The second they walked out the front door, Claudia vigorously rubbed her hands together to get the needle-like sensation to fade. She watched Nate walk up to Penny and hug her, and she was reminded that he had been the friend who recommended that Penny come to see her and Decadence if she really wanted to have all her dreams for her perfect wedding happen. Penny wiped something from her eye as she stood back and held onto Nate’s arms. She said something, and they both turned to where Claudia stood in the window shamelessly taking the scene in. Penny waved, gave Nate another hug, and left.
She and Nate stared at each other through the big pane of glass. He was backed by a blue sky and the trees across the road. It was a normal, everyday sight, and yet it set her heart racing. It wasn’t some romance novel cover, it wasn’t even romantic in the least, except that it was Nate, the fulfillment of every one of her needs and desires, if she would admit that he was the sprinkles. Not just cake, not just icing, not just a body to satisfy her desires or a shoulder to lean on when times were tough. Not just a best friend who had stuck by her all these years.
He was her helpmate, someone who believed in her when she didn’t believe in herself. Someone she did the same for and would continuously over the years. He was someone she wanted to grow old with, not just as besties with different paths that would lead them back to each other over and over again through the years. She didn’t want him to belong to anyone but her.
The breath backed up in her lungs, and she felt lightheaded. She was going to change all the rules to a game that hadn’t even really started yet. She was going to tell him what she wanted and let him tell her he wanted the same.
That thought made her feel a little sick in the stomach. She sought out the chair where the happy bride had recently sat tasting cake for her wedding day. She had been so happy and so sure in what she was doing. Knew that Matt was it for her for the rest of her life.
But Claudia had thought the same thing long ago. Long enough that she knew things like that didn’t always last, no matter how much you wanted them to. Life would have been much different and less rich if Peter had stuck around, she knew that. She also knew what it felt like to be abandoned and never wanted to experience it again.
“Emergency girl meeting!” she yelled, startling the only customer in the building. Mrs. Beecher gave her a smile.
“I know all about those girl meetings, and I hope this one is about that yummy hunk outside, dear. I heard you were kissing him and thought it was about darn time that you got a clue. Go get him!”
When Mrs. Beecher patted her arm affectionately and told her she’d be back after lunch to continue shopping, Claudia gave her a weak smile. It was all she could manage as she headed for the small back office with its new comfy chairs. It was last on the list for expansion. Nate was going to build out the office into the back yard to allow for them to have three desks, bookshelves, and filing cabinets. She’d miss the coziness of this current room, probably, but not right now as she tried to pace and found it frustrating to have to wind around the bigger chairs and the desk, all arranged tightly in the small space.
May and Zoe showed up within seconds and took a seat. They both brought their feet up off the floor and sat in the Criss-Cross-Applesauce position to avoid Claudia’s strides.
When Claudia looked over at them, they were both smiling at her smugly.
“What?” she said, standing still for a moment.
“Penny told you her sprinkles story,” May said first, with a smirk that turned into a huge smile.
“Um, yes.” How did she know that?
“She told me the same story when I was making her dress, and I told her to come in and make sure she told you, since Zoe had already made the cake announcement after hearing Penny’s sprinkles story, too.”
Zoe’s smile was even bigger, if possible. It looked like she would split her face in half at any moment. Looking at May, she said, “I told you that would get to her!”
Claudia started sputtering. Once she regained control of her tongue, she just stood there with her mouth open.
“The carp impression is not doing you any more favors than it did me the other day.” Zoe let her feet rest back on the floor. “You were ripe to finally see Nate as something more than a friend. I’ve been waiting forever for you to get with him. My fifteen-year-old heart went pitty-pat every time he held Justin, and I knew he was the one for you even then.”
“I didn’t see it that early, Claudia,” May confided. “I was still hoping you would get back together with my brother, but once I heard the sprinkles story and you told me about Nate being your cake, I knew it was going to work out for you. It’s one of the reasons I told Peter to back off before he took himself back to Ohio.”
“But, I…”
Zoe cut in. “That’s why Mom hasn’t been introducing you to any more of those supposedly eligible bachelors. She never meant for you to actually get involved with them, because she kept hoping you would see Nate differently.”
“So, you…”
“Conspiracy!” Zoe yelled. “I love conspiracies that work out right!”
May laughed, but Claudia gave Zoe the evil eye even as she smiled. “Just you wait until it’s your turn.”
“Eh, I’m not worried, and neither is May, since she’s already married.” Zoe shrugged. “I’m not falling, but it’s been such a pleasure watching you realize what was right in front of you from day one.”
“So, do we still have an emergency?’ May asked, rising from her chair. “Because I have a dress order that needs to be done this, and I have an ultrasound scheduled for this afternoon.”
“How exciting!” Zoe said, far overusing her limit of acceptable exclamation points for the day.
Claudia used one of her own. “Yes, we still have an emergency!”
