All I Ever Wanted

by Marilyn Brant, Caisey Quinn, Rhonda Helms

  The thought made me smile, despite the pressing mental fatigue about how busy I was going to be today. I knew those treats would be popular. And this year, I was offering some with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top, too. Maya would probably eat a dozen; she loved my croissants more than anything else.

  “Oliver!” a light voice said behind me.

  Speak of the devil. I spun around and my grin widened. “I was just thinking of you,” I told her, elbowing her in the side.

  She bent over and gave a fake wheeze like it hurt. Her curls tumbled over the shoulder of her puffy black coat and sent a waft of strawberry-scented shampoo my way. The familiar, welcome presence of my friend. Finally, something good about today.

  “Oh, come on. You didn’t feel a thing through that massive polar bear coat,” I declared. “Hey, walk with me to the bakery to grab the trays for the Bake Sale.”

  She straightened up and looked me dead in the eye. Now that we were closer, I noticed something…different about her. She had on makeup, and her eyelashes were especially thick today. Had her eyes always looked that warm brown, like…melted chocolate?

  I cleared my throat and turned around, my stomach pinching just a touch in an uncomfortable way. Whatever; I shook the sensation off. Maya and I walked in silence for a few minutes toward Abbott’s Sweet Confections.

  Maya leaned over and whispered in a low, conspiratorial tone, “You know I’m a judge this year.” Her puff of warm breath slid along the side of my neck, and for the second time in a minute, I found my stomach pinching up again. What the hell was with my reactions today? Well, whatever it was, it probably didn’t help that I was up well past midnight last night, prepping for this weekend. It seemed exhaustion was messing with my head.

  “Does that mean you can’t help a fellow citizen carry his wares? How very un-American of you.” I tsked and shook my head.

  “I suppose I can fraternize with the entrants,” she declared, tossing her head so her curled hair moved off her shoulder. She gave me a wink. “But just this once.”

  Bernadette, the town cougar-slash-boozer, wove a path right toward me, her short red hair flaming as she wobbled across the slick sidewalk on black stilettos. She had to be freezing in her denim miniskirt but she didn’t seem to care. Her cheeks were already flushed, and her eyes were glazed. “Oliver, Oliver,” she chanted as she neared. Her gaze raked me over. “You’re growing up to be quite the handsome young man.”

  Oh, hell no. I gave her a polite smile and a nod as I shifted closer to Maya to avoid brushing against the woman. “Thanks. Have a good day, ma’am.”

  Maya smothered an obvious snort, and we barreled past Bernadette, plunging into the inviting warmth of the bakery.

  “Honey, I’m home!” Maya declared as she stepped toward the large table in the back of the room, where trays of baked goods awaited, already prepared for us by Mom, Dad, and Sami.

  Maya and I examined the trays one by one to make sure all the baked goods were present and ready for the sale. As we did, she talked about what classes she’d signed up for next semester, how much she was anticipating her English class.

  “I still can’t believe you’re in college,” I said with a low chuckle as I shook my head. “Seems like just yesterday you and Sami were playing with Barbies all over the living room while singing along to some crappy boy band CD.”

  With her eyes fixed down at the table, Maya’s voice was soft as she began to organize the trays for easy carrying. “I’m not a little kid anymore, Oliver.”

  No, she wasn’t—she was nineteen now, no longer that scrawny pre-teen girl our family had unofficially adopted. My gaze was drawn to her face, and I studied her like it was the first time I was really seeing her. Her high cheekbones, the bridge of her small nose, the proud thrust of her chin.

  My focus moved to her mouth, and I detected a slight sheen of pink gloss on her lips. Funny, that color made her mouth look more plump than usual.

  My throat tightened.

  “What are you thinking about?” she suddenly asked as she turned to face me. Her intense brown eyes locked on mine.

  I swallowed; my heart gave a knock against my ribcage. “Um, what?”

  Maya took a step toward me, and her tongue darted out to lick her lower lip. My eyes darted down and I noticed her coat was unzipped a touch. Enough for me to see right into the curves of her cleavage.

