by Stacey Keith
Nerve: struck. Todd’s lips were pulled back, baring his teeth. “You can’t give Maggie one goddamn thing that’s good for her—and plenty that ain’t. I want you to stay away from her and I want you to get the hell out of Cuervo.”
“Hate to break it to you, but nobody gives a fuck what you want,” Jake said coolly. “And that includes Maggie.”
The rodeo clown didn’t like that. Jake could tell because two veins pulsed against the skin of his forehead. The world was full of pricks like Todd: reckless, territorial, leaving a trail of destruction wherever they went. Growing up in Palestine, Jake must have fought a dozen Todds. All he had to do now was lay low and wait for the asshole to take a swing at him.
But Todd didn’t take a swing. “You can’t win this,” he said.
“Win what?”
“Maggie. I ain’t worried. She’ll come around.”
A wave of fear swept over Jake. His relationship with Maggie was too new for him not to worry about Todd. He remembered seeing them in the park together and watching Maggie play with the baby. Todd had something she wanted. Something that he himself could never give her.
“Get out of my theater,” he said through clenched teeth. “If I see you here again, I’ll finish you.”
Todd gave him a cold, tight smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Don’t go sayin’ shit you can’t back up.”
Pete had spotted them and was hurrying over. Todd must have seen him, too, because he turned and strolled up the aisle. “I’d tell you to give my best to Maggie,” he said. “But I know you won’t. So hell, I’ll just have to do it myself.”
“Stay away from Maggie,” Jake warned him. “She doesn’t want a goddamn thing to do with you.”
Todd drawled over his shoulder, “We’ll just see about that.”
* * * *
Maggie walked into the bakery and clapped one hand over her mouth.
It looked like a soccer riot.
UFO cakes were everywhere. Some were capsized. Others lay in pieces. Dirty dishes sat at least ten high in the sink. Two crates of drinking glasses she’d never ordered were stacked on top of the workstation.
Are you even kidding me?
Coralee was out front waiting on a bunch of customers. The two pencils sticking out of her ponytail made her look like she had Martian antennae. She was scribbling furiously in an order pad and everyone was talking at once.
The bottom fell out of Maggie’s stomach. Here she was returning from the most magical week of her entire life and Coralee had gone on some kind of UFO cake baking bender.
“Oh, thank the good Lord you’re back!” Coralee squawked when she saw her. She rushed over, gave her a big hug and then stage whispered, “They’re coming in from two towns over. I can’t keep up with the orders. One of ’em knocked on the door at five in the morning!”
Maggie blinked. “Coralee, what were you doing here at five in the morning?”
“Baking. I done ten cakes so far, but not as good as yours. I can’t get the shape right. And now them boys down at the lodge want five more. Since the minute you left, I been dragged through a hedge backward.”
Maggie stared at the people out front. Half of them she’d never seen before. “What on earth is going on?”
“It’s your cake. I took a bunch of pictures and put ’em up on the UFO page for my club. The calls started coming in right away.”
Maggie took a deep breath. She reached behind the pantry door, lifted down a fresh apron and then tied it around her waist. “Okay, let’s take care of these customers and then you can fill me in on the rest later.”
For the next three hours, Maggie made coffee and wrote down cake orders. Every time she and Coralee thought they had things under control, more people came in for UFO cakes—they all wanted something new and quirky for their birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, even a few baptisms. “Could you maybe make the aliens look like babies?” one customer asked. “Like little green alien babies in diapers?”
They’d all seen the photos on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram. There was even a new “Cake Fails” page dedicated to UFO cake disasters like the ones that were waiting for Maggie in the kitchen.
UFO cakes. Who would have thought?
Todd came by but she didn’t have time to talk to him, which was a blessing. Jake came by and all she could give him was a kiss. “What the hell’s going on here?” he asked. “Are you giving the cakes away?”
By five, she finally had to turn the sign from Open to Closed and lock the door.
