The Sweetest Things: A Quirky Small Town Romance (Starlight Harbor Book 1)

by Bria Quinlan

  "I'm about a million miles over my head already.” Spence watched as she did the same thing for her daily list, then worked through her Christmas list, then looked at the anniversary party.

  "The party is where I can't skimp. It has to be a homerun. It's a big deal for these people. I don't want to be the person who lets them down. I want to be the person who makes it a night to remember."

  When they started, she’d is been a little more hopeful, but looking at all the Post-Its still on the right side of the table, not so much. Trying to keep a hopeful look on her face and an optimistic idea in her heart, Lyra tried to figure out how she was going to pull this off.

  "So, where do we get started?"

  She froze, looking up at the man who had nearly bankrupted her business now offering to help her save the day.

  “Um, so…” Of course, saving the day was easier when you actually could bake. “Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but can you bake?”

  Spence grinned and shrugged a bit. “Not a lot. But I’m a great extra pair of hands. Plus I can keep the front clean, ring up people, help them with their order, pour tea. If you say ‘pull that out of the oven,’ I’ll remember to put on those big mittens first so we don’t have to go to the hospital.”

  She still wasn’t sure what to do with him. There was no time to train someone to do anything, but the way he made it sound he’d just do things that took common sense.

  If only she could be sure he had common sense to spare.

  “It can’t hurt, right?” He glanced down at the stickies again. “I’m sure there’s something you could teach me to do that would keep me out of the way and let you get important stuff done. It would be fun to work together for a day.”

  It was true. She needed to get all of the Post-Its that were left done. There wasn’t really any option in that.

  “Okay, let’s start with the register. It’s super easy. I use Square.”

  She walked him through that and talked him through the first two sales for morning coffee and muffins as she frosted the first set of cookies to get them ready for decorating.

  “Got it.” Spence handed the woman her to-go cup and turned back to Lyra. “What’s next on the flash training schedule?”

  Lyra glanced at the list and wondered what she could give him.

  “The locals will start coming in for real now, so you’re going to be completely in charge of the front. Make sure we have coffee at all times or there will be a revolt and I won’t feel bad using you as a human shield.”

  “Coffee. Got it.”

  “If you could pull everything on the list that’s clipped to the front of the walk-in for the banana bread and custard tarts while I finish this, that would be great.”

  “Not a problem.”

  He started out back, but when the chime over the door sounded he beelined to the counter, put the woman’s order together, rung her up, and then carried on.

  He was more efficient than two teens with cell phones any day.

  He lifted. He carried. He fetched. He cleaned. He put away.

  It was heaven. And, in the meantime, he asked questions. Tons and tons of questions.

  Why the bakery? Where did she study? What was her favorite thing to make? Why did she come back to Starlight Harbor? What was her best seller? What did she exclusively make when Christmas guests were here? How often did she have events like the engagement party? Did she ever close the shop? What was she going to do now that the twins were out?

  She got enough cookies decorated to put on display and to send the daily cookie tray over to Noah.

  “What’s up with the cookie tray?” Spence asked, carrying on the question brigade.

  “He doesn’t want to have to make desserts and the older gentlemen who hang out there in the afternoon like cookies. He also puts in orders for actual desserts every three days.”

  Thank goodness today wasn’t one of those days.

  Of course, Noah would probably just toss some premade dough in his oven and call it good.

  The morning crowd slowed down and gave Lyra time to focus on the plan for the engagement party. She was halfway through the petit fours when she heard the chime of the front door and noticed how quiet it had been.

  Glancing at the clock, she was shocked to see it was after lunch.

  “Hey.” Spence came through the front door, a bag in hand. “Chicken salad on croissants, made by the talented baker across the square, and some sweet potato chips.”

  He set the bag down and started unpacking it, leaving Lyra to finish what she was on and take her work apron off.

  “How’s it going?” he asked as she carried two iced teas over and tossed the gross packets of fake sugar he seemed to like at him.

  She was going to have to work on his taste palate if that’s what he was putting in her unflavored teas.

  “Good.” She took a bite of the sandwich, judging how her croissant had held up. She made them yesterday and was pleased with the taste and texture. Watching as Spence bit into his and the happy look on his face, she went on. “I’ve been surprised how quiet it is. The families must be arriving later than usual.”

  “Why’s that?” he asked as he popped a chip in his mouth.

  “Because we’re usually overrun with people wanting an afternoon snack after they’re settled.”

  “Oh.” Spence glanced out the window then back at her before taking another bite of his sandwich. “How’s the cake and stuff coming?”

  Lyra opened her mouth before she realized she’d been diverted.

  “What’s going on?”

  Spence pointed to his mouth and kept chewing. After a moment, she had to wonder what exactly he was chewing.

  “Spence. What are you not telling me?”

  He took a sip of tea—either to wash down the chicken salad or to stall longer.

  When he couldn’t put it off any more, Spence set his glass down and reached across the table to take her hand.

  “Oh, that’s not good.” Lyra looked at her hand in his. “Just tell me straight.”

  Spence glanced over her shoulder again and out the window. She knew what was coming. She didn’t like it, but maybe it wasn’t as bad as she thought.

