Which, I realized in that nanosecond, for Brock it was.

“So hire a business manager to oversee the shit you don’t wanna do at your different locations and spend your time baking and decorating,” he suggested.

This idea held merit but I still shook my head and explained, “Sometimes, when folks expand, things get out of hand. You lose quality. You lose personality. It starts to be about money, not about soul. I put a lot of work into what’s happening out there and my name is on these cakes.” I gave his waist a squeeze and said quietly, “To me, baby, this isn’t just cakes, it’s my vision, it’s me. And I need to control it.”

And it was my vision, it was me. I’d not that long ago finally discovered who I was and what was inside me and that didn’t only include a mountainous swirl of frosting under which was rich, moist cake. It also included robin’s egg blue and lavender and hibiscus blossoms and hummingbirds and smiling clerks and kids who walked in with looks on their faces like Rex and walked out with smiles on their faces like pretty much everybody.

“All right, darlin’,” Brock said softly and my focus went back to him. “You’d had a tough night so you might have missed it but over Mexican, your girl bitched… at length… about her job. She’s in a bad place, hates what she’s doin’ and she’s been lookin’ around now for months and findin’ nothin’. You told me your income quadrupled over Christmas and that isn’t slowing. Right now, you got the means to do this and you got someone you trust, someone who knows you and your vision and understands the importance of it to you. Talk to Martha, maybe she’ll be open to takin’ on a new gig. Even if you don’t expand, with how it is out there, you still could use someone doin’ what you do in here so you can get outta here and do what you prefer to do out there.”

Again, this idea held merit but this one held more. Like a lot more. Doable more.

“That’s a great idea, honey,” I whispered.

“It’s a selfish idea, baby,” he whispered back. “The more money you make, the more sexy nighties I get and if you get help, I’ll maybe see you sometimes when you’re not flat out exhausted and trying to hide it.”

See? Totally could not pull shit over on Brock.


“I’ll talk to her tonight,” I told him.

“Good,” he said on an arm squeeze.

“So,” I tipped my head to the side, “did you come here to advise me on the future of my bakery?”

He shook his head and answered, “Nope, gotta go to work. Mom’s got plans to go see a movie with friends. Laura’s got a gaggle of girls over because Ellie had a slumber party last night. Jill and Fritz are up in the mountains snowshoeing. I don’t think Dad’s up to it, Levi isn’t answering his phone and Kalie and Kellie are out there. ‘Cause of that, I need to ask you to look after the boys. If I can get hold of Levi, I’ll give you a call and send him ‘round to pick them up.”

It was then I noticed he wasn’t in a thermal and his leather jacket and faded jeans but in a navy blue turtleneck (again, one I bought him for Christmas), his nice jeans and his black overcoat.

Work attire.

“Someone get a cap busted in their ass?” I asked.

He grinned, shook his head in that way he did (that way I liked) when I knew he thought I was cute and answered, “Yeah, and that someone was done exactly the way another someone was done who hit my desk last week. I gotta get to the crime scene and I gotta look into that shit.”

Not fun.

“Okay,” I agreed readily and his arms gave me another squeeze.

“They’ll be cool,” he told me.

“I know they will,” I told him.

“If they can help out, put them to work,” he suggested.

“They just got KP duties,” I decided.

He smiled again. Then he dipped his head to touch his lips to mine.

The he lifted his head and murmured, “Thanks, baby.”

“Anytime, honey,” I murmured back but even at a murmur I meant it and he knew it.

Therefore, he smiled then that smile faded as a shadow drifted through his eyes telling me he wanted to spend a Saturday when he should be with his sons going to a crime scene and

“looking into that shit” about as much as he wanted to get a tooth pulled without Novocain then he muttered, “I gotta go.”

I pressed into him and whispered, “Yeah.”

I got another squeeze, another lip touch (this one on my forehead) then he let me go but lifted a hand to cup my jaw before he murmured, “Later.”

Then he was gone.

I followed him out, moved through the back and front telling the girls we had two new helpers, approached Joel and Rex at their table where they were finishing up devouring a slice of carrot cake (Rex) and a red velvet cupcake (Joel), told them what they were going to do to earn their keep and at this news their eyes lit.

