Sweet Surprise (13 page)

He gave Jackson a casual shrug. “Depends on what I find on my answering machine when I get home. Lester Cravits said he might want a new patio built before the sun completely destroys the back of his house, and I could use the extra cash.”

“For?”

“Personal projects.” Like raising his pirate flag and hanging out on a beach somewhere. Dusting off the past and figuring out a way to move forward without alienating the family members who constantly called on him to bail them out of hot water.

“Well, if you do decide to show up at the grand opening, don’t forget to take home a box of cupcakes. Never thought the combination would ever work, but those damn maple-bacon ones she makes are delicious.”

Mike gave a nod.
She
was delicious. “I’ll have to give them a try.” And he had to remind himself that Fiona’s cupcakes were the
only
things he was allowed to taste.

E
xhilaration jumped hoops through Fiona’s heart as she took a deep breath and opened the front door to the culmination of her dream and the small crowd gathered outside on the boardwalk. Sure, some had probably only shown up to sample the free cupcakes she’d advertised to lure people into the shop, but that wasn’t going to dim her excitement. Hopefully, the samplers would turn into purchasers, and she’d be able to sell a dozen or two.

By her estimation she’d probably prepared too many. But as she’d learned in her business classes—never miss an opportunity. So if there were leftovers at the end of the day, she planned to deliver them to several popular businesses for marketing purposes.

With the cupcakes in full swing, it seemed the only opportunities she really ever missed were ones that involved matters of the heart.

“Welcome to the grand opening of Sweet Surprise!” She greeted the customers, noted some very familiar faces, and was grateful for their support.

First through the door were those she could always depend on when she needed them the most. Jana and her fiancé Martin. Charli and Reno. Jesse and Allison. And, of course, Jackson and Abby, with Izzy in tow.

“Oh, sugarplum!” Jana clapped her hands together. “The place looks wonderful.”

“Smells pretty damn good too.” Jesse winked.

“Watch your language, son.”

Reno laughed at his brother’s expense. “Never too old to be reprimanded by Mom.”

Hugs were exchanged by all, and Fiona basked in the love the Wilders freely offered.

“Glad to see the newlyweds could come out of their cave for the occasion.” Fiona teased Jesse and Allison, who had surprised everyone by eloping when most didn’t even know they were a couple. Fortunately, in their case, love had brought them together. Not an unplanned pregnancy.

Fiona’s own reason for living lifted her little arms, and Fiona picked her up for a snuggle. “Mommy’s got a special cupcake just for you. Go ask Foof to get it for you.”

Izzy’s eyes widened. “What kinda special?”

“How does your very own Minnie Mouse cupcake sound?”

“Yummy.”

Fiona laughed, gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek, and set her down so she could go in search of her Disney-inspired sugar fix.

“Go ahead and take a look around,” Fiona told the family. “I’m going to see if I can make the cash register sing a little.”

Abby gave her a hug, then went straight to the sample tray while Jackson lingered.

“I’m really proud of you, Fi,” he said. “This is quite an accomplishment. And you did it all on your own.”

“Thank you. I must admit it feels pretty darned good. I think my grandma would be proud.”

He squeezed her hand. “I know she is.”

With a smile, he went off to join the rest of the family as they all argued about which flavors they should take home. Fiona just hoped they’d take home a dozen or two so she wouldn’t have to count the day as a total loss if no one else bought.

As she neared the display case, she eyed the lovely floral bouquet that had arrived earlier that morning. There had been no note attached. From across the room, she glanced at her former mother-in-law. Jana would be just the type to send the basket bursting with vivid yellow Texas roses, purple stock, and fuchsia carnations.

On impulse she ran back and wrapped Jana in a hug. “Thank you for the beautiful flowers.”

Jana looked up in surprise. “Sugarplum, I wish I’d thought of it, but I didn’t send flowers.”

“You didn’t?”

Jana shook her head.

“Then who did?”

“Wasn’t there a card?”

“No. And the delivery guy left before I had a chance to even look for one.”

“Maybe it’s from one of the boys. Or the girls. With the size of that arrangement, someone obviously wanted to get your attention.”

“Hmmm.”

“Want me to do some investigating?”

