by Simon, Misty
She and Nate stared at each other through the big pane of glass. He was backed by a blue sky and the trees across the road. It was a normal, everyday sight, and yet it set her heart racing. It wasn’t some romance novel cover, it wasn’t even romantic in the least, except that it was Nate, the fulfillment of every one of her needs and desires, if she would admit that he was the sprinkles. Not just cake, not just icing, not just a body to satisfy her desires or a shoulder to lean on when times were tough. Not just a best friend who had stuck by her all these years.
He was her helpmate, someone who believed in her when she didn’t believe in herself. Someone she did the same for and would continuously over the years. He was someone she wanted to grow old with, not just as besties with different paths that would lead them back to each other over and over again through the years. She didn’t want him to belong to anyone but her.
The breath backed up in her lungs, and she felt lightheaded. She was going to change all the rules to a game that hadn’t even really started yet. She was going to tell him what she wanted and let him tell her he wanted the same.
That thought made her feel a little sick in the stomach. She sought out the chair where the happy bride had recently sat tasting cake for her wedding day. She had been so happy and so sure in what she was doing. Knew that Matt was it for her for the rest of her life.
But Claudia had thought the same thing long ago. Long enough that she knew things like that didn’t always last, no matter how much you wanted them to. Life would have been much different and less rich if Peter had stuck around, she knew that. She also knew what it felt like to be abandoned and never wanted to experience it again.
“Emergency girl meeting!” she yelled, startling the only customer in the building. Mrs. Beecher gave her a smile.
“I know all about those girl meetings, and I hope this one is about that yummy hunk outside, dear. I heard you were kissing him and thought it was about darn time that you got a clue. Go get him!”
When Mrs. Beecher patted her arm affectionately and told her she’d be back after lunch to continue shopping, Claudia gave her a weak smile. It was all she could manage as she headed for the small back office with its new comfy chairs. It was last on the list for expansion. Nate was going to build out the office into the back yard to allow for them to have three desks, bookshelves, and filing cabinets. She’d miss the coziness of this current room, probably, but not right now as she tried to pace and found it frustrating to have to wind around the bigger chairs and the desk, all arranged tightly in the small space.
May and Zoe showed up within seconds and took a seat. They both brought their feet up off the floor and sat in the Criss-Cross-Applesauce position to avoid Claudia’s strides.
When Claudia looked over at them, they were both smiling at her smugly.
“What?” she said, standing still for a moment.
“Penny told you her sprinkles story,” May said first, with a smirk that turned into a huge smile.
“Um, yes.” How did she know that?
“She told me the same story when I was making her dress, and I told her to come in and make sure she told you, since Zoe had already made the cake announcement after hearing Penny’s sprinkles story, too.”
Zoe’s smile was even bigger, if possible. It looked like she would split her face in half at any moment. Looking at May, she said, “I told you that would get to her!”
Claudia started sputtering. Once she regained control of her tongue, she just stood there with her mouth open.
“The carp impression is not doing you any more favors than it did me the other day.” Zoe let her feet rest back on the floor. “You were ripe to finally see Nate as something more than a friend. I’ve been waiting forever for you to get with him. My fifteen-year-old heart went pitty-pat every time he held Justin, and I knew he was the one for you even then.”
“I didn’t see it that early, Claudia,” May confided. “I was still hoping you would get back together with my brother, but once I heard the sprinkles story and you told me about Nate being your cake, I knew it was going to work out for you. It’s one of the reasons I told Peter to back off before he took himself back to Ohio.”
“But, I…”
Zoe cut in. “That’s why Mom hasn’t been introducing you to any more of those supposedly eligible bachelors. She never meant for you to actually get involved with them, because she kept hoping you would see Nate differently.”
“So, you…”
“Conspiracy!” Zoe yelled. “I love conspiracies that work out right!”
May laughed, but Claudia gave Zoe the evil eye even as she smiled. “Just you wait until it’s your turn.”
