31. 31
L iam and Dad work together in the front of the shop. Every day starts with a line of people and by lunch time, we are almost completely sold out. No matter how much I bake, it doesn’t seem to be enough. The specialty orders are starting to come in more consistently as well, demanding a lot of my time. I don’t mind, it’s a nice problem to have, but I’m starting to wonder if it might be time to hire on some help.
Thoughts of Parker and our time in the truck distract me. I need to talk to him, tell him I’m not interested in only being friends anymore. Maybe we could get to know each other while we date, since that’s what dating is for, after all.
I push the thought to the corner of my mind to ponder later and settle into a zen-like state as I decorate item after item.
“Anastasia,” my father says, poking his head through the door.
“Yeah?” I say, looking up from the cupcake I was icing, the piping bag clutched in my hands.
“There’s someone here who would like to discuss booking some custom items with you. Lorelei is with her.”
“I’ll be right there,” I say, finishing off the cupcake, the last one for the order.
Not wanting to get icing on anyone, I move to the sink to wash my hands quickly. If Lorelei is bringing the person in, then I know there is going to be a good budget involved. And a fair amount of artistic freedom. Excited to see what the job could be, I pat my hair into place and take off my apron, dropping it on the worktable.
“Hi, Lorelei,” I say, walking through the swinging door, but as I catch sight of her companion, I almost stop in my tracks.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, walking up to the woman, holding my hand out for her to shake. “You’re Ryan Jade,” I tell her, like she doesn’t know. “You’re even more beautiful in person.”
Her laugh is perfect, just like everything about her. Every strand of her blonde hair is perfectly styled. Her black t-shirt is tucked into a mini plaid skirt with thigh-high leather boots. Draped over her shoulders is an emerald trench coat that probably costs as much as one of my paychecks.
Striking turquoise eyes hold me captive.
“You’re so sweet and absolutely stunning yourself,” she says, her southern accent mesmerizing.
I must have died and gone to heaven because Ryan Jade just said I am stunning.
“This is amazing. I’m sorry, I’m a little star struck. I never thought I’d have the most famous singer in the entire world in my shop.” I turn toward Lore .
“Why don’t we go to the back and take a seat?” Lorelei says, noticing we have started to garner the attention of some of the customers. Phones are starting to point in our direction.
“Yes, please, follow me,” I say, leading the way, my cheeks heating with embarrassment. “Be careful. There’s icing everywhere,” I tell them, not wanting Ryan to mess up her outfit.
“Oh my goodness, this is so cute!” she exclaims, pointing to the cupcake sitting on my prep table with a bubbling cauldron on it.
“Thanks. That’s for a three-year-old’s birthday. The little girl, Elli Mae, is obsessed with Halloween so she’s getting a Halloween themed birthday party.”
Ryan giggles at that, looking at the other cupcakes in the group. “My niece is in love with mail trucks, so my sister arranged for all these mail carriers to do a parade. She was so excited. It was a lot of fun for us adults, too.”
“How cute,” I say, showing her over to the table and chairs Lorelei convinced me to squeeze into the back for meetings just like this. Our knees are all going to touch, but having a space to talk to customers has been very helpful. “What can I do for you, Miss Jade?”
“Ryan, please. Lorelei has been posting all of your creations on her socials and she shared some goodies she had and I just knew I had to have you do my event.”
I pull the notebook I keep on the table toward me, flipping to a new page.
“You know that Earl Gray cake you made for Alec? Ryan loved that,” Lorelei adds.
“Yes!” she says, clasping her hands together. “That was the most delicious cake I have ever tried. ”
“I’ve tweaked that recipe a bit, and it’s even more delicious now. Is that the flavor profile you’re looking for?” I make note of her enjoyment of the cake for reference.
“Not this time. This is for my parent’s thirtieth wedding anniversary next month and my mother doesn’t really drink tea. The event is five weeks from Friday.” I flip through my calendar and look at the red circles around that date.
“When do you need delivery that day?”
“By lunch time? Are you already booked?”
Lore leans over and looks at my calendar. “I forgot it was the wrap party.”
“Wrap party?” Ryan asks, looking between us.
“I was on House of Desire . That is the day the finale will air and production is throwing a party. But that’s not a problem. There will be time to do both.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to crowd you. I’d offer to change the date, but my schedule is a little unwieldy at this time.”
The genuine regret on her face surprises me. Others would know exactly what this would do for my shop and demand accommodation, at the bare minimum. But here she sits, sad her schedule is too busy to rearrange. For me.
“I’m sure. Now, we’d be happy to use any of our flavors and combinations of fillings. How many people?”
“There’s going to be five hundred.”
I look up at her, my eyes wide, before I look at Lorelei who nods, a small smile on her mouth.
“That’s quite a few guests and a short turnaround time,” I say, making the note .
“I’ll pay you double, if I have to. They never got the wedding they always deserved. They have traveled around the world trying to make it better and helping with my career. I want them to be surrounded by all the friends and loved ones they’ve made enjoying your amazing creations.”
I take a deep breath, telling myself I can do this.
“Then that’s what they’ll have,” I tell her, touched she’d choose to trust me with such an important event, and we get to work.
After an hour of going through various options, I say goodbye to Lorelei and Ryan Jade. Holding my notebook to my chest, I give myself a second to let the excitement sink in. With this order, and the amount of profit I’ll be making, I now have the budget to hire another baker.
“Is everything okay, honey?” Dad asks. Now the last customer has been served, I answer him.
“Ryan Jade wants me to bake for her parents’ anniversary party. It’s for five hundred people .”
“That is amazing!” he says, sweeping me into a hug.