  “The guests are here. Most of the families with kids arrived before lunch and ate down at the restaurant on the water.”

  She nodded.

  This was new. Especially with kids. She was used to being overrun as the special vacation treat.

  And no one had come in.

  Lyra stood and tossed her napkin on the table, determined to get to the bottom of this. She stepped out of the bakery, into the bright midday sun surprise to see just how right Spence was.

  There were people everywhere.

  That wasn't uncommon for a Christmas week. The surrounding towns knew the schedule and came in for the festivities and special events.

  And usually for her cookies.

  But not today. The bakery was empty, and while she had been thankful for the quiet as she prepped for the party, she couldn't help but be surprised by just how bad business was.

  She waited until an unfamiliar face was walking by and stopped them.

  "Hey, have you tried the bakery?"

  The woman shook her head and glanced in the window. "No. We read on the way up all the reviews on the tourism site, and that was the only shop they said to steer clear of. Kind of sad it’s right here on the square, huh?"

  Lyra gave her a tight smile as the family walked away.

  She glanced around the square, watching people mill about everywhere, and realized that things were far worse than she thought.

  "Oh, Cupcake." Spence stood behind her holding the door open. "I'm so sorry. I thought that was taken care of."

  She pushed back the tears she didn't want him to see. Not because she didn't want him to feel guilty, because part of her did. But because she absolutely was not going to let him think this could beat her.

  Shoulders set, she brushed by him ba
ck into the store, determined to make the most of the day.

  No matter what was going on, she still had a really important party tomorrow that she absolutely did not want to let down.

  Maybe this was one of those silver lining things—plenty of free time to get caught up without the girls here.

  She’d deal with the Yelp thing later.

  Before she could get back to work, someone cleared his throat at the counter. Spence stood on the other side of the counter.

  "Did you want to take off?"

  She wouldn't blame him. He probably had plenty of things to do, and now that there wasn't a lot he could get done here, he might as well take off.

  "Not exactly. But I’d like to buy two dozen cookies."

  "I don't need your pity purchase."

  “It's not a pity purchase." Spence took his wallet out and put it down in front of him. "I have things to do with these. There’s a cookie emergency,” he said, quoting Noah from the day before.

  "What is with you guys and cookie emergencies?"

  "So am I going to get those cookies or not?" Spence slid down so he could look into the pastry display. “I'd like an assortment of two dozen of the holiday sugar cookies. Just for good measure, could I have one more dozen unfrosted, please?"

  "Unfrosted?"

  "Yes. Unfrosted."

  "You want to bring my cookies, unfrosted, with no decorations, out to the world for your cookie emergency?" Lyra crossed her arms over her chest.

  "Not everyone likes that much sugar."

  Lyra sucked in a breath and tried not to gasp.

  "These are not all sugar."

  "They are literally called sugar cookies."

  "That’s not my point. These cookies have the perfect balance of cookie to frosting ratio. To get them unfrosted would be…” She didn't even know what to say to that.

  "You know, some people would like to enjoy your cookies as they would like them. Like those people who get headaches from too much natural sugar.”

  Spence glanced away, his jaw tightening just a bit.

  “Is that why you put that fake stuff in your tea? "

  Spence gave a sharp nod.

  "Sugar can trigger my migraines if I'm not careful,” he admitted reluctantly. “It’s stupid to let a little headache slow you down.”

  “Who called your migraines little headaches?” Because she was going to destroy that person.

  Like, for real. Not just threaten to destroy them, then meet them and want to kiss them destroy-them.

  “Just…someone.”

  She was betting someone was an ex.

  Well, exes were exes for a reason.

  Lyra glanced around, quickly trying to figure out what to do.

  “You can be around it, though, right? It's not like peanuts or perfume, right?"

  "No. No, absolutely not." He reassured her as quickly as possible. “It's just… Well, I’d kind of like some of your cookies. And I have some people I need to share them with.”

  She couldn't shake the feeling he was up to something, but even if it was just to go hang out with Noah and the guys at the café since nothing was going on here, she couldn't really blame him.

  “Okay. Two dozen frosted, one unfrosted."

  She tried not to panic since he looked like he’d just won something and she wasn’t sure what. Either way, she didn’t have the time to figure out he was up to. She had to stay on her schedule.

  He insisted on paying for his cookies, then marched out of the bakery, obviously on a mission.

  It was surprisingly quiet without him there.

  Not that she missed him or anything.

  Okay, she totally missed him.

  18

  “I need a tray.” Spence didn’t wait for the line in front of him to make way. He just walked right behind Noah’s counter as if he belonged there.

  “Good to see you, too. I’m a little busy, what with lunch service and all, but make yourself at home.” The last was obviously high on the sarcasm scale.

  “Right. Lyra is going under. The Yelp page isn’t down. No one has gone in. I have cookies to pimp but no tray.”

  Noah slid a glance his way. It was something between exasperation and acceptance.

  “I have a few I need to return to her. Take your pick in the stack drawer to the right of the sink.”

