. “I destroyed her work. She rebuilt the cake, redesigned the topper, and stayed up all night making sure you and Charlice never knew there had been a problem.”
Luke glanced at her, then back at me. “Then I owe her.”
“You do.”
Guests crowded around them. A woman asked Jojo about a spring wedding. Someone else wanted cupcakes for an anniversary party. Lacey promised to tag Jojo in every picture she posted.
Jojo smiled as she answered them. This was what she’d been working for. Everyone recognized her talent and based on the number of women lining up to talk to her, it wouldn’t be long before The Icing On I Do was a reality.
I loved watching it happen, but I also saw how much of her life belonged here. She had friends, kids, a full-time job that currently paid her bills. And when she built her bakery, it would be in Ido. She’d never have the flexibility to meet up whenever my schedule left me with a spare weekend.
Jojo excused herself from the group and passed by on her way to start serving the cake. Some of the distance in her expression eased. Not much, but enough to make me think she’d heard every word I’d said.
Luke pointed at his glass and cleared his throat. That was my signal it was time to make a toast.
I lifted my glass. “Some people might call the last twenty-four hours bad luck.”
A few guests laughed. Jojo lowered her gaze.
“We had a coffin, a black cat, a storm, and a few other disasters I’ve sworn never to mention.”
Her eyes met mine.
“But luck didn’t bring Luke and Charlice here. Love shows itself when the lights go out and the plan falls apart. It shows itself when someone stays and helps you put the pieces back together.”
I kept my attention on Jojo.
“Luke, you chose well. Charlice, so did you. Keep choosing each other, no matter what comes next.”
Everyone raised their glasses. Jojo raised hers too, but the look on her face told me that speech hadn’t changed anything. She didn’t need words. She needed proof.
After the cake had been cut and served, I found her packing tools into a plastic bin.
“Dance with me.”
“I’m working.”
“Looks like you’re wrapping up to me.”
“You have best-man duties.”
“Charlice told me I needed to find someone to dance with, so this counts.”
She glanced toward the dance floor. “Fine. One dance.”
I took the bin from her before she could change her mind. The band shifted into a slow song. I placed one hand at her waist and held the other. She fit perfectly against me, like we’d been doing this for years.
“I don’t want this to end,” I said.
She pressed her cheek to my chest. “You’re leaving.”
“My team needs me in Dallas.”
“I know.”
“But I want to see you again.”
She tipped her head back until her eyes met mine. “When?”
“After I get things handled.”
Her expression changed before I finished the sentence.
“I’ll call you,” I said. “Then I can come back once my schedule clears.”
The words sounded wrong the moment they left my mouth. After the next job. When things calm down. Later.
Jojo stopped moving, but her hand stayed in mine. Her gaze dropped to my chest. “That’s what you told your ex, isn’t it?”
“This isn’t the same.”
“Isn’t it?”
“My crew needs me.”
“I know, and you should go.” She eased out of my arms. “I’m not asking you to choose me over your business.”
“That’s not what I think you’re doing.”
“I like you, Rafe.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Probably more than makes sense after one night and a few kisses.”
“I like you too.”
“But I have two kids, a job, and a business I’m trying to build. My life doesn’t work with something casual that happens whenever you find an opening in your schedule.”
“That’s not what I want.”
“Then don’t offer me a maybe.”
I searched for an answer. The lift might need a simple repair. It might need to be replaced. Until I got back to Dallas and saw the damage, I had no idea how long the job would take.
“I don’t know when I can come back.”
“And that’s okay.” Her voice softened. “Go take care of your team. But I’m not going to wait around wondering whether I’ll hear from you next week or three months from now.”
“I wouldn’t leave it that long.”
“When, then?”
I opened my mouth. No answer came.
Jojo nodded once.
She wasn’t asking me to move to Ido. She wasn’t asking for forever. She wanted to know whether this had somewhere to go beyond tonight.
I couldn’t even give her that. “I don’t want to pick a day and cancel on you.”
“And I don’t want to start something with a man who expects me to understand every time work comes first.” She smoothed a hand over my lapel. “I’ve already got enough people depending on me. I can’t build my life around someone else’s schedule too.”
“I’m trying to tell you the truth.”
“I know.” Her fingers rested against my chest. “That’s why I believe you.”
My chest tightened. I wanted to tell her the night mattered. That she mattered. That I hadn’t felt this alive in months. None of it gave her a reason to believe I would come back.
Jojo lifted her gaze to mine. “I’m glad you ruined my cake.”
A laugh caught in my throat. “That might be the nicest thing you’ve said to me.”
“You helped me make it better.”
“We made it better.”
Her eyes shone in the candlelight. “Go take care of your business, Rafe.”
I couldn’t leave it at that, so I leaned down and kissed her. No teasing. No rush. Just the taste of the woman I wanted and the goodbye I had earned.
Jojo pulled away first. Then she picked up her bin and walked toward the back door.
I stayed in the middle of the dance floor while everyone around me celebrated forever. I hadn’t broken a promise to Jojo. I’d been too afraid to make one.