“Persistent, that one,” Harper said after Melanie had left.
Jack groaned and leaned on the counter, letting her head thunk down on her folded arms. “I would tell her to shove it, if I didn’t need her to be happy so damn bad.”
***
His arm hurt like hell, throbbing and itching where the skin pulled tight. He’d driven one-handed most of the way to Atlanta. It hadn’t helped much. By the time he climbed out of the truck, he was regretting not putting more salve on before he’d left. But he’d wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.
The building loomed in front of him. All straight lines and sharp angles. The mirrored windows running up both stories reflected the dark clouds that built on top of one another like an amateur triple-layer cake. A thick rectangle of metal hung over the glass double doors. When closed, the handles of the front doors formed an H. Graham assumed it was supposed to come off as sleek and innovative. To him it just looked cold.
He gripped the handle and took a deep breath before stepping inside.
The atrium-style reception area was open to the second floor so that light filtered in through the high windows, tracing shadows across the tile floor. His footsteps echoed. A ring of chairs and wedge-shaped tables sat off to one side. His last name stared back at him from the charcoal-gray wall behind the reception desk. The brushed nickel letters were lit from underneath.
The woman behind the desk—with the familiar dimples dug deep into her cheeks and whiskey-colored complexion—automatically smiled and said, “Good afternoon. How can I help—” before recognition set in and the words evaporated on her lips. Her eyes, almost black, skimmed over his face. “Graham,” Beth said. A touch wistful, a touch concerned.
“Hey,” he said, hesitating, unable to bring himself to say her name. His gaze dropped to her left hand. To the diamond ring and gold band encircling her ring finger.
“Did your dad know you were coming?”
“No. It was kind of a sudden thing. Is he around?”
She stood and walked around the desk. Her black hair streaked with the occasional gray strand fell halfway down her back. “Sure. I’ll take you up.” Her eyes roamed over him again, as if she wasn’t quite positive he was there. But she smiled to ease the tension that threatened to siphon the air from the room.
Graham followed her up the stairs, down the wide hallway of glass-fronted offices and large-format renderings of buildings his father’s company had built, and into a second reception area that was a quarter the size of the one downstairs. Two leather wingbacks faced the windows. He imagined this was where his dad and Beth sat after a long day of meetings, to shrug off the stress and end the day together.
Beth motioned for him to wait there while she ducked through the dark wood door to the left. Her smooth voice drifted back to him through the open door. “Graham’s here to see you. I went ahead and brought him up. Do you know what he wants?”
“No. I guess I should go find out,” his father said. The silence that followed stretched long enough for Graham’s imagination to fill in the details. A quick kiss, a shrug of apology. “It might be better if you waited here. It’s going to have to be one step at a time with him for a little while, okay?”
His father loosened his tie as he came into the room. His jacket already discarded to give the appearance of an informal meeting. His eyes, so like Graham’s in shape and color, sparked with hope.
Pulling his hands from his pockets, Graham straightened his back. He nodded to his dad. The only greeting he could muster.
“Good to see you, Graham.” He reached out his hand like he wanted to clap Graham on the shoulder but pulled back. He stuffed his hands deep into the pockets of his pants.
“Sorry to just drop by, but I had something I wanted to talk to you about.”
“It’s not a problem. C’mon, sit down.”
Graham thought of Jack and the worry that made her shoulders knot and her eyes glassy. He took the seat next to his dad. He tapped his fingers against the cool leather.
“Did you meet her? Is that why you’re here?” his dad asked.
“I need a loan. Upward of twenty thousand dollars,” Graham said, cutting to the chase. The pressure in his chest trickled out through the sliver of space between his lips.
His dad raised both of his thick, gray-speckled eyebrows. After unbuttoning his sleeves and rolling them up one at a time, he finally said, “That’s a pretty heavy chunk of change.”
“It is. But it’s what I need. If I could get it from the bank, that’s where I’d be. But I can’t, so ... ” he trailed off.
“Do you mind me asking what it’s for?”
Graham ran a hand lightly over the burn on his arm. Red and rioting, it mocked him. “My oven died. We’ve got a big job coming up and I need to replace it with enough time to break in the new one.”
“And you said you can’t get a loan from the bank?”
“It’s not an option right now.”
“This is a pretty big favor to ask for when the last time we talked you made it clear you didn’t want much to do with me,” his dad said. He smoothed out his tie, centering it over the buttons of his starched pinstripe shirt. His mouth twisted in consideration.
“I know it’s a lot of money,” Graham argued, lowering his elbows to his knees and running a hand through his hair, “but I honestly don’t know who else to go to. If I shouldn’t have come, just say so. I just thought you might be able to help. Might want to.”
“I can. And I do. But if I do, I don’t want it to just be a business transaction. I’ve missed too much time, and I know that’s my fault, but I’d like the chance to get to know you. For you to get to know me. Think you can do that?”
Graham clenched his jaw thinking about the excuse his dad had made the last time they’d talked, the dead-set tone of his voice when he’d said Graham’s feelings for Jack meant nothing. “As long as you don’t ask me about Mama or Jack. No matter how much we talk, I’m not going to come around to your way of thinking where they’re concerned. And it’ll be easier on us both if we just agree on that up front.”
