Take the Cake

by Sandra Wright

  “Everyone’s their own worst critic,” Kate added. “And being your own boss can be a different kind of pressure in itself.”

  “C’mon, Kat, you love your store,” Paul commented as he finished his drink.

  “Oh, sure, I do now, but those first couple of years were hard.”

  “Were they?” Michael looked at her, curious. She hadn’t told him much about the early days of the bakery, and however tired the day made her, she still managed to make it look easy.

  Kate shot him a tired smile. “There were months when Cup o’ Noodles for dinner was considered haute cuisine. When the business was still getting off the ground, money was pretty tight.”

  Michael felt a twinge of guilt at how his career and financial success had all but dropped in his lap.

  “But you kept at it,” Paul commented, giving his sister a proud look before looking at Michael. “Man, I wish you could have seen it. That store was a roach hotel when Kate found it. Hey, Kat,” he went on as his face lit up with remembered amusement, “remember the shouting match we had when you said you’d found the venue?”

  “You guys fought?” Michael looked surprised.

  “Definitely.” Kate nodded, although the smile on her face belied her words. “Paul was still deep in business school territory then, so he crunched the numbers and was sure I was headed for financial Armageddon.”

  “Michael,” Paul sighed, “let me just give you a tip right now. You might think you know stubborn, but that woman you’ve got there redefines the word.”

  Kate scoffed at that, making both men laugh.

  “Seriously, we had some knock-down fights about the store, but she would not budge.”

  “I just knew I was right,” Kate commented in a serene tone. “So all I had to do was get you on my side and I couldn’t possibly fail.”

  “You must have been pretty determined,” Michael commented.

  “Oh, she was.” Paul nodded. “You know,” he went on in a doleful tone, “sometimes she wasn’t happy until she’d made me cry.”

  The table erupted into laughter at the notion of the diminutive Kate towering over the enormous, jovial man, Paul included.

  “All right, so she broke me down using her power of persuasion,” Paul added, “and more sweat and elbow grease than I would’ve thought possible.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Kate chided in a gentle tone.

  Michael watched the interplay between brother and sister, noticing how they were both smiling as they recounted the story for his benefit. Although the period had obviously been one of high stress, they were both genuinely pleased with its eventual success.

  “No, but you have to admit it wasn’t that great either,” Paul replied. Then turning to Michael, he said, “The place was a tiny Asian food store. Great concept, but it just didn’t seem to fit where it was. The lease was up and the owners decided to move on, which is where our girl stepped in.” Paul relaxed in his chair, watching the memories flicker across Kate’s face.

  “What got your bakery idea across the line with the owners?” Michael asked, reaching up to twine a strand of hair around his index finger. He was soaking up the story, filing it away for future reference.

  “Babycake pitched some woo,” Paul said with a cheeky grin.

  “Oh, there was a whole lotta woo goin’ on,” Kate agreed.

  “Kat started sending cupcakes to the leasing agent and the owners. She got someone to draw up some concept boards of what she wanted the store to look like. You name it, she pretty much did it.” Paul shook his head at Michael.

  “It seems to have worked,” Michael commented, releasing the strand of hair and combing his fingers through the silken lengths. “They must have been happy with your vision.”

  “They’re still happy.” Kate smiled. “Remember that high tea you saw in the store weeks ago?”

  Michael sifted through his memories, flicking through scents, sounds, and images. “Balloons and little girls?”

  “That’s the one.” Kate was pleased at his recollection. “The birthday girl was the grand-daughter of the owner.”

  “You’ve got that kind of relationship with them?” Michael was surprised at this.

  “We don’t get in each other’s way,” Kate clarified, “but when the store opened after the renovations, I sent them some cakes and a letter expressing my appreciation. They stop in once or twice a year to see how things are going.”

  “That’s really … nice,” Michael said at last. “It’s something you don’t hear about much these days.”

  “That’s Kate,” Paul answered.

