Cakewalk

by Claire Hastings

  Gigi’s insides went to mush all over again, hearing him tell her this. He called her a lawyer. He was prepared to fight this with her, without a second thought. She had no idea what she had done to deserve him, but she wasn’t going to argue or take it for granted for another second. He was her future, and she was going to enjoy every last little bit of it.

  “I love you so much, Holden.”

  “I love you too, sweetheart. You have no idea.”

  He captured her lips in his, his kiss just as tender as before. She moaned softly, letting him know just how much she loved this too. She wasn’t sure she would ever get enough of him or his touch.

  “Ah-hem,” Officer Nelligan cleared his throat. Gigi and Holden parted just enough to turn to look at him, standing back in the door frame. “Sorry to, uh, interrupt. But you’re free to go now, Miss Gigi.”

  “Thank you, Officer Nelligan,” she said sweetly, watching as he swiftly dipped away from them. Turning back to Holden, she let a large smile take over as she looked at his piercing blue eyes. I could gladly get lost in these for the rest of my life…

  “Sweetheart, I think it’s time we got you home. Because as sexy as you look in my sweats—”

  “Even in jail?”

  “Even in jail,” he continued. “You look even sexier out of them. And after the day you’ve had, I think you deserve to be shown exactly how much I love you.”

  Epilogue

  Five months later

  Gigi

  Gigi stood inside the old Crumbs bakery, taking it all in. The place was dusty and needed a fresh coat of paint, but that didn’t stop the excitement from rushing through her veins. This place was hers.

  The last couple of months had been a whirlwind, but standing here now, she felt like she could finally breathe again. Rita Kaplan had hooked her up with a fraud lawyer out of Montpelier that she had graduated law school with. He wasted no time in proving that Gigi had no part in obtaining the false death certificate. Gigi had no idea how he’d done it from a small office in northern Vermont, but he had managed to hunt down the person who had forged the document and gotten their statement that it was Ayla Hatchette who had requested it, as well as additional testimony about her and Bradley’s behavior immediately after Gigi had taken off. Within two weeks, the police had dropped the charges against her altogether.

  As far as Gigi was concerned, Rita had just earned herself free cupcakes for the rest of her life.

  Since Bradley hadn’t gotten to updating his will before his second mistress had taken matters into her own hands, everything officially belonged to Gigi. Not that she wanted most of it. Forgetting him and the life they’d had together was much more of a priority than figuring out what to do with his clothes. While her own parents had made it known that they were not happy with her choice to run away and were less happy with her choice to not return to Atlanta, their opinion was greatly overshadowed by the scandal as a whole. Bradley’s antics had made the local papers, and Shaw Investments now had some major cleanup on its hands. Bradley’s parents, who had been incredibly ashamed when the news came out about his extramarital activities, were a lot more accepting of her choice to distance herself from it all and had told her that they would see to cleaning out the house and getting it on the market.

  “Hey, hey!” Hunnie’s voice called out as she walked into the empty storefront.

  “Welcome to Oh, For Heaven’s Cakes!” Gigi exclaimed, opening her arms wide, gushing slightly.

  “Your very own cake shop! Who would have thought?”

  “Not me, that’s for sure. Never in my wildest dreams, but I can’t tell you how excited I am to get this place cleaned up and open.”

  “You’re really only going to sell cakes?”

  “Yup! Maybe a few other desserts here and there, but I’m not really interested in doing anything more. Roderick tried to show me bread, and well, that’s just not as fun. You have to deal with that starter and feed it, and that’s just not for me,” she said. “I’ll still make the Dark Horse Mochaccino cupcakes for the Busy Bean as their exclusive item, plus whatever other flavors Zara and Audrey want. Oh, and I still have to call that guy from GoldBelly back.”

  “Is that the mail order thingy?”

  “Yup. It’s an online store that finds specialty items from local shops and then facilitates orders nationally. I’m not really sure how the whole thing works behind the scenes, but the idea of them wanting to ship my cupcakes across the country just baffles me!”