“That would be great. They’re just so beautiful, and they smell so wonderful I want to make sure the right person knows how much I appreciate them.”

While Jana headed in one direction, Fiona moved in the other. She got waylaid halfway across the room.

“Should be illegal a pretty girl like you can stir up stuff that smells so good.” Chester Banks, Sweet’s legendary bowlegged cowboy Casanova gave her a rheumy-eyed wink from above a nose that had somehow kept growing when Chester had long ago stopped.

“You always say the sweetest things, Mr. Banks.”

“Got to.” He hitched his starched Wranglers up higher on a pair of skinny hips that challenged his platter-sized silver belt buckle. “Ain’t many of you pretty young girls left for the old codgers like me.”

Oh, please don’t let Chester be the one who’d sent the flowers, she prayed. He’s a sweet old man but . . .

“Good Lord, Chester.” This from Gladys Lewis and her overapplied red lipstick. “When are you gonna learn that the young ones aren’t interested in an old coot like you?”

He grinned and flapped his false teeth at her. “Soon as you and Arlene give up on the young bucks.”

“Well, heckfire.” Arlene Potter, Gladys’s sidekick frowned. Her blue hair looked like she’d taken particular care to get the bubble curls just right. “That ain’t gonna happen till I’m toes up in the dirt.” Then Arlene leaned in and loudly whispered, “You got the hunk ready to serve up the goodies in his skivvies?”

Fiona chuckled. “I’m afraid not today. From what I hear, he and his skivvies are putting out fires in San Antonio.”

“Oooh. I like firemen.” Arlene lifted a hand to make sure her hair was in place.

Apparently she missed the part where Fiona had mentioned the man was at least thirty miles away. Still, she didn’t want Arlene standing around all day waiting to see if the hunk in his skivvies would show up. Diversions always worked, so Fiona guided the elderly trio over to the sample table. “Why don’t y’all go ahead and sample the cupcakes. See which flavor tickles your taste buds the most.”

“You got any made with George Dickel?” Chester asked.

“Sorry, Mr. Banks. The only cupcake I make with booze is a chocolate Amaretto.”

“Well, being as you’re so pretty, I guess I’ll have to forgive ya.” He bit into a peanut butter and jelly cupcake and grinned. Apparently, it met his approval.

Hopefully, the peanut butter wouldn’t dislodge those false teeth. Fiona shuddered. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said to–hopefully–her new fans, “I need to help out behind the counter.”

Escape
was a better word, but she kept her professionalism in full force, along with her smile.

The consistent crowds throughout the initial rush kept her and Sabrina hopping. She’d just handed a nicely boxed dozen of maple-bacon cupcakes to Gertie West when Jana joined her behind the counter.

“I’ve struck out,” she said. “Either no one sent the flowers, or they aren’t going to admit it. Though why they wouldn’t has to be the question of the day. So my guess is you have a secret admirer.”

On a good day, Jana’s smile was like setting voyage on the Good Ship Lollipop. Today, that smile edged into
Silver Linings Playbook
territory—which raised all kinds of suspicion.

“Jana?”

“Hmmm?”

“Are you up to something?”

“Me?” Jana flattened her hand against the buttons of her bright pink blouse, eyelashes batting innocently. “Sugarplum, whatever would make you say that? I’ve been so busy working with Charli on getting the design shop set up, I’ve barely had time to see Martin, let alone create any mischief.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Honest.” She held up two fingers in a pledge, then flashed another cagey grin as she sauntered away.

Fifteen minutes later, the initial rush shifted into the second wave. Cupcakes flew out the door in their pretty pink window boxes so fast, Fiona began to worry they wouldn’t have enough to last until closing time. Forget the concern over leftovers.

Throughout the day, special friends like Paige and Aiden Marshall, who owned and operated the Honey Hill Bed-and-Breakfast, as well as Deputy Brady Bennett and Sarah Randall, his new girlfriend, who was also one of Izzy’s favorite waitresses at Bud’s Diner, popped in for a taste and a
to go
box. Even Aiden’s gorgeous brother and former Army Special Forces medic, Ben Marshall, snuck out of his sporting-goods store long enough to grab a four-pack of PB&J’s to take home. Fiona had never been more grateful for all the support.