  A strange stirring pumped through my torso, a throb that ended at my crotch and caused my back to stiffen. I ripped my attention away from her chest and looked back into those eyes that were staring so innocently up at me. What the hell was my problem today? Was I seriously just checking out Maya—my friend? My sister’s friend? What kind of creeper did that?

  “You got really quiet for a moment there.” Her mouth parted a touch, and those glossy lips curled up just a hint in the corners. One eyebrow rose. “I was wondering what you were thinking about.”

  “Um.” I sucked in a deep breath of warm bakery air. Focus, dumbass. You aren’t supposed to eyeing Maya’s cleavage. That’s beyond wrong—it’s like looking at Sami’s boobs. Ugh, that took away my impromptu arousal. “I…was thinking about how many of my chocolate croissants you’d try to eat this year. I think it was six last time.”

  Her smile fell. My chest twisted at the flash of disappointment I saw in her eyes right before she covered it with a few rapid blinks. The smile was back, but it was unnaturally large. Like she was faking it. “Ah. Okay.” She grabbed her trays and headed toward the front door.

  I paused and watched her for a moment before I grabbed my trays and followed. I’d offended her with my comment—I could tell by that look on her face. But I’d just been teasing her like I always did. Like our whole family did. Maya had always had a hearty appetite, even as a skinny pre-teen girl, and it was a running joke in our family how many plates of Mom’s chicken paprikash she could throw down in one sitting.

  She and I passed building after building, walking across crunchy frozen grounds on our way. Maya didn’t say a word. She just kept her back straight and her pace a few steps ahead of mine. The soft light of the sun glinted off her curls.

  She looked…pretty today. I’d never seen her so feminine before. And here I was, ripping on her for her appetite. No wonder she reacted like that. Douche. If I had a free hand, I’d smack my forehead right now.

  “You look great,” I offered. “I like it when you curl your hair.”

  Her walking slowed and she peeked over at me, a gentle smile on her face—this one was genuine. “Thanks. That’s nice of you to say.”

  That tightness in my chest eased up. I hated seeing her upset. Hated even more being the source of that. Maya’s life hadn’t exactly been the easiest, but she always kept a grin on her face and put all her energy into helping others. I knew she’d already let her frustration over my comment go; she wasn’t the type to hold a grudge.

  She shifted the trays in her arms as we neared Village Hall. “Which table is yours?”

  “Um, I think my dad said last table on the right.”

  We proceeded up the steps, and as I darted ahead to open the door for her to pass through, the trays wobbled on my free hand.

  The overly warm lobby was already booming with people buzzing around, setting up their tables just perfectly for the Bake Sale. Energy was ramped up this year, I could tell. The fest had only started, but already there was a hum in the air of excitement.

  Then again, this year was special. All our proceeds from the Bake Sale, plus other sales over the course of the weekend, were going toward the renovation of Hale Bridge—the infamous town bridge that had been in some schlocky romantic movie back in the seventies. It was falling apart now, so damaged that, for the first time in ages, it was actually blocked off so people weren’t allowed in. Not that that stopped the town youth from sneaking in and drinking.

  Maya and I worked in synchronized silence for a couple of minutes as we put the trays to the side and prepared the table with a white plastic table
cloth. Someone had already left us a stack of display paper plates, so we just had to set it all up.

  God, it was stupid hot in here. They had the heat cranked up to one hundred, it seemed. Sweat dribbled down my back; I tossed off my coat and draped it across the back of my chair before shoving the sleeves of my sweater up my forearms. A minute later, Maya paused and slowly unzipped her coat as well.

  I found my eyes drawn back to her, despite my efforts to focus on arranging the plates. Her blood-red fingernails drew the coat zipper down, revealing what had to be the softest pink sweater I’d ever seen. She slipped the coat off her shoulders, an action that thrust out her chest.

  I swallowed, sucked in a breath. Grabbed for a tray because, suddenly, my fingers had a bizarre, strange desire to touch her sweater and see if it was as soft as it looked. Trace my fingertip down that V-shaped neckline.

  I was so going to hell for these thoughts today.