  “That is seriously cool! And, that right there is more than enough to keep you busy. Will this place be open before you head back to Atlanta?”

  “I think so. Holden doesn’t think it’ll take more than a week to clean and all that. I leave three weeks from tomorrow to finalize the insurance paperwork and all that there, and then move the few things I want to keep from the house up here,” she explained. She left out the part that she hoped the townhouse will have sold by then so that she could take care of it all at once, not wanting to have to think about it. Today was a happy day. “So, my hope is we’ll do some kind of soft opening and then hold a big to-do grand opening once I’m back.”

  “Gotcha. Well, I have to run, but I was asked to deliver this,” Hunnie said, with another waggle of her eyebrows. She held out a teal envelope that had her name scrawled across the front. Gigi took it from her friend, who curtsied in response and then snuck out the door.

  Opening it, Gigi had to catch her breath as she read the words on the card:

  * * *

  Today you are officially the owner of your very own cake shop, and I could not be more proud. Join me to celebrate where you first told me that this was a dream of yours. I’ll be waiting…

  I Love You, H

  * * *

  Gigi turned into the clearing off the driveway that led to the gazebo. As it came into view, she thought about that first night they had spent together out here and just how magical it was. She’d had feelings for Holden long before that night, but being curled up with him out here, watching the snow fall, that was when she first really started to fall for him. She could still feel the butterflies from the night as if it were yesterday. Some days, it felt like it had been yesterday, and others it felt like they’d lived six lifetimes since then.

  She got out of her Jeep, thankful that it had lived this long, slamming the door behind her. As much as she wanted to bring her BMW back with her from Atlanta, she wasn’t sure how the little convertible would do in the snow. She might need to start thinking about trading that in.

  The gazebo was filled with candles, flames flickering in the spring breeze. She looked around, trying to find Holden, but he didn’t seem to be around. Maybe he had to go grab something, she thought, until she turned around and saw a folded-up piece of paper, labeled “Read Me Out Loud.”

  Curious, she picked up the paper and did as instructed.

  “Once upon a time, in a land very far north, there was a beautiful princess. Now, this princess was not only beautiful on the outside, but on the inside as well. She was smart, and funny, and always saw the best in everyone. When she arrived in this new land very far north, she knew no one. But that didn’t stop her. Then one day, she met a grumpy troll. While this troll lived in a nice Victorian home, rather than under a bridge, he was still very grouchy,” she read, letting out a little laugh. She had no idea where Holden was going with this, but she loved it.

  “The princess didn’t seem to care that he was grouchy, though, and agreed to move into his house. There was a small accident where she almost burned down part of the house, but it has been agreed that that part of the story goes unmentioned. So there they were—he was grumpy, and she was beautiful and full of sunshine. One time, when the princess tried to do something nice for the troll, he lost his shit. But thankfully she forgave him. The two even became friends over time. Then more than friends. Bright and early one morning it was discovered that the beautiful princess was actually running away from a horrible beast, so the t
roll had to rescue her. He messed up his rescue a bit, but being the amazing woman she is, the princess forgave him for that too.” Gigi could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks as she read. He’d turned their story into a fairy tale. Well, sort of. He left out a lot of the details, and he was being a little harsh on himself, but she swooned anyway, thinking of the time this all had taken him. Sucking in a deep breath, she continued to read. “Despite it all, the princess still loved the troll. And the troll loved the princess. So now, he just has one more thing to do.”

  Following the little arrow at the bottom of the page, Gigi flipped over the page, expecting to find more, but all that was written there was a simple instruction.

  Turn around, sweetheart…

  Holden

  Holden watched as Gigi spun around, a loud gasp escaping as she took him in, down on one knee. Her hand flew to cover her mouth, the tears that had started while she read his story flowing even more freely now.