“Wait till I tell you the good news.” Coralee flipped through pages on the order pad while tapping numbers into a calculator. “We have almost five thousand dollars in cake orders.”
“Five thousand? What are you charging for those things?”
“Seventy-five dollars,” Coralee told her. “I could’ve asked for more.”
Maggie was stunned. She’d never have had the nerve to ask for that amount. Of course, she never thought a whimsical attempt to cheer herself up and make Ed and Coralee happy would have resulted in a mini UFO cake-baking bonanza.
They spent the next thirty minutes scouring the kitchen. Coralee got out the record player and they sang along to Patsy Cline and Frank Sinatra in the warm, steamy kitchen. While Maggie made coffee, she showed Coralee how to shave down the sides of each cake to create the desired saucer shape.
They worked through dinner. Then Priscilla brought Gus over to see her. He was so excited, he charged around the café like his tail was on fire. Jake arrived and he and Priscilla got to talking while Maggie and Coralee finished smoothing fondant over the freshly baked saucers.
It was all so wonderful and cozy. Every time Maggie heard Jake laugh, her foolish heart throbbed with love for him. She’d adored Paris—and would treasure those memories for the rest of her life. But this was where she belonged, right here, with her friends, her family and with Jake. Her grandmother’s old record player spinning vintage records. The smell of cake and coffee making everything so homey and delicious.
Jake never had anything like this, growing up. No loving family, no safe home. Maybe now he would find it as wonderful as she did. Maybe…but that was stupid. Once his theater and techpark were finished, Jake wasn’t going to stay.
The thought of losing him sank her. She had to prepare herself.
You’re in love and you can’t help that, she thought. But don’t be surprised when you wake up one morning and he’s gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
June rolled through Cuervo like a blast furnace.
Jake felt every blistering degree of it, too. When his second crew broke ground at the techpark, he was out there sweating his balls off along with everyone else. Maggie kept the air conditioner at the bakery on high just for them. Around noon, the crew migrated over there and stood panting underneath the vents. Then he’d drag Maggie around back where nobody could see them and make out with her.
When she wasn’t busy, Maggie went online to look for hard-to-find items for the Regal, like vintage lampshades, old popcorn carts, even a wildly expensive chandelier from the 1920s, which was the size of a boat. She taught him how to win online auctions and he was impressed by her ruthlessness.
But nights were Jake’s favorite because he had Maggie all to himself. Except for the first few times at her apartment when Gus stood outside the bedroom door and howled. Maggie finally had the idea of turning on Animal Planet in the living room, so now Gus just yapped at that instead.
Despite the sweetness of life right now, Jake kept holding his breath. Happy felt as unnatural to him as a rented tux. He kept fiddling with the sleeves, trying to get them to fit right. He didn’t tell Maggie how anxious he felt. And he refused to tell her about Todd or his mother. These were things he would deal with by himself.
After their chat at the Regal, Todd worried him. Jake knew he had to be up
to something. So with the Fourth of July coming up, he decided it was time to get Maggie out of town again.
If Maggie wasn’t here, Todd wouldn’t be able to mess with her.
“Let’s go somewhere next weekend,” Jake said one night after an hour of mind-blowing sex next to a bunch of scented candles.
“But you’ll miss the Fourth of July parade,” she told him. “We’ve got tractors and livestock and bad baton twirling. Last year one of the twirlers broke a window at the church.”
“We could go to New York. They’ve got livestock there, too, only it’s on a plate.”
“What about Coralee? Last time she went crazy with all those cake orders.”
Jake agreed with Priscilla when she told him that Coralee’s cornbread wasn’t done in the middle, but he didn’t tell Maggie that. “It’s Fourth of July weekend. Just close the damn bakery.”
Maggie cuddled against his shoulder and sighed. “I can never say no to you. It’s kind of annoying.”
“I’m a bad influence,” he told her, nuzzling her hair. “But there’s no point letting all that badness go to waste, is there?”
