“What about Ruth?”
“She’ll do the stuff we sell in the store, like cookies and cupcakes and the likes, or frost the cakes before Libbie takes over, but she doesn’t do as much as I do when it comes to the special stuff.”
Allan considered that. “How hard is it to do that kind of stuff? I’m artistic. I draw.”
He smiled. “Drawing isn’t the same as sculpting sugar in three dimensions.” He closed the oven and set a timer before walking over to the list and crossing off yet another item. “Come here.” He led Allan into the office and showed him two shelves full of cookbooks, cake decorating manuals, and other food-related guides. “Make sure to ask Libbie first, but I’m sure she’ll say yes to letting you borrow any of these.”
Allan pulled one out, a basic primer on decorating cakes, and flipped through it. “I think this is really neat. Do you think she’d let me practice?”
“Absolutely. If you get to the point where you can do some of that for her, it’d be a huge weight off her shoulders, I’m sure.”
Allan returned the book to the shelf and followed him back into the kitchen. “So what’s next?”
Grover pointed to Ruthie. “She’ll show you how to whip up cake batter for the red velvet cakes. They’re one of our best sellers.” Allan knew he’d never remember everything he’d already learned, much less what he knew was coming. Then he glanced at the list hanging on the whiteboard and he realized he didn’t have to. From the laminated recipe pages in the notebooks, to the well-organized storeroom, all he had to do was follow directions and enjoy his morning. Ruth and Jenny were as welcoming as Grover and Libbie had been.
It struck him that while he liked what he did in Miami, and enjoyed many of his coworkers, he didn’t have the easy camaraderie there that he’d found after just a few hours in this bakery.
* * * *
Dr. Smith showed up for his daily cruller fix at his usual time. When he held out his hands and waggled his fingers at Libbie, she held her hands out for his inspection. “How’s the pain today?”
“Not too bad. The naproxen are helping. Plus Mandaline brought me a couple of things to try.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Eye of newt?”
She laughed, knowing the doctor was only teasing. “No, one is a blend of oils and the other is an ointment. They really seem to be helping. They don’t take the pain totally away, but they do seem to tone it down somewhat.”
He grinned. “Hmm. I’ll need to go have a few words with that little witch for trying to steal my patients as well as holding out on me. Seriously, I have a few other fibro patients. If it’s working for you, I’m interested in seeing if my other patients might benefit, too. I’m always on the lookout for alternative treatments that might help them.” He released her hands and reached for his wallet.
“Well, I’m definitely a happy client.”
“That’s good enough for me.” He handed her a couple of ones to pay for his order and picked the bag up. “I’m just glad to see you smiling again.”
* * * *
When Mandaline came in for her daily order that morning, Libbie didn’t miss the sly smile her friend wore as she spotted Charles working in the back.
She leaned in, motioning Libbie close with a crooked finger. “Hang on to them,” she whispered.
Libbie let out a snort. “Sorry to disappoint you, but they’re gay.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Doesn’t mean a girl can’t dream about them, though.”
Mandaline handed her a check and winked. “Wish big, dream hard, and it should come true. What are you doing next week for Samhain night?”
“Huh?”
She giggled. “Sorry. Halloween. I’ve got Samhain on the brain. I’m teaching a series about Pagan and Wiccan sabbats and esbats. Tonight’s subject is Samhain. Are you joining in on the festivities?”
The local chamber of commerce held an annual trick-or-treat celebration downtown, both to help promote local businesses and to help cut down on the number of wild little urchins running rampant through the darkened streets of Brooksville proper.
Which also meant, in theory, fewer houses getting TP’d and egged. “I’m going to make and bag a bunch of sugar cookies and hand them out. By the way, thank you for pointing Charles and Ken my way. This worked out well.”
“Nice.” She collected her boxes. “I meant about the cookies. And you’re more than welcome about the hunks. How’s your hands?”
Libbie held them up and flexed them. “Between the stuff you gave me, and the naproxen prescription from Doc Smith, I’m not doing half bad. Oh, Doc Smith is liable to pay you a visit. He’s interested in finding out what you gave me so he can try it on some other patients.”
“Good.” She headed out the door. Over her shoulder, she cast one last thought. “Remember, wish big and dream hard.”
Libbie raised a hand to her as she walked out the door and headed across the square.
Wish big and dream hard, huh?
She turned and looked through the doorway. Even the hairnet didn’t detract from Charles’ hunkalicious physique.
She closed her eyes.
Two handsome, straight hunks from across the hall to warm my bed. That’s what I wish.
She opened her eyes to find Charles smiling at her. Her face filled with heat as she looked down. When she glanced back up at him, he winked at her.
Libbie smiled as she turned around and faced the window. Jenny sidled close to her. “Is his cousin as cute as he is?”
She let out a happy sigh. “Yeah. He is. But they’re gay.”
“I don’t care if they’re gay,” the young mom muttered as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Gay or straight, my vibrator doesn’t care.”
Libbie laughed out loud so hard she thought she might wet her pants.
“What?” Jenny asked.
“That,” she finally managed. “We both have a Bob.”
“Bob?”
“Battery-Operated Boyfriend.”
Jenny grinned. “Ah. I named mine Sheldon.”
Libbie snorted again, but knew she had to hear this one. “Sheldon?”
“Yeah. You should know. You’re the one that turned me on to that show. Sheldon. He’s got his favorite spot. At least, I sure know it’s mine.”
Libbie was glad there weren’t any customers in the store as she doubled over with laughter.
