Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Present day, seven years later…
Junie was one slow blink away from curling up on the flour-dusted floor and sleeping right there among the mixing bowls.
What had she been thinking? Oh yeah, she’d been thinking that the cute couple who’d practically floated into her shop this morning had needed her help.
No wonder they were drifting on a cloud of joy.
They had just decided to get married. Not months from now, but that very day. How could anyone turn them down?
Obviously, she couldn’t. She seriously needed to work on developing that skill.
Instead, here she was, at two frickin’ o’clock in the morning, trying to complete orders she’d put off to help them.
Why was it so hard for her to turn people away?
There was the real possibility she wouldn’t get everything done.
What if everyone stopped coming to her bakery to buy her treats because she didn’t have any?
She’d tell them to say no to that couple and see if they could’ve done it. Then she’d have the last laugh because they would have taken one look into the eyes of that sweet young couple and completely lost their minds, just like she had.
She should have finished with this order hours ago. Would have been done but for that cake. Saying no had never been her strong suit. But starting today, she was going to learn how.
Right, but then you’d have felt like crap all day for being selfish.
She smiled to herself, the memory cutting through the thick fog of her exhaustion. They’d been so excited, practically bouncing as they described every detail of the ceremony they wanted for their impromptu wedding.
She didn’t regret it. Not even a little. Every bride deserved the wedding cake of their dreams. “Oh, that’s the ugliest cake I’ve ever seen, but it will be fine,” said no bride ever. At least not on her watch. She didn’t even try to fight it. That dream cake was happening for them, simple as that.
She’d lost track of time, carefully piping a thin crumb coat over each tier until the surface was perfectly smooth.
Then came her favorite part—smoothing on layer after layer of her signature Swiss-meringue buttercream, chasing every bubble and ridge until the edges were razor sharp and the whole cake looked almost too beautiful to eat.
Only then did she let herself sink into the best part: piping delicate lace patterns, tiny rosettes, and intricate scrollwork across every inch. Hours disappeared as she worked, completely lost in the rhythm of the piping bag and the quiet satisfaction of creating something this special for them.
She could still see the bride’s face when she’d come by to pick it up. Her jaw had dropped the minute she saw the cake, eyes going wide before happy tears spilled down her cheeks. Warmth had spread through Junie’s chest. In that moment, she’d known all the time and effort was worth it.
But no good deed went unpunished, and now she was paying the price. Exhausted and so far behind on the orders it wasn’t funny, she’d be lucky to be finished before it was time to open.
“That’s it, Junie Morgan,” she told herself. “That wedding cake was the last time you’re putting yourself in a bind like this. From now on, you’re going to say no. Your needs are just as valuable as anyone else’s. You’re going to be tough and just say no.”
Right. Because toughness is what you’re known for.
And why was it that when that voice in her head scolded her like that, it sounded just like Tanner Daniels was speaking? That was all the proof she needed that she was losing her mind.
She’d read somewhere that extreme lack of sleep could lead to delirium. That had to be it because that was a Daddy’s voice she was hearing, and Tanner was not her Daddy, and she didn’t think he ever would be.
Still, it was nice to pretend… as she stood in the warm glow of Bread & Batter’s kitchen at two o’clock in the morning.
Who was she kidding? Wiping her forehead with the back of her wrist, she let out a tired sigh. If Tanner couldn’t be her Daddy, it sure would be nice if someone could. Trouble was, there wasn’t anyone else she wanted.
In her dreams, Tanner would push through the back door, take one look at her running herself ragged, and growl in that low, no-nonsense voice, “That’s enough, Juniper Kate. You’re done for the night.”
He’d just stand there, arms crossed, stern and frowny and so damn sure of himself. Her stomach fluttered wildly, a hot, confusing tangle of longing and shame twisting deep inside her.
And if wishes were wings, you could fly to the moon and back.
The piping bag slipped from her tired fingers, frosting spurting across the counter and jerking her back to reality with a messy splat.
Dreaming wouldn’t frost cupcakes. Three more trays sat waiting for her, mocking her with their naked tops while the sky outside stayed stubbornly dark. She picked up the piping bag again, fingers aching, heart aching worse.