* * * *
Maggie felt as though she’d baked eight million cakes in one week. She spent all day buttering cake pans, restocking the cooler with bottled drinks, and drizzling pink glaze over the Ladies Auxiliary doughnuts. The creak of the oven hinge and the chime of the bell above the door went off so many times during business hours, she was starting to hear them in her sleep.
But when Friday finally came around and she set her overnight bag on the bed to pack for her weekend getaway, Gus started sulking. The head tilt alone was enough to break her heart.
“Don’t you start with me,” she said. “I’m only going to be gone till Sunday. Besides, Grandma’s coming to pick you up.”
His tail went thump thump thump.
“Gus loves him’s Grandma, doesn’t he? Grandma doesn’t believe in diets for pudgy pugs.” Many more of these holiday weekends and poor Gus was going to bust out of the sweaters Maggie knitted for him.
She heard Jake’s knock on the door. With Gus barking at her heels, she ran to open it. Todd stood on the landing with a crying Abigail and a glum-faced Sawyer peeking out from behind his legs. And it was actually Todd who looked as though he needed soothing the most.
Maggie reached for little Abigail, who was red-faced and shrieking. She’d never seen the baby so upset. “What happened?”
He stalked into the living room, dragging Sawyer with him. Maggie stared at them, speechless, while Abigail writhed in her arms. “You gotta help me, Mags,” he said. “I’m fixin’ to run Ma up to the hospital and there’s no one to watch the kids.”
“What about your sister?” Maggie asked him, already tense, already knowing this wouldn’t end well.
“My sister’s laid up with the flu. Ma needs a doctor right away. You know she’s got the sugar diabetes, so when she gets sick, it hits her hard.”
“I’m sorry about your mom,” Maggie said, jiggling the baby. “But Jake and I are heading out for the weekend. I’m not going to be here.”
Todd looked stricken, like any father at the end of his rope. She felt bad for him, but what other choices did she have? She patted Abigail’s diaper to see if it needed changing. Then she remembered the pacifier that Todd kept in the diaper bag and dug it out.
“Please,” Todd begged her. “Let me get one of my brothers to drive down and take the kids off your hands. Until then, will you watch them? I know I’m askin’ a lot.”
Maggie pressed Abigail’s head to her shoulder. “I told you,” she said. “I can’t. Call somebody else.”
“What if I dropped Ma off at the hospital and came right back?”
“St. Joseph’s thirty minutes from here,” Maggie told him. “You can’t just leave your mother and run. You’d be better off staying.”
Todd grabbed the pad of paper she kept by her phone, scribbled something on it and then handed the paper to her. “There’s my number. Call if you need me.”
Maggie stared in shock as he ran out of her apartment and then went pounding down the stairs. “Todd!” she shouted. “Todd!”
Oh, my God. No!
She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. How would she explain this to Jake? Their weekend was ruined. Maybe she should have been more forceful with Todd. Slammed the door or called the police or screamed. She felt a headache coming on.
When Todd got back, she was going to kill him.
Then she saw Sawyer on his back giggling. Gus danced around him, frantically licking his face.
Maggie’s heart melted like butter in a microwave.
Screw Todd. She had to do what was right by the kids. They were the victims here, not her. And if they needed a warm, steady hand, it was up to her to provide them with one. Jake would understand. Of course he would.
It might even be fun having the children all to herself. She could put the baby down in her bedroom and then cook dinner for Sawyer—just like any other mother. Once Abigail was up from her nap, they could all take Gus for a walk. And when Jake came over, he could see how great kids were.
The racing panic inside her chest subsided. She went to the bedroom, set a blanket on the floor and then gently laid the baby on it.
What a little angel she was. Maggie spent a few minutes finger-combing her auburn hair and petting those plump, irresistible cheeks. She could feel all of her mommy instincts going wild. For the millionth time she wished she had her own little baby and a husband to love. Reluctantly, she pushed that thought aside.