  Okay, that was it—after the Bake Sale, I was going to squeeze in a nap, despite all those tasks I had to do. It was obvious that sleep deprivation was making me think these crazy things. Maya was my friend. Like a sister. She was innocent and sweet, and it was my job to protect her, the way I did Sami. And I’d be damned if I let the lack of fresh oxygen in my brain screw that up.

  And why was it so damn hot in here? My pulse throbbed.

  “I got it from here, Maya,” I said in a tone a little harsher than I’d meant. I cleared my throat and kept my attention fixed squarely on unloading the trays and arranging baked goods on the plates.

  “But I can…” Her voice trailed off, and I felt her move close and press her small hand to my upper arm. “Are you okay?”

  I smothered a frustrated sigh and glanced at the worry lines that marred her brow. It wasn’t her fault I was having these disturbing flashes of thoughts. And here I was, being an asshole and taking it out on her. Some kind of friend I was. “I’m fine, sorry. I slept for shit since I was up late last night, and it’s just going to be another long day.” I offered her a weak grin. “Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. You’re a good friend, even when I don’t deserve it. I’m just an exhausted jerk today—don’t mind me.”

  She stared into my eyes for a long moment. I could tell there was something she wanted to say. Probably to pull my head out of my ass and stop being a jerk to her. Maya wasn’t usually one to hold back her thoughts, though of course she’d never be that harsh. But she surprised me by drawing her lower lip between her teeth and stepping back. Her face smoothed into a mask of coolness. “Sure, fine. I need to go to the judges’ table anyway and check with them on what I’m supposed to do for the contest.”

  She grabbed her coat, draped it over her forearm, and walked off without a glance back.

  My heart gave a sick thud in my chest. Well, that went great. Something had been off about our interactions; I couldn’t quite figure out what, though. But Maya was definitely acting different today. Not like her usual upbeat, smiling self. Maybe I was just picking up on whatever weird vibes she was throwing out and it was knocking me off-kilter as well. Because I wasn’t sure where the hell my brain was, either.

  I set the thick chocolate brownies, frosted and sprinkled with fine white sugar, on the plate near the corner and covered them in plastic wrap to protect them until the Bake Sale. The brownies usually sold out fast, and I wanted to push them first. Then I set out and covered the rest of the goods on the plates and posted the signs listing the prices. When I was done, I took one especially large brownie and put it on a plate with my table’s number for the judges. And the whole time I worked, I kept seeing Maya’s eyes in my head.

  Staring at me. Biting her lip as she flashed a brief look my way. A look that was dangerously vulnerable.

  Had I done something to hurt her recently without even knowing it—something before today? Maybe I should ask Sami when she got here for the sale. Those two talked about everything. More than one night in the past, I’d loudly bitched over the lack of sleep I’d gotten in the room next to my sister’s as the two girls giggled for hours on end. Yeah, Sami would tell me what was wrong with Maya.

  I took a seat behind the table. My mind whirred back on our most recent encounters. Nothing had happened at work. In fact, I hadn’t seen much of Maya outside of work in months, other than at family dinners. She was busy with school. I was busy in the kitchen, honing my bakery skills and coming up with new pastry offerings. Plus making big plans for my future.

  Maybe the problem had nothing to do with me at all. Maya hadn’t talked much about this past semester to me, but perhaps someone at school had set her on edge and made her feel bad. I made a mental note to ask her about it later.

  “The Bake Sale is starting in just over an hour,” Mrs. Miller declared. Her huge green sweater featured an embroidered white cat playing with snowflakes. On her head she had a tiara made out of cheap white snowflakes. “Please get your contest entry ready to go right now. I’ll be walking around and collecting them.”

  It wasn’t a Winterfest unless the woman had on some kind of unusual winter outfit. Maya would get a good laugh out of that for sure.

  Hm. Maybe Maya was in an emotional funk because of her family—I knew her parents had been on more and more extended trips lately. Since she was halfway into her second year of college, they weren’t restrained to the town as much anymore, and she’d spent many evenings at our dinner table over the last semester. She never complained about it, always kept on her infamous wide-toothed smile, but I saw the occasional flare of emotion in her eyes whenever my parents asked where her folks were this time.