  Michael nodded. That was his girl.

  ~~~

  Paul and Kate stood by the door watching as Michael settled the check. There had been a protracted argument over who was paying for dinner, which Michael had settled by simply picking up the check and strolling over to the register without another word. Paul had gaped at his retreating back for a moment before startling Kate with a face-splitting grin.

  “I like him.”

  “That’s all it takes?” Kate gazed at him in disbelief. “Whatever happened to overprotective Brother Bear that saw off the other guys I’ve dated?”

  “None of them bought me pizza.” Paul shrugged.

  “I never thought I’d see you become so easy,” Kate commented. “Throw some food into the equation, and you can’t even pretend to play hard to get.”

  Paul ignored her sass. “None of them made you smile the way he does. Face it, Kat. You’re going to have to say it sooner or later.” He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Kate. “So are you going to?” he whispered into her ear.

  “Yes,” she whispered back. “But not until I’m ready.”

  “Okay,” Paul said, giving her a squeeze before stepping back. “Just don’t be scared. I’m with you.”

  “I know.” Kate offered him a smile. “And it’s appreciated.”

  Michael turned from the counter, stuffing some change into his pocket and reached for Kate’s hand with a smile. He drew her to his side, waving off Paul’s thanks for dinner with an easy grin as he ushered them outside.

  “So …” Paul clapped his hands and rubbed them together briskly, smiling expansively at everyone. “This was good; let’s do it again.” He reached out and shook Michael’s hand. “Michael,” he said, “good to see you again.”

  “Likewise.” Michael smiled. “And I agree. Let’s catch up soon.”

  Kate managed to keep the surprise off her face. This was the first time Paul had volunteered to spend more time with someone she was dating. Even better, it seemed to be entirely mutual between the two men.

  Kate snuggled into Michael’s side as they walked. The wind had picked up during the evening, and she was feeling the cold a little more than she cared to admit. She made a mental note to dig out some of her warmer coats to wear to work. Her arm was around Michael’s waist and so she felt the tremor of silent amusement.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” she asked.

  “Just thinking about Paul’s turn of phrase,” he replied. “Pitching woo. I like it.” He thought about the large, gentle man who had watched him through fatherly eyes, and smiled again at Paul’s vernacular. Michael had listened and admired the sibling bond between the brother and sister all evening, and for the first time began to understand what it was he had missed out on by being an only child. Paying for dinner tonight had been a spontaneous gesture, one that he was well within his means to make, and yet he couldn’t help but feel that Kate and Paul were far richer. Words bubbled in the back of his mind.

  By the time they reached Kate’s apartment block, the words were louder, and his fingers twitched. Michael knew from experience that the words would simply gather momentum until the sound became a roar, and he would get no rest until he had poured the words onto the page.

  “Do you want to come up?” Kate turned to lean into his chest and he put both of his arms around her to hold her close.

  “I’d like n
othing more,” he admitted, “but I’ve got to do some work tonight.”

  Kate nodded her head against his chest, and he dipped his head slightly so that he could inhale the fragrance of her hair. He had noticed her shivering a little on the walk home, and he held her to his chest: a combination of wanting to keep her close and just plain wanting her.

  “Okay,” Kate said at last. He could hear the disappointment in her voice, and it stabbed through him, but he had to write. He didn’t want to lose his words again, not when he had at last found so much. “I’ll miss you in my bed.” She sighed.

  For a moment, Michael forgot to breathe. He thought about persuading her to come back to his apartment, but decided against it. He would be poor company until he had gotten the latest vein of words out of his system.

  “Not as much as I’ll miss you,” Michael said, tilting her head to give her a soft kiss.

  He saw her to her door and waited until she had closed it with considerable reluctance. When he got back outside, he crossed to the other side of the street and looked up at her apartment. The words tumbled over themselves in his mind as he tried to keep the memories fresh, rejoicing in and resenting the rush of creativity all at once. He stood alone trying to think unexciting thoughts while his body ached for her, watching until at last he saw her bedroom light go out.

  ~~~

  Kate blinked against the sudden darkness of the room, and then rolled over onto her side, trying to get comfortable enough to get to sleep. She had wanted him to spend the night, but she had seen the distant look in his eyes and known that she couldn’t compete with his words. She shifted in the bed, kicking against the sheets that felt too constrictive over her feet and then reached up to pull a spare pillow against her chest. She wrapped her arms around it and took a deep breath, realizing that she could detect a trace of Michael’s scent.

  Perhaps Paul was right. Nothing in life was certain; that was a lesson that she had learned the hard way. She had no way to predict the future, no way of knowing what life had in store for her. Perhaps there would never be a right time to tell Michael she was falling in love with him. Curling herself around Michael’s pillow, she felt her body ache and wished he were there beside her. She rolled over and gazed at the bedside table where she had left her phone. Perhaps she could call him back to her. For a moment she began to reach out and then arrested the gesture, her arm half-extended before she turned back to the pillow with a sigh.