“Not talking about them might be kinda, difficult seeing as how they are both big parts of your life.” He leveled his gaze at Graham, his dark eyes ringed in gold. “I know you’re angry with me. Some part of you might always be, but if we’re gonna do this, we should do it right. Lord knows I’ve done enough things wrong when it comes to you. But if it’ll help start us off on the right foot, I can promise I won’t bring up the soul mate situation.”
“That’s a start,” Graham said.
“So, we have a deal?”
“Looks like.”
eighteen
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jack asked.
Graham’s mouth tugged into a sad smile. “We don’t really have a choice.”
“I know, but maybe there’s another way.”
“I appreciate the concern, but the hard part’s over. My father got what he wanted. I got what I wanted.” He stretched his hand out and rubbed a thumb down the side of her face. “Now, let’s go pick out an oven that will make it all worth it.”
Inside the warehouse, he made a beeline for the ovens. Shopping with Graham rarely meant shopping. Unlike most men she knew who planned out what they would get before stepping foot in the store, Graham liked to drool over the selection. He could spend hours testing dials, running his hands over metal. It was like watching him greet old friends. He had a kind word for each and tore himself away to move on to the next with great difficulty.
When Jack stopped at the retro-style, aqua double oven, his brows knit together.
“You’re not serious?” he asked.
“What do you mean? It’s perfect.”
“No, it’s not. It’s pastel.”
She pulled open the door a fraction and pumped it to simulate a mouth. “Please buy me, Graham. You know you want to,” she said in a high-pitched, girly voice. “Aren’t I the most beautiful oven you�
��ve ever laid mitts on?”
“People are staring.”
“They’d quit if you’d just tell her how pretty she is.” Jack rubbed the slick face of the door like a favorite pet.
He rolled his eyes. Walking toward the generic stainless steel model he’d had his eye on for months, he said, “We’re not getting her. It. We’re not getting it. This one, however, is a thing of beauty.”
She placed her hands on either side of the oven as if covering its ears and looked at him over her shoulder. “Shut your mouth. You’re gonna hurt Lucinda’s feelings.”
“You’ve been here all of ten minutes and already you named it.”
“I didn’t name her.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know. Bob?” she said.
“Who’s Bob?” Graham asked.
“No clue.”
Jack shrugged and walked over to inspect the deck oven he wanted. It looked more like a small carnival ride than an oven. It was taller than she was and more than twice as wide. The individual windowed-doors pivoted, opening down in a smooth arc. With four compartments—double the size of their old one—it was a formidable piece of machinery.
The price tag made her choke.
“So this one, huh?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Can I name her?”
“No.” His tone was more irritated than emphatic. He shook his head as if she’d lost her mind.
“I’m going to anyway,” she said, smiling.
“I know.”
They tracked down a salesman and paid in full. They had enough left over from the loan to keep a small cushion of cash reserves in case business dropped off. Mr. Hollingsworth had bought them a few more months. But would the cost to Graham be worth it? She stretched onto her toes and kissed his cheek.
They loaded the oven into the trailer Graham had borrowed from a friend. When they got back to the shop, they used handcarts and casters under the base to maneuver it through the door. It squeezed past with centimeters to spare.
Inside, it dominated the room, blocking access to the worktable and supply rack. Jack surveyed the space. She mentally calculated how to rearrange things to make it all fit. Together they shifted, pushed, pulled, and carried the freestanding furniture to make room. She and Graham both walked around, testing the new layout. One opened the oven doors, pretending to add or remove a baking tray, while the other worked at the table a foot away. When they could run through every possible scenario without tripping over each other, they declared the arrangement sufficient.
“See ya in the morning, Gertie,” Jack called to the oven. Graham grumbled something that sounded like what kind of a name is that, but she couldn’t be sure.
***
Graham was in love.
She was everything he wanted—capable, beautiful, and reliable. After three test runs, he determined that the new oven was perfect. He rubbed his hand along her side until his palm started to burn.
“Think you can pull yourself away from her for one night?” Harper asked from the doorway.
Graham grinned at her. “Depends on what you have in mind.”
“Dinner at Jack’s.”
“Don’t you think maybe she should be the one to ask?”
“Listen,” Harper said, “Mason wants to do something and I’m not sure I can be alone with him. Please just say you’ll come.”
Graham pulled two trays out of the oven when the timer went off. He set them on the cooling racks and tapped his finger against a couple, testing the doneness. “At some point you’re going to have to deal with him.”
“I know. Just not tonight.”
“Okay. I’ll go. Just clear it with Jack first.”
“No problem,” she said.
If he was going to Jack’s, he didn’t plan on leaving her place unless she wanted him to. Rearranging his plans for the night, he started baking cups for the next day. After the girls left, the only sound in the shop was the heavy guitar riffs pumping from the stereo. He didn’t hear the knocking on the back door until it morphed into a off-tempo pounding.
