Chapter 40 When You’re Vengeful
WHEN YOU’RE VENGEFUL
MABEL
I’m not saying the universe still has it out for me. But I am definitely saying that having to bake a cake for a reality TV show one day and a few cakes for my mother’s faculty luncheon the next is both an embarrassment of riches and immensely stressful.
But obviously, I’m not turning down either opportunity.
After we close Afternoon Delight in the early evening, I round up the crew for a review of the plans. Aisha’s here, along with Corbin and Charlotte.
We settle in at a table and I go over the marching orders for tomorrow, mostly for Aisha, reviewing the schedule for the morning deliveries, then the items we need for a huge birthday cake order for next weekend.
“Just double check that we have everything. I put the ingredients down in the task-management list.”
“Buttercream frosting, fondant, raspberry filling. It’s all there. I’m looking at it now,” says the world’s most self-sufficient middle schooler as she reviews everything on her phone.
Aisha smiles from the counter, tapping the top of her laptop. “I see it all too. If you want to come by and help though, Charlotte, you’re always welcome.”
“I’m happy to work.”
“She’s offered a few times already,” I say to Aisha. “Not surprised, knowing who her dad is.”
Corbin points at his daughter, going all stern daddy. “You need to focus on school. And you’ll be with your mom.”
“I know, but I’m like you, Dad. I’m pretty good at doing it all.”
I smile at how very much like him she is, then return to my tablet and the plans for tomorrow.
That’s when Corbin and I will head to the Webflix studios in the city.
There we’ll bake a gorgeous Valentine’s Day heart-shaped cake for several Romance Beach alums, including Dax, who won his season.
But the thought of seeing my ex doesn’t bother me like it might have months ago.
He’s so far in the past, he’s out of the rearview mirror visibility.
I’m excited to prove him wrong, though, and show the world I have my act together.
That includes running this shop smoothly. We need to hire more help, and I’ve placed some ads, but won’t be able to do any interviews until I get through the mountain of tasks over the next week.
I close my tablet and busy myself with organizing the merch better on the shelves. A few mugs are out of place. “We’re about to get busier with the Valentine’s season coming up, plus we have a dog adoption event next weekend.”
“Orders are coming in left and right, and we’ve been asked to supply a couple other restaurants and cafés,” Corbin puts in. “What can we do to speed up hiring help?”
Charlotte sticks her hand straight in the air. “I can assist.”
“Girl, you have school and homework,” Aisha says with a laugh, taking the words straight out of Corbin’s mouth.
“Fine,” Charlotte says with a huff. “What about Audrey? She worked at the Green Pantry during the summer and just returned to town. She’s looking for work, but the Green Pantry doesn’t have any openings at the moment.”
“She’s hired!” I shout.
Corbin hums doubtfully. “Maybe not that fast.”
“But if Charlotte knows of someone and she’s worked in food services before, why not?”
Aisha reaches across the table and squeezes Charlotte’s shoulder. “If you don’t become a vet, be an HR director. You’ve got VP written all over you.”
“Thanks, but I prefer D-R.”
“Of course you do,” Aisha says. “And I think we should hire Audrey too. I have her info.”
I’m glad Aisha feels the same way. “I say let’s do it. Corbin?”
“I’m outvoted, but it doesn’t matter. Hire her.”
Aisha calls her right then and there, and after a quick call, Corbin’s officially sold.
By the end of the night, we have everything ready for tomorrow’s baking extravaganza, and a new employee hired right away, which means she can help with the faculty luncheon cakes since Aisha has a doctor’s appointment that morning. “I love it when a plan comes together,” I say.
The next morning, we pull into a lot in the Dogpatch District in the city, where the studio’s located. “You don’t mind that I can’t help with the luncheon?” Corbin asks as he turns off his car.
Tomorrow he has morning skate and then a game.
I shoot him a look like he’s nuts for asking. “Yes, Corbin, it bothers me immensely that your pro hockey schedule is getting in the way of our bakery.”
“Seriously,” he says, sounding far too concerned.
I set a hand on his rock-hard thigh, reassuring him. “I know who I got into business with. I will take what I can get of you at Afternoon Delight. It’s all extra.”
He frowns though, like he wants it to be more. “That wasn’t my goal though.”
“I don’t mean that in a bad way,” I add. “But you do have a full-time job, and I knew that when we went into business together.”
“I just want to help as much as I can.”
“And you are helping, like with this,” I say, nodding to the looming brass doors at the entrance to the studio. “Let’s go show my ex we bake better than he dates.”
That seems to cheer him up. “We date better than he dates too,” Corbin says, then reaches for my face, cups my chin, and kisses me fiercely.
He groans against my mouth, ruins my lipstick, and sends my heart fluttering all at once.
Gently, I place a hand on his chest and push him off. “I’ll be a hot mess if you keep doing that.”
His lips quirk in a lopsided grin. “Good.”
“Ha. I’m trying to stop being a hot mess.”