When she emerged from the bedroom, she found Sawyer sacked out with Gus snuggled up next to him. Another Hallmark moment. She got her phone and took pictures of him sleeping. Then she texted Jake to tell him about the babysitting emergency and how she was watching Todd’s kids. He’d understand.
She scooped up Sawyer, carried him into the bedroom, and then tucked him into bed. Gus followed, looking bereft because she’d deprived him of his new friend.
Maggie tiptoed out of the room and made Gus come with her. How amazing to have these two little souls under her roof. Her heart felt as though it would bubble over. She would have done anything for them—taken a bullet, thrown herself in front of a train.
To give herself something quiet to do while the children slept, she picked up her knitting. For the next few minutes all she could hear was the clicking of her needles.
Then she heard a knock at the door. This time it had to be Jake. She couldn’t wait to share her happiness.
* * * *
That redneck sonofabitch.
Jake gritted his teeth and knocked louder. He could hear that mutant dog barking and Maggie shushing him.
Goddammit, what was taking so long?
It infuriated him that Todd had won. That motherfucker had found a way to screw him after all. Jake had to hand it to the guy. Todd knew Maggie’s weaknesses better than he did. He’d obviously given her some bullshit sob story and she had actually been dumb enough to buy it. Jake never thought she’d roll over that easily.
Maggie opened the door and her smile faded.
“What the hell, Maggie?” he said.
She glanced around and then turned on the porch light because it was dark outside. “Please keep your voice down. The kids are sleeping.”
Oh, sure. The kids. They weren’t even fucking hers. She didn’t invite him in. Instead, she sat on the top step. There was no way he could sit right now, so Jake braced his hands on the railing. He couldn’t speak, he was so angry.
Maggie glanced up at him. “What’s wrong? Why are you mad?”
Calm down, he told himself. Calm words. Calm voice. Sweat beaded his forehead. He wiped his arm across it, wondering why he was so angry and why he couldn’t do anything about it.
Well, at least it was a good time to tell her what
a fucking asshole her ex was.
“That douchebag whose kids you’re babysitting,” he said acidly. “He came to the Regal a few weeks ago.”
“What for?”
“He told me I was no good for you and to get the hell out of town.”
Even in the light of the one naked bulb above her door, Maggie’s eyes were lovely, soft and long-lashed. He tried ignoring it, but her beauty pulled at him. He turned away.
“He had no right to do that,” she said.
“He’s been after you since the minute I got here, Maggie. He’d do anything to get you back, so it can’t be a complete surprise. But tell me. I gotta know. What crap story did he use to get you to watch the kids?”
“His mother,” she said tonelessly. “She was sick and he took her to the hospital.”
Jake barked out a laugh. “That’s perfect.”
“You think he’s lying?”
“I think you’d be lucky to see him again by next week. I can’t believe you were actually stupid enough to fall for it.”
Maggie went deathly quiet.
Jake felt sick. Why had he said that? Her hurt silence seemed to go on forever. Don’t look at her. If you look at her, you lose.
“Maybe Todd is right,” she said in a chilly voice Jake didn’t recognize. “Maybe you aren’t good for me. At least with Todd I know what I’m in for. But with you—I had no idea you thought so little of me.”
“That came out wrong.” Christ, it was hot out here. Sweat was just pouring off him. “What I can’t believe is that you’d let him use you like that.”
“The kids need me,” she said. “It’s not their fault. What was I supposed to do—leave them on the corner and take off with you?”
Jake pounded the railing. “Goddammit, you were supposed to say no!”
His voice echoed across the courtyard. It echoed inside his head. It would never stop echoing.
Minutes passed and all he heard was the sound of his own harsh breathing.
“He was out the door before I could stop him,” she said. “But that’s not what’s really bothering you, is it?” She stood and moved next to him, her eyes searching his face. He didn’t want her looking at him. He didn’t want her to see what a broken, miserable human being he was. “It’s the kids, isn’t it?” she said. “You just hate the fact that I want them.”