Unlocking the door, he pushed it open, expecting Mason. Instead his mama raised an eyebrow at him and moved past him into the kitchen, nudging the door shut behind her. “So, I called Charlotte today to see if we could help you and Jaclyn out with your oven situation and she said you had already worked it out,” she said.
Graham picked at the fraying edges of the gauze wrap on his hand and rushed to explain. “Sorry. It all happened kinda quickly. I didn’t want to ask him; God, you know that’s the last thing I’d want to do. But we didn’t really have any other options. We’re a bakery. We had to have an oven. And he was the only one who would give us money.”
“Slow down. I’m not sure I followed all that, kid.”
He swore under his breath. “Dad. I asked him to loan me the money.”
“And he has that kind of money just lying around?” She waved her small hands through the air as if the money was spilling out of the cabinets and was tucked onto the baking shelf between the ten-pound container of sugar and the gallon of pure vanilla extract. Her dark eyes narrowed as she turned her attention back to Graham. “The man who never had two pennies to rub together unless it was his turn to buy drinks for the guys? That’s who you went to for help?”
“Seems like leaving us worked for him in more ways than one. But since he paid for my oven, I guess I can’t complain.”
“The hell you can. The man left you and hasn’t said a word to you in damn near twenty years. No amount of money can make up for that.”
“Taking his money doesn’t mean that I forgive him.” Graham slipped his arm around her shoulders, rested his head on top of hers. Her breaths came slow and even, like she was forcing herself to remain calm.
“Then what does it mean?” Her voice was hoarse, buzzing with years of resentment. Patting a hand on his chest, she pulled away and faced him as she waited for an answer.
He ran a hand through his hair. A few strands were crusted with dried icing. It crumbled in his fingers and rained down to the floor. Huffing out a breath, he said, “That Jack and I needed money to keep our business going. That I’d do anything, including asking him for help, to make sure she’s happy. That, soul mate legend or not, I’m not the kind of guy who walks out on the people he loves.”
His mom’s face softened, her lips curving into a reassuring smile. “No one’s ever thought you were,” she said.
“You don’t know how badly I wish that were true.” Graham thought of his fights with Hutton, his dad’s insistence that Jack wasn’t the one, Jack’s hesitation to get closer to him though they both knew it was what they wanted. “Did you know he’s still with her? The woman he left us for?”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” But her eyes were glassy, betraying her. Shaking her head, she lowered her voice and continued, “Soul mate legend or not, I can see how you feel about Jaclyn. And let me tell you, that man never looked at me the way you look at her. Like you were put on this earth simply to make her smile. If anyone tells you different, they’re pretty effing stupid.”
Graham choked on a laugh. No one could make him take himself not quite so seriously as his mama.
“I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you before I went to see him. I just had to do it before I talked myself out of it. But if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t tell Jack either and she wasn’t so polite in her swearing.”
“Serves you right, kid.”
“It’s not my fault my mama taught me to never settle for less than I wanted.”
He couldn’t help but think of Jack again and smiled.
***
Jack pulled her T-shirt on as the front door clicked shut. Running a towel over her wet hair, she called, “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“What?” Graham said as he entered her room.
She met his eyes in the mirror as she pulled her hair into a bun and wrapped a hairband around it. “You’re not Hutton.”
“Nope. I, um, I thought we were doing something tonight. Harper was supposed to check with you.”
“She didn’t. Hutton and I were going to hang out tonight since we haven’t in a while.”
Graham walked to her and tucked a loose piece of hair into the band. His fingers tickled as he trailed them down her neck.
She stopped breathing. She couldn’t tell if it was the lack of oxygen or the closeness to Graham that made her dizzy. Holding on to his shoulders she leaned into him.
“Jack?” Hutton yelled.
Jack jumped away from Graham as if she’d been burned.
Graham held on to her hand, tried to pull her back. “Jaclyn.” His voice was quiet, yearning.
“I’m sorry,” she said and left him standing there.
Hutton stood at the mouth of the hallway. She met his stare and crossed her arms to match his stance.
“Saw Graham’s bike outside,” Hutton said. He scanned the room and moved to look down the hall.
Jack looked behind her then met her brother’s stare. “He just stopped by. Apparently he and Harper made plans to come over tonight, but they forgot to tell me.”
“Is she in your bedroom, too?” He smiled, but the accusation in the forced humor slapped at her.
Refusing to justify the situation to him, she turned to the window. “I’m guessing those headlights are hers.”
Graham came down the hall and stopped next to her. Her skin was still warm from where he’d touched her. He and Hutton grunted hellos.
“Is Mason—” she started.
“Yeah,” Graham said. He moved past her and let his hand graze hers. “Want me to tell them to leave?”
“No. I want everyone to act like adults.” Jack glared at her brother.
He held up his hands in surrender.
Harper and Mason came in, toting bags from the Chinese restaurant. “I only brought enough for four,” Harper said.
“I’m sure we’ll manage,” Hutton said. He took the bags and started unloading cartons onto the coffee table. “I’m surprised he’s still hanging around. Figured he’d be gone by now.”
Love and Cupcakes Page 24