Chapter 37 Lacey
LACEY
“You want how much?” I squinted at Helmut from across the counter.
He flipped another burger patty with one hand while he juggled the fries in the deep fryer with another. “Two thousand bucks. It’s a family recipe.”
“That’s ridiculous. Our entire wedding budget is only five thousand dollars. I can’t afford to spend forty percent of that on the cake.”
“It’s good cake.” Helmut plated a Banzai Burger Special while I performed math acrobatics in my head.
I didn’t care how good the cake was, I didn’t have an extra two grand. “Now, will you make the cake or do I need to work with someone else?”
Helmut wiped his hands on his apron before settling his meaty paws on his hips. “Who else will you find to make you a cake?”
I matched his stance. I’d had just about enough of the local vendors trying to rake me over the coals and price-gouge me. Didn’t they know I was doing this for their own good? “I’ll check with my good friend, Betty Crocker.”
He smirked as he waved me off. “Good luck.”
“I’ll make you a cake.” Jojo stopped at the counter to clip an order ticket on the spinning rack. “What’s the occasion?”
I inhaled a deep breath through my nose. The smell of fried onions assaulted me. “It’s a wedding.”
“Oh, I love weddings.” Jojo clapped her hands together. “Anyone I know?”
Enthusiasm. I could work with enthusiasm. “It’s actually, well, it’s me.”
“What?” Jojo grabbed my hands in hers and squeezed. Then she flipped my left hand over. “Where’s the ring? Who’s the groom? When’s the date?”
“You ask too many questions.” Helmut set two burger plates in the serving window and chimed the bell. “Order up.”
“I’ll fill you in later,” I promised. “But really, you can make a cake?”
“I did one for my cousin’s best friend’s grandma’s birthday a few years ago. Ain’t nothin’ but a little baking. And you know how much I love baking.”
“Yeah, we all know.” Helmut waved us off. “Food’s getting cold.”
“Later,” I said. Then I grabbed the two Burger Banzai platters and delivered them to the couple I didn’t recognize sitting at table four.
Jojo hunted me down after the lunch rush. “So about this cake. How many people does it need to feed?”
I had just sat down in a back booth to work my way through my club salad.
It was a lot more lettuce and a lot less of “club” anything but I’d always been grateful for the free meals Helmut offered, especially when I was a starving college student home on break.
Of course, now I was a starving mayor who had the future of an entire town resting on my shoulders.
It might take more than a club salad to fuel my efforts.
“What’s the scoop? Tell me everything. Where did y’all meet? What’s he look like?” Jojo slid into the booth opposite me with an expectant grin on her face.
I toyed with my straw. “Well, you actually know him.”
“I do? Who is he?”
“Bodie Phillips.” I sighed as I kept my gaze trained on the contents of my glass. Bubbles floated to the top then burst, kind of like how the bubbles in the pit of my stomach felt as I waited for a reaction from Jojo.
“You’re getting married to Deputy Phillips?
” Jojo leaned back, slumping against the back of the booth.
“He’s a hottie, that’s for sure. But really?
I haven’t seen the two of you so much as smile at each other without one of you getting mad enough to chew up nails and spit out a barbed wire fence. What’s going on?”
Jojo’s reaction didn’t surprise me. I’d been waiting for someone to call me out and point out the obvious—that Bodie and I went together like whipped cream and cow patties.
Now I had two choices: give Jojo my most convincing story or admit everything was a farce and hope my friend wouldn’t sell me out.
As I contemplated which way to go, the bell over the door jangled.
I glanced to the front of the restaurant. “I’ll get this one.”
“Go ahead. Then come back here and tell me all about your sordid secret love affair with the good deputy.” She pulled the latest issue of her women’s magazine out of her purse.
Before I had a chance to stand, Bodie stopped at our booth, leaned down, and planted a kiss on my cheek. “Hi there.”
I pulled back in surprise as he sat down next to me. Jojo’s eyes just about bugged out of her head at the sight of Ido’s most eligible law enforcement officer.
“Jojo.” He nodded at her.
“Deputy.” She nodded right back.
“How’s my girl today?” Bodie slid an arm over my shoulders and dangit if my bra didn’t immediately feel just a little too tight.
“Lacey just told me the good news,” Jojo stammered.
“Is that right, bubblewubble?” He nudged his nose into my ear, whispering, “The engagement, right?”
I nodded. As if there were something else newsworthy to share. “Jojo and I were about to start talking about the cake. She offered to make us one after Helmut tried to charge me two grand.”
“For a cake?” Bodie asked. “Better be frosted in solid gold for that amount of money.”
Jojo cleared her throat. “About the frosting.”
“Yes?” Bodie and I turned to her at the same time, speaking in unison.
“I can make you a cake that’ll melt in your mouth but I can’t frost worth a damn.” She screwed her mouth into a frown. “We’ll have to find someone else to pitch in on that part.”
Bodie cocked his head. “So you’ll make the cake?”
“Oh, absolutely.” Jojo nodded, her earrings bobbing up and down along with her head.