Only kids would think clearing tables and washing up coffee cups, plates and forks in a bakery was cool.

Or maybe it was only Brock’s kids.

And lucky for me they did because I could use the help.

* * * * *

“Aunt Tess!” I heard shrieked, I turned from loading a cake stand on the back shelves with cupcakes just in time to see Ellie darting through the shop, heading for the opening at the end of the counter and rounding it.

Luckily, although her speed was akin to an Olympian who, with great dedication trained daily and maintained an athlete’s lifestyle twenty-four, seven, I had time to brace before she hit my legs, arms wrapped around them.

My hand not holding the cupcake tray settled on her head and then dropped as she arched her back at an impossible angle without releasing her hold and grinned up at me.

“Mom’s buyin’ us pink cupcakes!” she screeched then jumped back and clapped, “I can’t wait! ”

I smiled at her and was surprised to see she’d ditched the princess attire and was now a mermaid complete with flashy, green, iridescent tail and flat, lilac shells as bodice however this ensemble was marred by a winter coat and a cute, fluffy wool hat with a bobble on the top both of which didn’t exactly say “under the sea”.

“Ellie, come out from behind that counter right now,” Laura snapped, standing at the end of it. “What did I tell you about when your Aunt Tess is working? You don’t go behind the counter when Aunt Tess is working.”

This wasn’t true. Ellie always came behind the counter when she visited Tessa’s Cakes, that was, she came behind the counter if Aunt Tess was there in order to do what she just did.

“She doesn’t care,” Ellie shot back and this was the true but Laura instantly got a Mom Face that clearly stated without words that she was not in the mood for backtalk. Ellie read her mother’s face, she scrunched her face, looked up at me, unscrunched her face, gave me a toothy grin then skipped out from behind the counter.

“Go, sit down with your friends,” Laura ordered. “I’ll be there with cupcakes and milk in a second but I won’t be there with cupcakes and milk if you don’t behave.”

I could tell by Ellie’s face she took this seriously and I could also tell it by her ensuing actions for she did not delay in rounding up her three also mermaid-attired friends (obviously this slumber party had a theme) and herding them to an open table at the window.

Suni took my tray of cupcakes, I shot her a grateful smile and moved to Laura and the minute I arrive she started bitching in an undertone.

“Remind me never but never to do this again. I knew it, I’ve done it before but, like childbirth, you forget how freaking painful it is in between times and therefore convince yourself you’re good for another go. And Ellie gets invited to slumber parties all the time and it was our turn. I shouldn’t care. Turns don’t matter. Peace of mind matters. Not losing your hearing due to the constant shrieking of little girls matters. Sanity matters. If those girls’

mothers are fool enough to take on that energy and noise level, great, fine, more power to them. But I… am… not. ”

I nodded like I understood (when I actually didn’t) and opened my mouth to say something soothing but she kept bitching.

“And Austin abandoned me. He had four hours with the girls last night and he took off first thing this morning leaving me a note. ”

Oh man. Not a smooth move on Austin’s part. I had a feeling Austin was in the doghouse.

Laura kept right on going.

“Okay, so, he took the boys out to breakfast and then to a movie so I don’t also have Grady and Dylan to deal with but Grady and Dylan are a piece of cake compared to four four year old little girls. Ellie told them all about you and your cupcakes and that’s all they’ve been talking about so, to shut them up, I had to bring them here. But I have to tell you, Tess, I’m uncertain about injecting even a teaspoon of sugar into those four. They’re bouncing off the walls now. With sugar in them, they might explode through like four year old little girl Hulks in mermaid outfits.”

I bit my lip and waited for her to continue complaining so she could get it all off her chest but she didn’t. Her eyes suddenly wandered to a blackboard but she wasn’t reading it. They’d glazed over and I knew she was on a mental deserted island with a very strong mai tai and a romance novel.

I waited a moment to allow her to experience her fantasy before I was going to lift my hand and wave it in front of her face but I didn’t get the chance.

“Aunt Laurie,” Rex called, moving through the swinging doors followed by Joel.

Laura’s body jerked, her mouth tilted up into a smile and she said, “Hey kiddo,” and accepted a hug around her hips as she ruffled his hair then her eyes went to Joel and she said,