  She wondered what he was writing and then told herself again that she didn’t want to know. The conversation with Tom was very fresh in her mind. She was glad they had aired their grievances yesterday; it was time for their college relationship to mature into adult life once and for all. A part of her would always love Tom, just as a part of her would always hurt. Her thoughts wandered from Tom back to Michael, and she sighed again. Perhaps it was best if she didn’t read what he was writing. Some secrets were better left unsaid.

  ~~~

  Michael walked home deep in thought. Snippets of the evening conversation flickered through his mind, setting off an unconscious trail of word associations that lead his attention back to his work. He sighed and shoved his hands deeper into his coat pockets. He really didn’t know how Kate would feel about the book when it came out, and again he wondered if he should encourage her to read it. Her refusal had surprised him at first. He had offered the manuscript to her on the spur of the moment, and now he realized how much he needed her to read it and to understand.

  But she didn’t want to read and he couldn’t force her. Perhaps in time she would be ready. All he could do was wait and wonder. He wished he knew how she felt about it. In the meantime, he knew how he felt about her.

  He loved Kate; he was sure of that now.

  When he had left her at the store to deal with Tom, his chest had felt hollow and the empty feeling hadn’t dissipated until he had seen her again. It was a feeling he was experiencing more and more these days. He had only been just beginning to realize that when he had entered her store. He had stepped into her world, and she had been steadily binding him to it ever since. She left him feeling satisfied in a way that no amount of words had been able to accomplish.

  He wanted to tell her how he felt, perhaps when the time was right.

  Michael walked on, words swirling in his head.

  Chapter 20

  Tiaras and Winter Warmers

  Kate nodded a greeting as she approached Wren, who was waiting underneath the store canopy, rubbing her mitten-clad hands together.

  “Morning, boss,” Wren called out as she gave a quick salute.

  “Wren, don’t call me boss,” Kate replied as she produced the door keys from her pocket and unlocked the roller door.

  “Sorry, boss.” Wren blew a bubble and stamped her feet in an attempt to keep warm while Kate rolled up the security grill.

  “Been waiting long?” Kate asked as she unlocked the front door.

  “Longer than usual,” Wren admitted. “Stayed at David’s last night and woke up early is all.”

  “You had another sleepover?” Kate glanced at Wren as she opened the door and stepped aside to usher the smaller woman inside. “Keep this up and I’ll start to think you guys are getting serious.”

  Wren snorted as she headed toward the kitchen, shrugging off her coat as she went. “Talk to David about it,” she quipped as she hung up her coat and began to tie on her apron. “He’s the one that keeps pushing the issue.”

  “How so?” Kate had flicked on the coffee machine and was now stowing the shop keys on their usual hook before removing her coat. She rubbed her hands briskly against her upper arms in a bid to warm up quicker, making a mental note to wear more layers tomorrow.

  “He thinks we’re dating,” Wren said as she picked up the chalkboard and hefted it onto a nearby table for better writing access.

  “Right,” Kate said as she flicked a lever to measure coffee into the filter.

  “Hey, guys.” Emily let herself into the store, her cheeks reddened from the chill outside.

  “Hey,” Wren called over her shoulder as she picked up her stub of chalk.

  “So what would you call it?” Kate asked as she kept her attention on the espresso filter running into the two cups.

  Wren stopped and considered Kate’s question. “Actually, I don’t know,” she admitted at last, “but I don’t know that we’re dating.”

  “What’d I miss?” Emily re-appeared from the kitchen, tying on her apron.

  “Wren here isn’t sure she and David are dating,” Kate said in a droll voice.

  Emily stopped and looked at Wren with disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “What?” Wren shrugged. “It doesn’t seem that serious.”

  “Right,” Emily said as she got out a third cup and slid it toward the coffee machine where Kate was standing. “Have you been seeing anyone else?”

  “No, she isn’t,” Kate answered for her. “And from what I hear, neither is David.”

  “How did you know that?” Wren turned around to look at Kate.

  “Michael told me,” Kate said with a smug smile. She removed the two cups from the machine and added the third, refilling the coffee filter with practiced movements and reaching for the milk jug.

  “Right,” Wren said. She had the feeling she was losing ground in the conversation, but wasn’t entirely sure how.

  Kate shot her a quick look and then went back to making the coffee as she thought about what Michael had told her a few days ago while they were getting dinner ready at her apartment. From what Michael could tell, David was more serious about Wren than he had been about any other woman in quite some time.

  “What about you and Michael?” Wren asked, pulling Kate’s attention back to the present.

  “What about us?” Kate replied, stirring some sugar into her coffee.

  Wren pushed herself away from the counter and took a few steps toward the table where the chalkboard waited, before she answered.

  �
��Well …” She scrawled absently on the chalkboard, frowning when she realized she had doodled David’s initials and wiped the board clean with her hand. “The two of you seem tight. You’re practically living at each other’s homes, you spend every free moment you have together, you’ve met his parents and he’s met Paul.” Wren gave her an expectant look.

  “And?” Kate looked at her.

  “Have you told each other how you feel?”

  “Not in so many words,” Kate hedged, “but I think we both know.”

  “Boss, even Lincoln said ‘to assume is to make an ass of you and me.’ I don’t think you should keep taking things for granted,” Wren huffed.

  Kate coughed to cover her laugh. “Spoken by the woman who can’t admit she’s dating.”

  “It’s always different when it’s someone else,” Emily commented in a sage tone from her position at the counter where she was pulling out the tubs of sandwich fixings for the day. She paused when she saw both women looking at her. “Or easier to call, just sayin’,” she went on with a slight shrug.

  “The Oracle speaks,” Wren muttered in a not-so-quiet undertone.

  Emily paused in her task and strolled over to the counter to collect the proffered coffee with a smile. “I just want you two happy, but you’re going to have to accept what’s in front of you and admit what it is that you want.”

  “Uh-huh.” Wren nodded, looking dubious now. “And that’s what you did with Bookstore Brad?”

  “Yup.” Emily gave her a Cheshire cat grin of satisfaction. “And things have never been better.”

  “Really?” Kate was intrigued now. “You just came out and said it?”

  Emily gave the matter some thought. “Well, there was some give and take on both sides really, but the time came where we told each other how we felt. Trust me, when you finally give words to how you feel, it’s really …” She paused to search for the right words.