by Teegan Loy
Before long, we were loading our groceries into the car.
He nudged me. “What’s going on inside that head of yours?”
“Lots of stuff,” I said.
After we’d filled the trunk, he opened the back door and piled the rest of the groceries in the backseat. I even had to hold a couple of bags on my lap.
We unloaded everything at Carrie’s house, following directions as she barked out orders. She then laid out all her recipes and had Barbie and Stef figuring out how many of each item we needed to bake.
While they calculated everything, we were instructed to find empty containers. By the time we returned, they were ready to start baking.
“We’re going to do the bars and cookies first, then we’ll switch to the salads, both sweet and savory. I’ve handed out recipes to other residents but we’ll be doing most of the baking,” Carrie said. “I’m starting with my donuts.”
“How many people are you expecting to attend this gala?” Jamie asked.
Stef nudged me and I had to drain the emotions from my face. We hadn’t told anyone about Julian yet.
“The Maple Lake Pavilion and Roller Skating Rink has been around a long time. People like it. Josie thinks a lot of people will be here,” Barbie said.
“Are we talking one hundred or a thousand?” Jamie chewed on his lower lip.
“She said she invited over five hundred people, and a lot responded, which means most won’t be coming here alone,” Carrie said.
I stared at her, opening and closing my mouth several times, until Stef pinched me.
“Should we say something?” I whispered to Stef, but she couldn’t answer because Carrie was staring at us.
“You people are twitchy,” Carrie said.
“Er, I’m not much for baking,” I said.
“You’re not much for anything in the kitchen, but there’s nothing too difficult. If you have problems, just call,” she said as she handed Jamie a few cards and shooed us out of the kitchen. She’d given us a couple cookie recipes and a variety of rice cereal treats.
Stef started to follow us, but Carrie demanded she stay and help Barbie. Her eyes widened, and as she was about to plead her case, I shoved Jamie out the door.
We tackled the cereal treats first because they required no complicated steps or confusing ingredients. After several pans were completed, I was ready to call it a day. Jamie had other ideas and moved on to the cookies.
“Let’s take a short break,” I pleaded as I dug in the cabinet, producing a bottle of wine.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll take a glass.”
“Fuck the glasses.” I screwed out the cork and immediately took a swig before passing the bottle. After several drinks, we got back to baking with a little buzz.
“I need two and a quarter cups of flour sifted,” Jamie said.
I leaned back in my chair and studied his movements. He’d tied a red-checked apron around his waist that used to belong to my great-grandma. When he turned toward the counter, I noticed a couple of flour handprints on his ass that I wished I’d put there. He was way sexier than anyone should be when wearing an apron.
I wasn’t paying attention to my task, and as I shoved the cup into the bag of flour, I lost my balance. I tried to overcorrect, but the chair and I crashed to the floor while the opened bag of flour flew everywhere.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I shouted and coughed when I inhaled some of the flour.
“Kellen, what the hell?” Jamie laughed. “That was the only bag of flour we had.”
“Uh, sorry.” I tried to brush some of the flour off my cheeks, but it made me sneeze.
Jamie grabbed a towel and kneeled down so we were face-to-face. “You’re a mess.”
“In more ways than one,” I muttered.
He dabbed at my skin, trying to wipe the flour away. He smelled like chocolate and butterscotch, tempting me to lick his face. I knocked his hand away.
“You’re going to have to take a shower,” he murmured.
He dropped the towel, and I bit my lip, slowly moving my hand to his thigh. Time fell away and all I could do was stare at him. His eyes darkened and I wanted to believe my touch caused the reaction.
“Ahem,” Carrie cleared her throat and Stef snorted.
“Oh, we were . . .” I scooted away from Jamie.
“Don’t stop on our account,” Carrie said.
“I spilled flour,” I said.
“I hadn’t noticed.” Carrie chuckled. “Clean up this mess and come over to my house. I can’t leave you two unsupervised for ten minutes.”
Jamie busied himself with the pans of cereal treats as I tried to clean up the flour. Carrie tossed a rag at me and shook her head.
“I’ll just be a minute or two.” My face felt hot, and I couldn’t look at Jamie. I’d been incredibly close to kissing him before Carrie and Stef interrupted us.
“Hurry up,” Carrie said to Jamie.
Jamie stared at me until Carrie elbowed him to get moving. “Normally I’d tell you two you need to talk, but right now, we don’t have time for this,” she said.
Stef kicked me. “You should’ve done it.”
“I wasn’t doing anything. Go away.”
They left and I collapsed on the floor. A few minutes later, the door opened again, and I sat up, hoping it would be Jamie.
“Oh, hey.”
“Don’t sound so excited,” Stef said. “Carrie told me to help you clean up and ask you why you didn’t close the deal. Jamie is a little out of sorts right now.”
“I think we almost kissed.” I righted my tipped-over chair and sat down.
“You think?” She smacked my shoulder. “Jesus, Kellen, what do I need to do to get you over your fear of Jamie.”
“I’m not scared of him.”