“But we need to find someone else to put the frosting on? Isn’t adding frosting part of making a cake a cake?” A line appeared, bisecting his forehead.
“I didn’t say I could frost a cake, only that I could bake one. If y’all want to find someone else—”
“No.” I reached across the table to latch on to Jojo’s wrist. “I appreciate your willingness to pitch in. I’ll find someone to do the rest.”
“Okay then.” Jojo lowered herself back onto the red vinyl bench. “Now, how many people do we need to serve?”
“I don’t know.” I let go of Jojo and shook my head. “I still don’t have a final list. Bodie, can you get me your guest list ASAP?”
“I’ll do it now. My mom, my dad, and my pops.” He held up three fingers.
“That’s it?” I frowned.
“Hell yeah, that’s it. I don’t want the whole town witnessing the show.”
Jojo’s eyes narrowed. What was Bodie doing? He was about to give up the whole secret.
“Look, I know you’re nervous about things, sweetums, but we’re all friends here.” I scooted closer to him on the booth as I leaned across the table toward Jojo and lowered my voice. “He’s so sensitive. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but he’s like a big cream puff inside.”
“Mmm.” Jojo clasped her hands together.
She wasn’t buying it. Bodie needed to get with the program or the entire engagement would be blasted as a fake. I snaked a hand up around his neck and pulled his head down. At first he resisted. I leaned up and murmured against his ear, “You’re blowing our cover.”
He turned his torso to face me, a glint of challenge in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, cinnamon bun, you’re right, I do get shy about us.
But that’s going to change, I promise.” Then he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, angled his head, and pulled me into his chest. His lips sought mine, playing along the seam of my mouth until I opened for him.
His tongue dipped inside. He tasted like coffee and something sweet .
. . doughnuts, maybe. My hands instinctively tangled in the hair at the base of his neck.
I forgot I was sitting in a back booth at the Burger Bonanza.
Forgot Jojo sat across from us, taking everything in.
Forgot my own damn name as the sensations I’d been dreaming about since the last time he’d kissed me rocketed through my system.
He took the kiss deeper, angling my head back, cradling my skull in his large, capable hand. I pressed my fingers into his shoulders, drawing him closer as I tried to think of one good reason not to climb onto his lap.
“Ahem.” Something clunked against the table. “Ahem.” Jojo cleared her throat again.
I broke away from Bodie’s lips. Dazed, I glanced around, forgetting for a moment exactly where I was, exactly who I was.
Jojo pulled her shirt away from her body with one hand as she fanned herself with the other. “I take it back. Y’all seem evenly matched.” Then she got up from the table. “Break’s over. I’ll roll the silverware if you bus tables.”
I nodded, waiting for Jojo to move beyond earshot. Then I glanced up at Bodie and wiped a smudge of pink lip gloss from the corner of his mouth. “Thanks, that was very convincing.”
“Yeah.” His finger traced the spot where mine had been. “That’s what we’re after . . . convincing, right?”
I nudged him with my shoulder. “I’ve got to get back to work. Did you stop by for something?” Something beyond laying a deep, earth-shattering kiss on me? One I’d be feeling for days?
“Yeah, uh, I talked to one of my pals from high school who owns his own carpentry business. He said he’d build us a thing to stand under when we take our fake vows.” His fingers drummed on the table. “What’s it called? Not a gazebo, but . . .”
“An arbor?” I waited for an answer, keyed up at the idea of one of my childhood dreams coming true. I’d always wanted to stand under an arbor with the sun setting behind me and my groom.
“Yeah, that. I saw that picture in your file and figured if we were having it outside it might make a nice backdrop.”
Before I thought better of it, I reached a hand out and cupped his cheek. “Thanks, Bodie. I think that’ll be beautiful.”
His face flushed, just a teeny tiny tinge of pink. Enough to let me know he’d put thought into this.
“Well, I’ve got to go. There’s a report on that pit bull ring that came in this morning. I think they’re setting up another fight, close this time.”
My lungs seized. “Where?”
“Don’t know yet. Maybe over in Springer. I’d love to find those jerks and take the whole thing down.” His jaw clenched as he talked about it.
“You be careful. If there’s money involved, those horrible people are going to do what they can to protect their investment.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t leave you standing at the altar, Sweets.” He tipped his hat as he scooted out of the booth and held out a hand to help me.
“Just watch yourself.” I stood in front of him, not sure how to close the conversation.
We were going more and more public with our fake engagement.
People might expect us to be a little more affectionate toward each other.
Thinking of what Jojo said, that Bodie and I didn’t seem like we were in love, made me pull him against me for a hug.
“What’s that for?” he asked, mumbling into my hair as his arms surrounded me.
“We’ve got to make people think we’re really in love.” I squeezed him tighter then let him go.
He nodded. “I see. In that case, I’ll pick you up at seven tonight.”
“For what?” What in the world could Bodie be planning? The cocky tilt of his lips gave nothing away.
“Date night. Isn’t that what couples do?” He began to move toward the door, walking backward so I could still see the smug expression on his face.
“All right, then. Seven o’clock,” I agreed.
“And wear something sexy.” Then he ducked through the front door and was gone.