  Spence had no idea what that meant and was beginning to realize he needed to learn what went on in kitchens if he was going to level up in the adulting world.

  He doubled down on this when he set up the tray and it looked like an eight-year-old did it.

  He was just going to go with good intentions and an attempt at charm and head out the door.

  "Hey, Spence."

  Spence turned back toward Noah just in time to get hit in the face with the Santa hat he threw at him.

  “'Tis the season, man. Christmas week. Christmas cookies. Christmas hat." Noah laughed as Spence put the tray down and stuck the hat on his head.

  The hat matched the mission. Ridiculous or not.

  The first group of people he saw was mulling around outside the gifts and paper shop. Spence gave them the once-over. Comfortable shoes, oversize bags, big-rimmed hats and glasses.

  Definitely tourists.

  And, their hats were even brighter than his—a purple and a red one.

  "Ladies, can I offer you some Christmas cookies?" Spence put on his most charming smile, which as a nerd boy who worked online was questionable at best.

  Darn it, he should've called Cam. That pretty boy would get anyone eating out of the palm of his hands.

  Or Jamie… He'd swagger on over and probably walk away with as many dates as cookies that he gave away.

  Geez, even Noah had more game than he did. Noah would just glare—or as the girls put it, smolder—and look all tough and be like, "Cookies, ladies?" in that gravelly military voice, and they would probably swoon before taking the cookies.

  He thought they were just going to look at him with his tray of cookies and his stupid hat and walk away. Instead, they came closer to check out the different designs.

  "These are gorgeous." The purple hat raised her cell phone to take a picture. When he realized he was in the frame, Spence gave an uncomfortable smile. He had not signed up for this.

  Or, maybe he had when he’d driven eight hours to try to fix the chaos he created.

  She took a couple more shots of the cookies and then picked one up and a bit into it.

  “I didn't expect them to taste as good as they look."

  "I'm not sure I want to eat my favorite one. It's so pretty I’d feel guilty.” She shook her red-hatted head. “I should pick my least favorite."

  "You have a least favorite?" her friend asked.

  "Right. I'll have the snowman.” She picked it up and took a bite. “Wow. Delicious. This is what we should bring everyone back as gifts.”

  Things would turn around if everything went like this. All he had to do was get out on the street and make people realize how awesome Lyra stuff was.

  "Where are these from?"

  “They’re from The Sweetest Things." Spence turned to point across the square at Lyra’s to shop, only to see her striding across the green. "Here comes the owner now."

  One of the women leaned in and lowered her voice. “This can't be hers. We saw her reviews on the tourism site and checked Yelp too."

  Spence cringed at the statement. It was one thing to suspect you might be the reason for a slow day. It was another thing to hear you basically torpedoed the nicest woman in the world’s business.

  “Yup. We’re aware of the situation. If you noticed, they all came in on one day. Lyra was hit by a bunch of trolls because of a Santa-hat-wearing idiot’s guide to small towns."

  Lyra sidled up beside him, glancing up at the hat and then down at the tray.

  "Spence, what exactly are you doing?"

  "Um, trying to repair the damage done by my idiots?" Even he heard it as a question, not a statement.


  He motioned toward the women next to him. "These lovely ladies think the cookies are works of art."

  "So, let me get this straight." Purple Hat glanced between them. "Some Santa-hat-wearing idiot—that would be him—sandbagged your bakery and now is trying to fix it?"

  Lyra’s eyes rolled toward the heavens, as if she thought help might come from the clouds on a rainbow wave of crème brûlée.

  “That would be the short version. Although, I had no idea he was out here with cookies trying to force them on people and harassing visitors."

  "This cutie?" Red Hat glanced at Spence, and he was suddenly afraid she was going to pat him on the behind. "He could never harass anyone."

  Lyra mumbled something under her breath he was pretty sure was yeah right.

  “I don't think anyone walking around giving out delicious cookies could be considered a harasser.” The second woman looked at them again and smiled in what could only be called a coquettish way. "I don't suppose I could have a snowflake, too?"

  "For you? A snowflake." Spence held out the tray and she took another cookie. ”But, you're missing out. Lyra has an assortment of different cookies over there, along with muffins, cupcakes, custards, everything. She's pretty amazing. You should see the nine-level chocolate raspberry cake she made the other day."

  He started to pull his phone out of his back pocket but stopped when Lyra shook her head, obviously embarrassed by his show of pride.

  "Layer.” Lyra tried not to laugh. "Not level, layer."

  "What's the difference?" Spence looked down at her, amazed again at how incredibly beautiful she was. Just adorably so. Focused and passionate about her work. The freckles, the bright-green eyes. Even the way her hair blew in the wind…not like normal hair. Like angel-slash-elf hair. She was—

  Crap, she was talking again.

  He zoomed back in on the conversation.

  "One happens in buildings, one happens in pastries."

  "Right." Spence glanced up their audience and grinned. "See? Pastry genius."

  Next to him, Lyra gave out a deep groan.

  “I have to get back to work." She turned toward the two ladies and smiled. "Thank you for the kind words about the cookies. I'm really glad you liked them. I hope you enjoy Starlight Harbor.”