Stef shook her head. She was about to say something, but her phone beeped. “I don’t have time to explain the birds and bees to you. Carrie and Barbie are on the warpath. You go take a shower and I’ll clean up this mess.”
“Okay.” I stumbled down the hall, discarding my clothing as I walked. When I turned the water on, I realized I was half-hard. “This is so fucked up.”
Relieving the tension took me less than five minutes. By the time I was dressed, Stef had the kitchen back in order and she hustled me over to Carrie’s house. “She’s called four times,” she said. “I had to tell her you needed a few minutes to yourself.” She giggled and my face went hot.
The smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies wafted out the door. Stef grabbed my sleeve. “Are we going to tell her about—”
“I don’t know how?”
“We need to think of something. I could barely look at her after you and Jamie left. She thinks I’m on drugs,” Stef said. “It’s not fair to her. She doesn’t deserve to be ambushed.”
I frowned, but she didn’t give me a chance to respond. The moment Stef opened the door, Carrie shouted at us, and we were once again swept up in our baking duties.
By the time Carrie and Barbie dismissed us for the evening, I could barely keep my eyes open. And when Carrie told us we needed to be back at her place at eight in the morning, we all groaned. She ignored us and handed Jamie another list of items he needed to pick up at the grocery store.
We stumbled back to the cabin, and Stef decided she couldn’t make it to hers, so she crashed in my bed. I was too tired to argue, and Jamie just laughed at us before collapsing in his own bed.
The morning came much too early. Jamie woke us up by jumping on the bed until Stef threatened to cut off his dick.
“I’m going to the grocery store. You both better be dressed and ready to go when I come back,” Jamie said.
“Bring breakfast,” I said.
“And coffee,” Stef yelled.
I rolled over and closed my eyes, but Stef tossed the blankets to the floor and I had no choice but to get out of bed. “Oh my god, I didn’t know I used all these muscles for baking. I need to go for a swim.”
“That sounds gre
at,” Stef said as she shed her pajamas. We bolted out the door and down the hill, racing to the dock to dive into the cool water.
“Do you think we could hide here today?” she asked.
“Doubtful.” I pointed at Carrie’s cabin where she stood on the porch wearing oven mitts and holding a pan.
Stef sniffed the air and smacked her lips. “I think it’s caramel rolls.”
“Do you think she’ll share?”
“Only one way to find out.” She climbed out of the water and walked back to the house to rinse off and get dressed. I followed and waved at Carrie.
“Be over in a few minutes,” I shouted.
We begged and pleaded, but Carrie denied us any taste testing of the caramel rolls. Thankfully Jamie showed up with breakfast burritos and giant coffees for everyone.
We spent the rest of the day baking and sneaking a taste of everything we could get our hands on. When Carrie finally turned off the oven, Jamie decided we were eating pizza and having a couple of drinks.
Conversation was limited since everyone was exhausted.
“Tomorrow we’ll bring everything to the pavilion and set up the tables. Josie has most of the decorations up and is waiting for you guys to help her unload the chairs.
Jamie groaned and rolled his shoulders. “I’m going to need a massage. Everything aches.”
“You should help your friend out,” Carrie said to me.
I scowled at her, but she smiled sweetly, and I suddenly remembered that Julian was scheduled to invade her world and we’d told her nothing. I needed to have a conversation with her and tell her what I knew.
Jamie and Stef volunteered to walk Barbie home, which gave me a few minutes alone with Carrie. Before Stef left, I pulled her aside. “I’m telling Mrs. Jorgenson. If I keep this secret any longer, I’m going to explode.”
She nodded and asked if she should stay, but I shook my head. “This whole thing is my fault, and if she gets angry, I’ll take the blame. I’ll see you guys back at the cabin.”
I busied myself by drying some pans for Carrie to put away.
“You should get out of here before I think of something else that needs to be done,” Carrie said.
I took a deep breath and asked her to take a seat.
“I’m sorry for interrupting you and Jamie,” she said, still standing.
I snorted. “There was nothing going on.”
“It sure looked like it. Maybe if you admit how much you really like him, life would be easier.”
“Life is definitely not easy. I don’t want to talk about me and Jamie right now. I need to tell you something,” I said.
“You and Jamie finally—”
I waved my hand. “No, it’s not about me. It’s about you and your past.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
“Has Josie showed you the list of invitees to the party?”
“No, why would she? She’s given me a number so we know how much food we should have on hand.”
“Mrs. Jorgenson, please sit down.” I took a deep breath and reached for her hands.
“You’re freaking me out, kid.”
“I’m about to freak you out even more,” I muttered. “Carrie, Julian is on that list, and he accepted the invite.”
She went deathly pale and let go of my hands. For a second, I thought she was going to slide out of the chair.
“Carrie?”
She clutched the necklace she wore but remained quiet as a million emotions flitted across her face. She blinked several times, gripped the edge of the table, and then stood.
“Thank you for telling me. I’m really tired, and Agnes needs a walk.”
“I can take her,” I said.
“No, I need some time to myself. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I bit my lip, shifting my weight from foot to foot before stepping forward to give her a big hug. She stiffly patted my back and then turned away to retrieve the leash.