He slides his hands through my hair. “You can be a hot mess in bed.”
A kiss on my neck. A hand on my waist. His scent drifting past my nose.
But I steel myself and push back. “Later. When we’re in bed. Now, get your hockey stick and let’s go show Dax that dating a hot hockey player is the best kind of revenge.”
I mean, maybe I had ulterior motives in saying yes to today.
“You’re even sexier when you’re vengeful,” he says, as he takes the stick from the trunk—Romance Beach wanted the whole baking hockey player schtick.
He grabs my bag too, with my apron, some specialty tools, and a few other items I’ll need, while I carefully pick up a cake I’ve baked in advance. Just in case. Hot Mess Mabel is definitely not going to chance being in the house today.
I walk up the steps with the man who’s good with his hands. I’m ready to show how sexy, vengeful, and together I can be.
“And as you can see, this is the vital moment—when our baker finishes decorating the delicate heart-shaped cake she’ll serve to our lovebirds,” Ronnie says, and it’s déjà vu as I carefully set the fondant heart so it cascades around the cake.
“Well now, Ronnie,” comes a pretty female voice. “We might actually have the hockey-playing baker serve it.”
That’s Sapphire, the Romance Beach hostess—sweet as sugar and one of the kindest people I’ve met.
I can see why Riggs is dating her. And she and Ronnie have definitely been playing up the hockey player angle.
The producers even had Corbin walk on set holding his stick, which he now keeps tucked under our table.
I shove all of that out of my mind as Corbin hands me the final fondant heart.
What a change—the last time I decorated a cake in front of Ronnie it was for a local contest and streamed on local TV.
Now it’s being recorded and my ex is sitting there with a backward baseball cap on, holding hands with a woman in a silver dress that looks like it was made of Spanx.
More power to her. She’s hot, and that’s fine with me.
I don’t care about him. His presence doesn’t stress me out.
His words don’t concern me. He’s just…the past. If I moved past the way I ran out of Cozy Valley, I can move past him.
“You’ve got this,” Corbin whispers encouragingly as Ronnie prowls the set, pacing in front of the open-faced kitchen that leads into the living room where the couples sit.
“You’re right, Sapphire,” Ronnie crows. “They’ll both serve it. What a comeback—last time Mabel baked in public, it didn’t go well, but she’s holding her own now.”
Tension spikes in my chest, but Corbin shoots me a look that says: ignore them.
Drama feeds reality TV. I’m not feeding it back.
Sapphire glides over to Dax on the couch, who’s busy petting his girlfriend’s leg. “So, Dax,” the show hostess says sweetly, “how is it watching your ex become a popular baker? You didn’t say very nice things about her.”
Oh, they’re baiting Dax.
But Corbin skates to the puck first. “You sure didn’t,” Corbin says, his voice smooth as ice.
It’s protective and sexy. And I won’t let Dax distract me either. I focus on smoothing the icing. No mistakes. Not this time.
Dax gives a lazy shrug. “Well, let’s see if she messes it up again.”
And—seriously?—he starts walking over.
Corbin’s hand lands gently on my back. “We’ve got this,” he murmurs.
“It’s hard to turn your life around,” Dax says, all faux sympathy.
What did I ever see in him? Oh, right—bad choices. Everyone makes them.
“It is hard to change, Dax. You’re a case in point,” I say sweetly. “But I changed because I owned up to my mistakes—like dating you.”
Sapphire’s gasp is delightfully dramatic.
Corbin grins, puffing out his chest. “She found someone better.”
Dax snorts. “Yeah, well, let’s see how this cake is,” he says, taking another swaggering step.
That’s when Corbin subtly stretches his leg under the table. The toe of his shoe nudges something long and narrow. The hockey stick slides forward and right into Dax’s path.
Dax doesn’t look down. He’s fixated on me, swagger in his step, but his foot catches on the hockey stick. For a second he teeters, arms windmilling like a cartoon, then gravity wins.
He belly-flops into the heart-shaped cake, pink frosting and vanilla cake smearing across his chin and chest.
The sound guy snorts. A producer shouts, “Keep rolling.” Someone else barks out, “Get a close-up.”
Sapphire gasps. Ronnie’s jaw drops.
But Corbin’s the picture of calm. Giving Dax a chin nod, he says dryly, “Watch out, buddy. Those hockey sticks can trip you up.”
Dax glares at him, but with his chin smeared in pink icing, it’s hard to take him seriously.
“Enjoy the smash cake,” I say sweetly. Maybe I’m a little petty. But also prepared.
I turn to Ronnie. “Good thing I baked a backup.”
A little later, once Dax has been toweled off, Corbin brings out the second cake, and we serve perfect slices to all the couples.
As I set the last plate down, I flash a fast on my feet smile at the camera. “And you can all get your very own smash cake at Afternoon Delight.”
Dax doesn’t touch his, but I don’t care. When this episode airs, he’ll be the meme—and I’ll be the woman who got her act together.
Thanks in no small part to the man who believed in me.