* * * *
By the time Libbie brought Allan a sandwich down from her apartment for lunch, he’d learned far more about the bakery business than he’d ever imagined. Jenny had left for the day, and Grover and Ruth had already eaten. As Allan sat in the office and ate with Libbie, he felt even more awed by her perseverance. She’d obviously put a lot of thought and attention into setting up the bakery’s workflow to make it as efficient and easy to run as possible.
“Have we scared you off yet?” Libbie asked with a smirk.
He shook his head. “Nope. This has been really educating. And fun.” He pointed at the shelves of books. “Grover said to ask you if it was okay if I could borrow any of those?”
She looked where he was pointing. “Sure. Why?”
He shrugged. “I’d like to learn that part of it, too. Maybe I could be more help. If nothing else, I enjoy learning new things.”
He loved her smile. “You’d better watch it or you’ll end up chained to the decorating table.”
He waggled his eyebrows at her. “How do you know I wouldn’t enjoy that?”
Inside, he sighed as her bright laughter rang through the small office.
I’ll do anything to keep hearing that sound.
* * * *
The rest of the day went quickly for Allan. An hour before closing the shop at four, Libbie set him up at the decorating table with some frosting and decorating tools, along with a book on basic techniques and a sheet of parchment paper to practice on. He was intently concentrating on making a series of small roses when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He turned to see Ben standing there. “What are you doing?” Ben asked him.
“What do you think?”
“Looks good.”
Libbie walked up. “Hey, Ken. Come to check up on him?”
Allan wasn’t fooled in the least by Ben’s cool act. He could tell from the way his brothers’ eyes scanned Libbie, how his posture straightened at her arrival, that he was as smitten as Allan was. “This is neat.”
“Want to give it a try?” she asked him.
Allan jumped in. “He’s bashful, but don’t believe him. He used to do a lot of drawing and sketching in college.”
“Really?” She handed him a piping bag. “Here, have fun.” A buzzer went off at one of the ovens, and she stepped away to go shut it off and remove the red velvet cakes.
Ben shot him a glare before pulling up a stool next to the decorating table. “I’ve never done this before.”
Allan shrugged. “It’s fun. Give it a try.” He flipped back several pages and pointed to one of the exercises. “It’s not as hard as it looks. Think of it as edible painting.”
Within a few minutes, Ben was also getting the hang of it and graduated to attempting basic leaves and lines of flowers. When Libbie returned to check on them, she appeared impressed.
“That’s it. You’re both being promoted to decorators,” she said with a smile.
Allan glanced at Ben and didn’t miss the pleased smile on his brother’s face before he once again schooled his lips into his normal stony expression. “I’m not nearly as good as Charles. And definitely not as good as you.”
She blushed, an endearing trait Allan loved about her. “It’s not hard to learn. There’s some crazy complex stuff out there with sugar sculptures and things like that, but I stick to what I’m good at.”
“Did I hear Grover say something about Halloween cookies?” Allan asked.
“Yeah.” She brightened. “Hey, that’s an idea. If you guys don’t mind?” she added.
“What?” Allan asked.
“Well, I’m doing a few hundred cookies for the trick-or-treaters. Baking and bagging them is easy. It’s the decorating that’s a pain. It’s just four designs, a ghost, a pumpkin, a black cat, and a tombstone. If you guys wanted to help frost the cookies, that would be a huge help. It’s easy, just time consuming.”
Allan jumped to volunteer both of them. “We’d be happy to help you out. Wouldn’t we, Ken?”
“Sure,” he said, sending Allan a look. “Be happy to.”
* * * *
Later, once they were back in their apartment, Ben turned on him. “What the hell was that?”
“What?”
“Volunteering me to help?”
“Why? Don’t you want to help?”
“That’s not the point!”
“Then what is your point?”
Ben struggled for a reply and finally waved him off before heading for his room. “Never mind.” He didn’t like how he felt around Libbie, how his heart raced to see her, how the sound of her laughter made his body feel a little lighter.
How her smile brightened his soul.
They were dangerous things to feel because he didn’t want to fall for her. He knew it would be way too easy to fall for her.
And the last thing he wanted to do was bring any additional misery to her life when she already had so much to deal with on her plate.
“No,” Allan said, following him to the doorway of his room. “You have something on your mind, say it.”
“I said never mind.”
“There’s nothing wrong with helping her out.”
“I didn’t say there was.”
“Then why are your panties in a twist?”
He took a deep breath and turned to face Allan. “I don’t want to lead her on. I don’t want her to come to rely on us so much that it hurts her when we leave.”
They stared at each other in silence for a few moments. Allan eventually shrugged. “Fair enough,” he softly said before going to his own room and shutting the door behind him.
Ben collapsed on his bed. He didn’t want to admit what he knew he already felt.
That I’m worried it’s going to hurt me a hell of a lot more when we leave than it will hurt Libbie.
Four days before Halloween, while Libbie struggled with the pain, fatigue, and fibro fog accompanying another cool front that had gripped the region, Mandaline came into the shop for her daily order. “So, it’s almost the big day. What are you dressing up as for the trick-or-treaters?” she asked Libbie.
Libbie let out a little snort. “A baker.”
Mandaline’s eyes widened. “What?” She emphatically shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. You have to do something different.”
“It is different. I’m willing to bet I’m the only person dressed up as a baker.”
Mandaline rounded the counter and stuck her head through the door. “Grover, do you mind if I borrow Libbie for a few?”
“Naw, take her. We’ve been trying to get her to rest today and she won’t sit down for a minute.”
Mandaline grabbed her wrist and led her from behind the counter. She handed the check to Jenny. “Here, you take this, I’ll take her.”
“Mandaline, what are you doing?” Libbie protested. “I need to work.”