“Eh, I’m not worried, and neither is May, since she’s already married.” Zoe shrugged. “I’m not falling, but it’s been such a pleasure watching you realize what was right in front of you from day one.”
“So, do we still have an emergency?’ May asked, rising from her chair. “Because I have a dress order that needs to be done this, and I have an ultrasound scheduled for this afternoon.”
“How exciting!” Zoe said, far overusing her limit of acceptable exclamation points for the day.
Claudia used one of her own. “Yes, we still have an emergency!”
“How do you figure?” Zoe asked, looking honestly perplexed. May joined her in the look, and they resembled a pair of bookends. Did they seriously not see how this would change her whole life and her plan? The potential hazards of not just cake but sprinkles? Of putting faith in the whole sprinkles thing? In her possibly moving toward marriage and a true shared relationship for the very first time in her entire life?
“I am scared shitless.”
That was all it took for both of the other women to crowd around her and say soothing things. But it was Zoe who finally stepped back and took Claudia’s chin in her hand. “You can do this. You have chosen the one man in the world that I trust your happiness to completely. Now don’t screw it up.”
She and May shoved her out of the office before she was ready and then continued on with the shoving, straight out the door. Once on the sidewalk, Claudia looked at Nate, really looked at him in profile as he was checking the measurement of a window.
His hands were solid and big; his heart was the same. He had been with her through everything, every milestone, every setback, every hurdle, every triumph. And she wanted him, heart, mind, and body, more than she had ever wanted anyone.
She strode purposefully over to him and tapped his shoulder. He turned toward her with a smile and a hello on his lips that she promptly took into her mouth.
This was no exploratory kiss, it wasn’t one that was testing or teasing. This was her pouring her soul into him, and him breathing his back into her.
****
Nate broke contact with Claudia, feeling as if his world had just spun off its axis, been jerked back, and now was turning the opposite way.
“I love you,” Claudia said before he could catch his breath. “I love you and I want everything. I want the cake, I want the icing, I want sprinkles and cake toppers, sugar flowers, plastic ribbon, those fake confection sugar things you can buy at the grocery store. I want all of you. And I want you to have all of me.”
“Claudia…”
But he was cut off by a shrill whistle from over his left shoulder. “All right, bro!” Logan called out from the ladder to the second floor. “Finally going to reel in the one you never actually fished for. Long damn time coming, man! But it should be that much better, right?”
Nate very deliberately went to the ladder and shook the bottom just enough to scare his younger brother.
“Okay, okay. Man,” he said, but he was smiling, and so was Claudia.
“I know I should have waited for tonight, or at least somewhere more private, but I wanted you to know as soon as I did. I love you. I’m hoping that was what you were going to say, back before your rude brother interrupted us.” She shook the ladder a little harder, hard enough for Logan to ho
ld onto the window sill of the second floor, just in case.
Taking her hands in his, he looked into the eyes he had seen change time and time again, from flashing with anger to drowning in sorrow. From loving and kind to hurt and distraught. And through all of it she had been his Claudia, no matter how many times he had tried to pretend otherwise. “I love you with all I have, Claude, and I always have.”
“What the hell took you so long to say anything then, you big bozo? You could have saved me a bunch of stupid dates, not to mention those awful flats that I will never wear again, if you’d just spoken up.”
“See you got yourself a live one,” Fred called out as he helped his girlfriend out of the car across the street. Now they had even more witnesses. Great.
“What are you doing over here?” Nate loosely held Claudia’s hand while he got a good look at the woman who had snagged his neighbor’s heart. Big pinkish hair dominated a petite, rounded woman. Glasses perched on her small nose and only slightly dimmed the vibrant twinkle in her faded eyes.
“Edna wants to do a little decadent shopping, since I told her we should get hitched, and I can’t say no to my loveykins, can I?”