The bell above the door rings, and I turn to find Parker standing in my bakery once more. I’m not sure my nervous system can take any more surprises for the day, but he looks like he could be heading to a GQ cover shoot.
“Are you okay?” he asks, seeing me in father’s arms.
“I just booked a life changing job,” I tell him, a huge smile on my face.
“I knew it was only a matter of time,” he says, giving me a hug before turning to Dad and Liam. “Carl, it’s great to see you again. Liam, how are you doing? ”
“Parker, would you like a cookie? There are a few left. My treat.” My dad grabs one of the chocolate chunk with sea salt from the display case, putting it in a bag and offering it to him.
“I’ll never turn down one of Anastasia’s cookies. Thank you, sir.” He takes the bag, immediately reaching in and breaking off a piece of the cookie.
“Are you just here to try to get free treats?” I joke.
“Yes. I’ll see you later,” he says, heading toward the door, but I grab onto his shirt, stopping him. He turns to me, smiling before coming back to me and placing a kiss on my forehead. “Can we talk? Do you have a minute?”
“She has a minute,” Dad says, shooting me a wink.
Rolling my eyes, I grab Parker’s hand from my shoulder and pull him behind me to the back table where I just had Lorelei and Ryan.
“What do you want to talk about?” I ask, my stomach sinking.
His leg shakes under the table as his fingers twist one of the bracelets tied around his wrist.
“I, um, well.” He chuckles, fiddling with the bracelet around his wrist. “Sorry, I’m a little nervous. I know I said I would be fine being friends and I want to respect your feelings. I also thought if we were just friends, you wouldn’t be able to hurt me, but at the end of the day, I care and you can hurt me. Watching you go out with other guys hurts me. I want us to be together, exclusively, so that we can figure out what this is. Would you like to go out on a date with me? As my girlfriend?”
I blink up at him, his rugged face full of earnest hope, and any regret I have felt since riding away from him in the limo disappears.
“I’ve been thinking about the whole friends thing, too.” I smile at him. “I don’t want to be friends, either. ”
He presses a hard kiss against my lips. “I think my heart stopped,” he laughs.
“So…when are we going on this date?” I slip my arms around his neck.
“Is tonight too early?” he asks, running his hands from my hips to my lower back before settling there.
“My mom wants me to come over and spend some mother daughter time with her. What about Friday?”
“Friday sounds perfect.”
“Then it’s a date,” I say as we grin at each other like fools.
The week seemed to slow down with the excitement for my date with Parker, but now I’m convinced time is passing in double time as I get ready. This time, I don’t need Dom or anyone else’s input on what I should wear on this date. There are no nerves. Just sweet anticipation. I keep everything simple since Parker told me to dress comfortably.
Favorite jeans.
Favorite blue t-shirt.
Favorite sneakers.
My phone dings that my ride has arrived. I grab a light jacket, just in case it’s a little cold as the sun goes down, and head out the door.
“Ma’am,” the driver says, holding my door open so I can climb in the pristine SUV, reminiscent of my time on House of Desire .
“Thank you,” I say as I get in.
When Parker asked for my address so he could send a car to pick me up, I was skeptical. But once he explained with rush hour it would take almost two hours for him to get to me and take us where we were going, I agreed, insisting I would drive myself and there was no need to hire a car.
“ But I want to be able to drive you home and I can’t do that if you have your car .”
How could I say no to that? I sent him my address and he ordered the car for me, letting me know what time it would arrive. When I offered to pay, he didn’t even respond to my text.
I took that as a no.
“Can you tell me where we are going?” I ask the driver as he gets into the car.
“I was instructed to keep it a secret,” he says, pulling out of my driveway.
Of course Parker thought of that. He wanted our location to be a surprise and no matter how many naked pictures I promised to send him in exchange for the information, he wouldn’t budge.
Before long, the driver is pulling off the highway and I know immediately where we are going.
Anya: You’re taking me to an amusement park?
Parker: They say adrenaline can make you bond to a person or something. I figured it doesn’t hurt to try. Probably should have asked if you were afraid of heights.
Anya: I’m not afraid of heights. Eyes on the road, mister.
Parker: Talk to text, babe. See you soon. I will kiss you in greeting.
I smile down at my phone and know I am so screwed and probably half in love with this man already.
My driver pulls me up to the front of the theme park. Parker is standing there, looking hot as ever.
“I think I’m really becoming attached to those boots,” I tell him as I get out of the car .
The biker style boots never really did it for me before, but tonight, between the boots and the unbuttoned flannel hanging over his gray shirt with the sleeves cuffed, I want to push him into the car and take advantage of him a little bit. His hair is, understandably, pulled back in his low bun, but I have every intention of pulling it free later and running my hands through it.
“I’ll wear them whenever you want,” he says, hugging me to him.
“I thought you promised me a kiss,” I say, upset his lips are not already on mine.
“I didn’t want to be too presumptuous,” he admits.
“Presume away.”
Permission granted, he leans down and gives me a firm but chaste kiss. Pulling away too soon, I look up at him.
“That wasn’t near enough.”
“I can’t do what I want to do to you here. We’d get arrested.”
“Is it really date night if you don’t end up in jail?”
“There are families present.”
“You’re a real party pooper.”
He kicks his head back laughing, and I press a kiss to his exposed throat.
“Okay, fine. We’ll keep it PG. Now, what ride are you going to take me on first? And be warned, there is a correct answer.”
“Adrenaline Alley,” he says naming the multi-loop, high-speed rollercoaster Dominic and I rode so many times we almost threw up when we first moved here.
“Perfect place to start,” I say, stepping back out of the circle of his arms. “Let’s do this.”