“I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone,” I said.
“Kid, I’m seventy-two years old. I think I can take care of myself. I know where to find you if I need anything.”
When I returned to my cabin, Jamie had fallen asleep on the couch and Stef was snoring in the recliner. I gathered a few blankets and covered both of them, shut the lights off, and crawled into my bed.
No one bothered me until Stef woke me by shouting about her back aching from sleeping in the stupid chair.
“Did you tell Carrie?” Stef asked.
I nodded.
“And?”
“She refused to talk about it. She took Agnes on a walk. Don’t say anything today unless she brings it up,” I said.
“Yeah, okay,” she said.
Jamie strolled out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. My mouth fell open, and I watched a few water droplets stream down his chest. I wanted to catch them with my tongue. He cocked his head and smiled at me. I smiled back, staring until Stef shoved me into my room.
“Get dressed,” she said. “Do I need to hose you off?”
“Shut up,” I grumbled.
8
The Collision of Past and Present
Carrie was unusually quiet the entire day. I tried several times to get her to talk to me but failed miserably and was the recipient of several withering glares. Barbie was beside herself, and I finally had to tell her what was going on when she threatened to call the ambulance after Carrie burned a batch of cookies.
“Why didn’t she tell me?” Barbie asked. “We never thought there was a chance he’d come back. She kept insisting he had his own life and wouldn’t be interested in knowing about hers.”
“But her daughter—”
“Is her business, not ours,” Barbie said. “Let her be.”
She was right, so I shrugged and hauled the last of the baked goods to the car. Josie was expecting us at three o’clock to finish setting things up at the pavilion.
“I’ll go tell Carrie we’re heading out,” Barbie said.
Stef wandered over and leaned against the car. “I tried to talk to Carrie, but she refuses to discuss anything about Julian.”
“I feel terrible.” I folded my arms over my chest and frowned.
“You may have stirred her memories, but it’s not our fault he’s coming here. We didn’t invite him. Don’t you think it would be worse if she didn’t know he was coming?”
“I don’t know anything anymore.”
Barbie stomped out of the house, fuming and muttering to herself about stubborn friends. Jamie was close behind her.
“You know what, you guys head over to the pavilion. I’m going to give it one more shot,” I said.
Jamie snuck up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I wanted to melt into his warmth and not come up for days, but we were still in limbo and his closeness made me feel awkward. I twisted away from him.
“I’ll meet you guys over there,” I said.
It took some effort for me to convince them to let me handle Carrie, but they finally agreed to leave without me. Josie freaking out and calling Barbie every two minutes helped my cause.
I watched the car disappear down the winding road before I set my shoulders and went in search of Carrie and Agnes. It only took me a few minutes to locate them. Carrie stood on her dock with Agnes leaning against her legs, staring across the lake.
“Mrs. Jorgenson,” I said.
“Are we back to that?” She sighed. “Help me sit down. I’d like to put my feet in the water.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Ma’am? Seriously? I prefer Mrs. Jorgenson.”
She rolled her eyes and I shrugged. When we were settled and comfortable, I asked the difficult question.
“Are you okay?”
She stared at me like I’d crawled out of the lake after several years under the water.
“How could you ask me that? Of course I’m not okay. My past is coming back to run me over, and I don’t know how I fee
l about it. Should I feel anything? I’m too damn old to be having a crisis like this.”
She leaned on me.
“Then don’t. What’s the point in getting upset? If he shows up, you say hello and move on,” I said.
“You give terrible advice. No wonder you can’t even tell Jamie you want to get with him.”
I huffed. “Get with him? Please.”
“I saw you in the flour. You wanted to kiss him.”
“Quit changing the subject. I’m not here to talk about my downfalls.”
She sighed and kicked at the water. “I don’t know if I really want to see what I missed out on after all these years. My imagination tortures me enough. Julian is my past and maybe he should stay there.”
“But is he really your past? Julia wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him, and Brad and Robbie wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t met and married Ray. It’s sort of a big tangled mess.”
She scowled at me. “How can you be so smart with my life and so stupid with your own?”
“I’m very talented at multitasking.”
“Will you stay close to me?”
“Where do you think I’d go?”
“You might decide to run off with Jamie.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Do I have to spell it out? I repeat, I saw the way he looked at you when you were covered with flour.”
“He thinks I’m an idiot.”
“Oh, Kellen.”
I sighed. “Okay, there may have been something. I don’t know.”
“Summer is ending.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“I feel like we’ve had this conversation before.” She frowned and Agnes growled.
“Probably several times.” My phone buzzed with multiple messages from Stef. “We need to go. Apparently, Josie is having a crisis and you’re the only one who can calm her down. Are you ready to go?”
“How do I look?”
“She fluffed her blue hair, flashed me a grin, and used me as a crutch to stand. She slipped on her sandals and clutched my hand tightly, allowing me to lead her to her car.
“It’s a beautiful day,” she said.
The moment Carrie entered the pavilion, she took over. Josie heaped praise on us for all the work we’d done. Carrie and Barbie preened and accepted the accolades but insisted the money we raised would be praise enough.