“You did not tell me, Fred Watson.” She turned to Nate while smacking Fred in the arm with her purse. “He got down on one knee and asked for my hand in marriage. He said he wants to grow old together, the silly thing. I told him I’d grow older with him but I was already old.”
Fred’s big laugh was accompanied by her tinkling laughter, and it was beautiful.
“Now, son,” Fred said. “I have some business to attend to with this young lady there in your arms, but we can do the flower thing first, if you need to take a little time.” Fred waggled his eyebrows.
But there was no way Nate was going to drag her upstairs and have his way with her, frantically, when Justin would be home in less than an hour, by his watch, and Logan was in the window, and Fred was downstairs. Talk about witnesses.
“I’m going to walk Claudia around the block, and then she’ll be right back with you.”
“Take your time there, son. It’ll give me more time to make eyes at Edna and talk her into trying a few things on for me out of Ms. May’s collection.”
“Take a lesson from that man,” Claudia whispered in his ear.
“Yeah, take a lesson from me and get that girl around the corner where you can kiss her senseless without all these eyes watching.” Fred laughed and Claudia blushed.
“We’re going.”
Nate had taken three steps with Claudia’s hand in his when Fred’s next words stopped him in his tracks. “Always thought that girl was made for him. Circled each other for years, but they have that kind of time. You, my dear Edna, were smart enough to talk me into things much sooner.”
And then Fred was in Decadence and Claudia and Nate stared at each other on the front sidewalk.
“Let’s go to the park.”
Nate eyed her short black dress and the way it hugged her every curve. The benches were mostly clean at the park, but she might regret her decision. If she needed to do this out there, though, who was he to complain?
He led her through the concrete entryway and waited for her to take a seat on the wooden bench under an oak tree. She continued to stand and pace.
“You go ahead and have a seat. I need to stand for this. I’m too agitated to sit.”
He did as she asked, wanting to make sure she wasn’t going to bolt.
“I’m hoping you heard every word I said and believe them all. I heard about sprinkles today, and it changed things for me.”
“I’ve known you loved me. But aren’t I just the cake? What is the significance of sprinkles?” He braced himself for the answer. He wanted to be the sprinkles, whatever it meant. He wanted that badly.
“No!” She yanked at her hair, pulling the pins out of her beautifully arranged waves. “God, how stupid am I?”
He didn’t think he was supposed to answer that question, under penalty of death.
“I mean every word and regret every moment I haven’t recognized you as more than Nate-my-friend.”
“I’ve liked being Nate-your-friend, though. Maybe it just wasn’t time for us.”
“I think it’s time for us now,” she said.
“This doesn’t have anything with Peter leaving, does it? I don’t want you to settle because you’re panicked.” Though it was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to say, there was no way he was going into this with his eyes clouded. Though it was many years since she and Peter had last been together, he was her last significant relationship and Nate did not want to be the rebound.
“There is no Peter. He just wanted to see if he could get a ready-made family without any of the work. Without any of the work you’ve done all these years without me even realizing it.”
“Oh no.” He held up his hands. “You’ve done all the work with Justin. He loves you and is a great kid because of you.”
“And because of you. You always have been there for him and for me.”
“So I’m the sprinkles?” He was almost afraid to ask in case his hearing had been faulty earlier.
“I don’t know if I’d call you sprinkles, actually.”
He felt his face fall into a frown. Why couldn’t he be her sprinkles? “I want to be the sprinkles.”
“No, Nate, what I need is the sugar.”
“Huh?”
She came and sat on his thighs, snuggling into him as if his lap had been made for her. And maybe it was.
“Sugar is the base for the cake, for the icing, for the sprinkles. It’s the thing you need for all of it to come together. I’d call you the eggs, since that’s the binding ingredient and I want to be bound to you, but I don’t think that’s nearly as romantic, and it doesn’t sound as good as calling you my sugar.”
“Does this mean I’m going to fatten you up?” he joked, squeezing her and wanting to kiss her until neither of them could breath.