  “I’m not sure that there is anything I can say that I haven’t already told you. When you walked into my life, you stopped my world and spun it backwards, Gigi. You have made me feel things I never thought I would feel again. Hell, you made me feel again, period. I’d say that I don’t know where I would be without you, but that would be a lie. I’d still be that grumpy troll, grouching his way through life. Instead, I kneel here before you, hoping that you’re willing to see the prince deep inside me and do me the honor of being mine forever. GeorgiaGrace Elyse Shaw Hawthorne, will you marry me?”

  “Yes!” she screamed, launching herself at him. He managed to catch her just enough so that she didn’t knock the two of them to the ground, laughing at her reaction. Once they were both sitting down, he took the sapphire ring out of the box and slipped it on her hand. She looked down at it and then looked back up at him, her gray eyes so full of love Holden thought he might burst right there. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Almost as beautiful as you,” he said, still taking in her reaction. “It was my Aunt Viv’s. Caulfield picked it out at an antique jeweler in college. He said he wanted to get her something as unique as she was.”

  “This is…” Gigi trailed off. He could see the thoughts rushing through her head as she took it all in.

  “It is. He gave it to me back on Christmas and told me he would be honored to keep it in the family and to have you wear it.”

  “You’ve had this since Christmas?”

  “I have. And one would think having it that long, I could have written a better story, but alas, it was a last-minute addition.”

  “I love the story. I’m going to frame it and put it up in Oh, For Heaven’s Cakes,” she said teasingly. He laughed, pulling her in for a kiss. Her sense of humor was just one of the things he adored about her. Sitting here now, he knew he was the luckiest man on earth. “You keep writing stories like that, and you’ll be a best seller in no time.”

  “The only story that matters is the one where I get to live happily ever after with you, sweetheart. I love you more than words can say, Gigi.”

  “I love you too, Holden. I thought I knew what love was before, but I was wrong. You prove to me every day what it really is, and I don’t know what I would do without you. I can’t wait to be Mrs. Holden St. James, and to tackle whatever else life throws at us. Together.”

  “As long as I have you by my side, Gigi, nothing else matters. We've already proven we can handle pretty much anything, so from here on out, everything else will be a cakewalk.”

  T H E

  E N D

  Thank you for reading Cakewalk by Claire Hastings! Did you know there’s a bonus epilogue featuring GiGi and Holden . . . and a yummy cake recipe? Get your copy here.

  You can get all the links to all the Busy Bean books here. Or turn the page for more great recommendations for Claire Hastings and World of True North titles

  You Will Also Enjoy…

  More Busy Bean:

  Sweetheart by Sarah Mayberry

  Cowboy by L.B. Dunbar

  Friendzoned by Rachel Blaufeld

  More World of True North:

  Touchstone by Karen Stivali

  Heartwood by J.H. Croix

  Claire Hastings’s Books Include:

  Indigo Royal Resort Series

  I Think We’re Alone Now

  Out of Bounds

  Acknowledgments

  Brad – I always said I’d name a character after you. I’m only *slightly* sorry he was the bad guy...

  A&B – for everything. Seriously...everything...

  KKSB – how did I author before y’all?

  Allie – the “I smell you” story has long been a favorite. Thank you for letting me immortalize N by using it. Maybe someday we’ll let him know he’s “famous”

  Rachel - for not only letting me steal Hunnie, but for your friendship and encouragement as we navigated this project

  Raewyn – thank you for going to culinary school and becoming a professional pastry chef, all so you could teach me how to (fictionally) start a kitchen fire

  Fire Station 15 – for being really, really understanding when I called to ask about lighting things on fire and then extinguishing them

  Lisa – the best #bookbestie ever, thank you for believing in me, even when I don’t always believe in myself

  All the other authors in the World of True North, especially the other Busy Beaners –I have loved getting to know and work with each and every one of you. The love, generosity, and support of this group has been incredible

  Jane, Jenn, and Natasha – for putting up with all my neediness

  Sarina – for taking a chance on me and letting me get to play in the True North world. It’s been an honor

  And as always, Drew and Denali, for their unending, unwavering, unequivocal support in everything. Thank you for loving my particular brand of crazy. Ik hou van jou.