Still, no one claimed to have sent the flowers.

During the day, as she and Sabrina kept busy, Fiona couldn’t help glance up at the clock now and then. Sabrina had said Mike would try to be there after his shift ended. With the afternoon coming on strong and no sign of his hotness, Fiona knew she’d been right. She’d been too much of a tease, and she’d either scared the heck out of him or completely ticked him off.

Sure, her initial wrapping of herself around his smoking-hot muscular body had been intended as sheer appreciation for the beautiful table and pedestals he’d created for her shop. But then they kissed, she’d lost her mind, and the rest was embarrassing history.

If he hadn’t set fire to the soles of his boots and rocketed out of there so fast, she could have explained herself instead of coming off as a little bit desperate and a whole lot hot-and-bothered.

History had proven there was a pattern to the way things should occur if you wanted forever with a man. She’d tried to reinvent the wheel with Jackson, and it hadn’t worked. Maybe there was some legitimacy to the old-fashioned ways. Not that she knew of any man who’d want to go that route in this day and age of instant gratification. Didn’t really matter anyway. Right now she didn’t have the time, focus, or energy to devote to a relationship.

But that didn’t stop her from looking up at that blasted clock and wondering.

B
y four o’clock, the frenzy had finally dwindled, and Fiona couldn’t wait to put her opening day in the books. Her feet ached, and her stomach rumbled from lack of food. The banana cupcake she’d snarfed down during a short lull earlier hardly classified as lunch. And by now, the sugar high was long gone. Unfortunately, once she locked the doors she still had almost three hundred cupcakes to make for the following day. Soon, she’d get an exact schedule and the quantities tightened up, but for now, she was flying by the seat of her jeans, and she’d have to survive on a little extra caffeine.

“You look exhausted,” she told Sabrina, whose once-perky ponytail now drooped; and shadows lurked beneath her eyes. “I really appreciate your help today. It looks like things are pretty calm now. Why don’t you go ahead and head home.”

“Are you sure?”

Fiona nodded. She actually looked forward to a moment when she could take a deep breath and enjoy the success of the day and her efforts. In the beginning, she hadn’t known if she could handle such a big task all by herself. Of course, she’d had help, but for the most part, she alone would take credit for the overall success or the failure.

Half an hour after Sabrina said good-bye, Fiona looked up at the clock for the millionth time. Only another half hour, and she could turn the
OPEN
sign to
CLOSED
on what she considered a darn good opening day.

So what if Mike hadn’t shown up.

Why would she expect him to drive thirty miles just to buy a silly cupcake from a crazy, desperate, single mom who could get a man’s engine running but had no intentions of letting the car out of the garage? He probably had plenty of admirers closer to home. So why deal with one complete nut job?

With the shop empty of patrons, she took a moment to glance over the work sheet for the following day and began mixing the ingredients for batches of strawberry cream cheese and pink champagne cupcakes. With the heavy richness of the cakes she’d made for today, she’d decided day two should show her diversity with choices a little lighter. Hopefully, at some point, special orders and requests would come in, and she’d get a better sense of what the community preferred.

She’d just put the pans in the oven and set the timer when the bell over the door jingled and announced what would most likely be her last customer of the day. She washed her hands and straightened her apron, thinking she should probably give them some kind of special reward. Like a free cupcake. The idea sprung another thought—maybe she should come up with some kind of frequent-flyer punch card. Like buy a dozen and get one free. Or maybe buy six and get a free specialty coffee. With a nod to creative thinking, she headed into the storefront.

Surprise threw her completely off her game when she found Mike standing near the display case, looking far more delicious in a pair of worn jeans and a white button-down shirt with the sleeves pushed up his forearms than any dessert she could ever create.

“Hi,” she said, trying her best to sound casual and not like some teenage girl with a crush or the desperate, regretful woman who’d led him on only a few days ago.

“Hey.” He ran his hand over all that thick ebony hair, giving it a sexy just-out-of-bed look that he totally owned. “Sorry I’m late for the big day.”

She fought against a quick glance in the mirror to make sure her hair was in place and she didn’t have raccoon mascara eyes. “I really didn’t expect you to show up.”