  Well, I’d just get her laughing again, and then things would be back to normal with us. I snapped a stealth picture of Mrs. Miller and texted it to Maya, along with the message, She’s in rare form today.

  A minute later, my phone buzzed. Shit. That was totally *my* outfit for tmrw. :-P

  I snorted a laugh. Wear it anyway. You two can start a trend.

  Mrs. Miller thrust out her meaty hand, and I placed the brownie plate in it. “Thank you, Oliver,” she said in her husky voice. “And good luck to you and your family. I’m certain you’ll at least place. Your father’s brownies are always divine, as you well know.”

  I gave her a serious nod to match the intense look in her hazel eyes. “Placing is my goal, ma’am.”

  She strolled away to grab the plate bearing a thickly frosted cupcake from an older woman beside me.

  I did the finishing touches for my table, leaving room for the cupcakes Sami was finishing up right now to bring shortly. Then I tossed my coat on and headed to the door. Nap? Work? Both were beckoning my attention.

  But neither could quite compare to the quiet voice in the back of my head. The one that kept reminding me of my weird reaction to Maya’s cleavage. To the sight of her drawing that round lower lip between her teeth.

  A burst of cold hit my face as I pushed the door open. Yeah, definitely a nap. When I woke up, I’d be just fine.

  Everything would go back to normal.

  Oliver

  I smothered a yawn and chugged a steaming cup of Sami’s delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate as I settled into the seat behind the table. The “nap” had done me little good; I’d only gotten maybe ten minutes of sleep. It had taken me forever to get my mind to quiet down.

  Sami strolled up with a tray of what looked like flower-decorated muffin tops in one hand and a coffee in the other. She plopped the tray down and looked over at the brownies then laughed. “Trying to get rid of them?”

  “What are those?” I nodded my head at the tray.

  She lifted her chin, her blue eyes flashing with pride. “Cupcake heads. Mom and I decorated them. Like muffin tops, but more decadent.”

  “Good idea. I like it.” I took a sip of my hot chocolate and sighed. “This stuff is like crack, by the way. I always look forward to it.”

  “At least I’m good at something,” she muttered as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

  I fro
wned and stood, crossed my arms. Sami was my sister, and I loved her, but it really got old sometimes how hard she was on herself about the bakery. “Come on. Can we have one weekend where you aren’t griping about the bakery?” I asked. “No one expects you to be perfect. Just to help out when you’re here.”

  She pursed her lips and stared at me, nostrils flaring as she cupped her coffee in a tight grip. “I do. I help with everything. But I suck at it. And yet, Mom and Dad keep making me—”

  “No one’s making you—” I interrupted then stopped when Maya came to our table. Last thing she needed was to hear us dredging up this old family fight. I straightened my back, pasted on a smile, and said hello, and Sami did the same.

  But Maya noticed the tension right away. “Hey.” Her smile wavered as she stopped awkwardly in front of us. “Um, your table looks good, you guys,” she finally said before she turned her attention to my sister. “Oh, Sami. There was a guy asking about you near the judging station. Has he stopped by yet?”

  Sami’s eyes squinted. “A guy? Really?”

  “Yeah. Someone I didn’t know,” Maya replied. “He was about Oliver’s age or a little older. Maybe just here for the festival?”

  “Huh.” Sami tilted her head, deep in thought. She took a deep draw from her coffee cup.

  I saw a tall guy clad in denim and black leather approach our table. Something about his stride, the tight line of his jaw radiated frustration. “Amanda,” he said in a husky voice when he got right behind her.

  Sami whipped around, a look of shock on her face as she stared at him. Her coffee almost sloshed out the sides of her cup.

  “Who?” I asked him. Obviously he had the wrong person. But something about this felt strange, partly because of my sister’s drastic reaction.

  Maya cleared her throat and cast a frantic glance between the guy, Sami and me. “Oh, um, hi…again,” she said to him. “I was just telling Sami—”

  “Hi,” the guy said, cutting Maya off. Then he turned to face my sister. “Amanda,” he repeated.

  Sami drew in an unsteady breath. “Alex. Hello. Wow, it’s such a surprise to see you here—”