“Only if you plan on getting me pregnant.”
His breath backed up in his lungs. “Do you want that?” God, to watch Claudia grow big again, this time knowing it was his child living and kicking inside her. Rubbing her belly again, knowing it was his son or daughter rolling inside her womb. Talking to the baby and loving it as much as he loved the son she already had.
“I want it all, Nate, and I want it with you.”
“What about Justin?”
“Are you kidding? Justin is going to be over the moon. He’s going to be home soon, so if you’re planning on kissing me again, you’d better do it quick before we have to sit down and explain all this to him.”
He passed a gentle hand over her hair. “I don’t know what kind of family we’re going to make, Claudia, but we’re going to do our damnedest to make it as close to our dreams as possible.”
“That’s all I want. You’re all I want.”
“Same goes, babe. Now lay one on me so we can go back to all those people spying on us from down the street and tell them the news.”
“What news is that?” Claudia asked coyly.
“The news that you’re finally going to make an honest man out of me.”
She laughed, and it was music to his ears and his heart.
****
That night, Claudia and Nate sat Justin down in the living room above Decadence. Claudia asked Zoe to find something else to do so that she, Nate, and Justin could talk together as the family she hoped they would soon be.
“What’s up, guys?” Justin said, coming into the living room with his ball and mitt in his hands. “Is Nate going to take me to the batting cages? That would be really cool.” He slyly looked at Nate out of the corner of his eye, and Claudia couldn’t tell if Justin was just trying to get one over on them or if someone had told him about the display in front of Decadence before she got a chance to lay it out for him herself.
Nate laughed and held Claudia’s hand. Justin’s eyes zeroed in on the motion in a split second. His face squinched up,
and Claudia wasn’t sure if he was about to cry or cheer.
“Justin, Nate and I would like to talk to you.”
“Why is he holding your hand? I’ve seen him hold your hand to help you over a short fence or something, but not just hold your hand when you’re sitting down.” He looked skeptical, and she couldn’t blame him.
“Well, honey, this is what we wanted to talk to you about.” Claudia cleared her throat, not sure where to actually go with the conversation now that she had started it. “Um…”
Nate jumped in. “Look, guy, what your mom is trying to say is that…um…”
She and Nate both laughed, looking at each other. They weren’t going to be able to wade slowly into this. “Nate and I are dating,” Claudia blurted out, hoping it wouldn’t rock Justin’s world in a bad way. As happy as she’d been to tell Nate she loved him today, she’d also feared what it would do to Justin. But she couldn’t ignore her heart anymore.
“Cool.” Justin sat back against the chair and smiled at both of them.
“Just cool? You don’t have anything else to say?” Claudia peered at him closely to make sure he wasn’t hiding his real feelings. She glanced at Nate, who was doing the same thing.
“Yep, just cool.”
“Okay,” Nate said, then kissed the back of Claudia’s hand. Was he testing the waters?
Justin laughed, right before he groaned. “Oh, man, I’m not going to have to watch you guys be all lovey-dovey and stuff, am I? I told Grandma when she said she wanted the two of you to get together that I didn’t know if I’d be able to handle that. I guess it’s okay, though, as long as I don’t have to watch too much smooching.”
Claudia burst out laughing, and so did Nate. “Did you just say that you and Grandma orchestrated this whole thing?”
“I don’t think I’d use that big of a word, but sure.” Justin grinned at them. “She told me all about her plan to introduce you to all those stupid guys so you might see what was right in front of you. I didn’t know what she meant at first, but then she said Nate. At first I thought it would be gross, because Nate’s like my best friend. But then I thought about it some more, and the more I thought about it the cooler it got. Who else gets to have their best friend living in their house all the time and making their mom happy? It’s going to be so cool! Don’t date too long, though,” he said, looking at them both head-on. “I want to be able to call him Dad and live in his house with all those flat screen TVs real soon!”