A grown woman still fantasizing about a man who’d always see her as his little sister’s best friend. The thought squeezed her chest so tight it hurt to breathe. Some nights the ache felt too big for her body, like it might crack her right open.
It always happened when she was like this. When she was this tired, this sad, this deep in self-pity. That’s when the regrets slipped in and refused to leave.
No matter how hard she tried, Cherry Winters, the witch queen of Wilder, always clawed her way back into Junie’s head. She’d known Cherry since eighth grade, and the girl had hated her at first sight.
“I don’t know why everybody in school wants to be around stupid Junie Morgan. Even her own mother didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Junie was so ugly and stupid that her mom ran off without her.”
Tears burned behind Junie’s eyes even now, the sharp echo of that middle-school laughter still ringing through her head like it had just happened yesterday. It was so stupid. Just dumb, childish cruelty from years ago. So why the hell did it still have the power to slice her open like this?
The answer was simple. Cherry had only said out loud what Junie had known for years. But if anyone said it out loud, it would be Cherry. She’d been hateful then, and she hadn’t changed a bit.
Cherry’s words yesterday had stung, too. Junie could still hear that viper’s honeyed voice after she’d confessed to Poppy how badly she wanted a Daddy like Tanner.
“I couldn’t help but overhear you two talking, Junie.” The helpful tone in Cherry’s voice warned Junie to brace. “I hate to tell you, but you really shouldn’t count on that ever happening.”
“Listen, you—” Junie had begun, but Cherry just shrugged and cut her off.
“I’m just trying to keep you from getting your hopes up.”
“I notice you haven’t gotten anyone either,” Poppy had said, glancing around the bakery. “I guess that’s because you’ve already been gotten by every man in the county. You can catch them. You just can’t seem to keep one.”
“Jealous much?” Cherry smirked. “Trust me, Poppy, green isn’t a good look for you.”
“You know who wants to hear your opinion? No one,” Junie said
“If you say so,” Cherry replied. “Just trying to keep you from making a fool of yourself over Tanner Daniels. That man is all Dom, and he’s looking for women like me.
Like the handful of other real men in this town, he doesn’t waste his time on Littles.
” With that, Cherry had laughed and flounced out of the bakery.
“Ooh, I really hate her,” Poppy said.
It was a sentiment Junie agreed with completely.
Junie’s cheeks still burned hot just thinking about Cherry’s words.
No matter how hard she tried to shove the memory away, it kept poking at all her soft, vulnerable places, the same way it always did.
Cherry had hit the nail on the head again.
That horrible woman really knew exactly how to push her buttons.
Only two men existed in Junie’s life right now.
One was crazy and refused to take no for an answer, no matter how many times she’d told him she wasn’t interested.
The other had shoved her so far onto the friend shelf that he would never in a million years see her as anything more than his sister’s bestie. Never his Little.
All she wanted was to be someone’s Little, but after all this time, no one had offered. If she couldn’t find a Daddy in a town like Wilder, where they practically grew on trees, then where the hell was she supposed to find one?
She sighed and picked up the piping bag again, forcing her sore fingers back to work. The back-to-school event was tomorrow, and those kids were expecting something special. She could let herself fall apart later.
Even as she piped perfect swirls, her mind kept drifting back to Tanner. He was her true love. The only man she’d ever wanted. How could she not want someone so handsome, strong, protective, and loyal? He was the perfect Daddy.
Well, the perfect, completely oblivious Daddy.
To him, she’d always be Kenzie’s best friend, the annoying little tag-along he’d once rescued. Nothing more.
She wished, not for the first time, that things could be different.
A cold glob of frosting landed on her brand new baker’s shoe, making Junie jump. She stared down and groaned inwardly. She’d paid a lot for those shoes since they were specially designed for long hours of standing.
While her mind had been drifting in la-la land, she’d turned the icing on the last few cupcakes into sad, wobbly, wonky swirls. With a tired sigh, she picked up the scraper and started cleaning them off so she could do them over again.
“Sorry about that. You know you’re really important, right?
” she asked the cookies- and-cream cupcakes.
They were to be the debut of her latest recipe and needed to be perfect.
“The fact that I’m decorating you at god-thirty in the morning doesn’t mean anything.
You are special, and you are going to make so many children happy tomorrow… well, later today.”
One hundred and fifty cupcakes down, one hundred more to go.