“How do you figure?” Zoe asked, looking honestly perplexed. May joined her in the look, and they resembled a pair of bookends. Did they seriously not see how this would change her whole life and her plan? The potential hazards of not just cake but sprinkles? Of putting faith in the whole sprinkles thing? In her possibly moving toward marriage and a true shared relationship for the very first time in her entire life?
“I am scared shitless.”
That was all it took for both of the other women to crowd around her and say soothing things. But it was Zoe who finally stepped back and took Claudia’s chin in her hand. “You can do this. You have chosen the one man in the world that I trust your happiness to completely. Now don’t screw it up.”
She and May shoved her out of the office before she was ready and then continued on with the shoving, straight out the door. Once on the sidewalk, Claudia looked at Nate, really looked at him in profile as he was checking the measurement of a window.
His hands were solid and big; his heart was the same. He had been with her through everything, every milestone, every setback, every hurdle, every triumph. And she wanted him, heart, mind, and body, more than she had ever wanted anyone.
She strode purposefully over to him and tapped his shoulder. He turned toward her with a smile and a hello on his lips that she promptly took into her mouth.
This was no exploratory kiss, it wasn’t one that was testing or teasing. This was her pouring her soul into him, and him breathing his back into her.
****
Nate broke contact with Claudia, feeling as if his world had just spun off its axis, been jerked back, and now was turning the opposite way.
“I love you,” Claudia said before he could catch his breath. “I love you and I want everything. I want the cake, I want the icing, I want sprinkles and cake toppers, sugar flowers, plastic ribbon, those fake confection sugar things you can buy at the grocery store. I want all of you. And I want you to have all of me.”
“Claudia…”
But he was cut off by a shrill whistle from over his left shoulder. “All right, bro!” Logan called out from the ladder to the second floor. “Finally going to reel in the one you never actually fished for. Long damn time coming, man! But it should be that much better, right?”
Nate very deliberately went to the ladder and shook the bottom just enough to scare his younger brother.
“Okay, okay. Man,” he said, but he was smiling, and so was Claudia.
“I know I should have waited for tonight, or at least somewhere more private, but I wanted you to know as soon as I did. I love you. I’m hoping that was what you were going to say, back before your rude brother interrupted us.” She shook the ladder a little harder, hard enough for Logan to hold onto the window sill of the second floor, just in case.
Taking her hands in his, he looked into the eyes he had seen change time and time again, from flashing with anger to drowning in sorrow. From loving and kind to hurt and distraught. And through all of it she had been his Claudia, no matter how many times he had tried to pretend otherwise. “I love you with all I have, Claude, and I always have.”
“What the hell took you so long to say anything then, you big bozo? You could have saved me a bunch of stupid dates, not to mention those awful flats that I will never wear again, if you’d just spoken up.”
“See you got yourself a live one,” Fred called out as he helped his girlfriend out of the car across the street. Now they had even more witnesses. Great.
“What are you doing over here?” Nate loosely held Claudia’s hand while he got a good look at the woman who had snagged his neighbor’s heart. Big pinkish hair dominated a petite, rounded woman. Glasses perched on her small nose and only slightly dimmed the vibrant twinkle in her faded eyes.
“Edna wants to do a little decadent shopping, since I told her we should get hitched, and I can’t say no to my loveykins, can I?”
“You did not tell me, Fred Watson.” She turned to Nate while smacking Fred in the arm with her purse. “He got down on one knee and asked for my hand in marriage. He said he wants to grow old together, the silly thing. I told him I’d grow old
er
with him but I was already old.”
Fred’s big laugh was accompanied by her tinkling laughter, and it was beautiful.
“Now, son,” Fred said. “I have some business to attend to with this young lady there in your arms, but we can do the flower thing first, if you need to take a little time.” Fred waggled his eyebrows.
But there was no way Nate was going to drag her upstairs and have his way with her, frantically, when Justin would be home in less than an hour, by his watch, and Logan was in the window, and Fred was downstairs. Talk about witnesses.
“I’m going to walk Claudia around the block, and then she’ll be right back with you.”
“Take your time there, son. It’ll give me more time to make eyes at Edna and talk her into trying a few things on for me out of Ms. May’s collection.”
“Take a lesson from that man,” Claudia whispered in his ear.
“Yeah, take a lesson from me and get that girl around the corner where you can kiss her senseless without all these eyes watching.” Fred laughed and Claudia blushed.
“We’re going.”
Nate had taken three steps with Claudia’s hand in his when Fred’s next words stopped him in his tracks. “Always thought that girl was made for him. Circled each other for years, but they have that kind of time. You, my dear Edna, were smart enough to talk me into things much sooner.”
And then Fred was in Decadence and Claudia and Nate stared at each other on the front sidewalk.
“Let’s go to the park.”
Nate eyed her short black dress and the way it hugged her every curve. The benches were mostly clean at the park, but she might regret her decision. If she needed to do this out there, though, who was he to complain?
He led her through the concrete entryway and waited for her to take a seat on the wooden bench under an oak tree. She continued to stand and pace.
“You go ahead and have a seat. I need to stand for this. I’m too agitated to sit.”
He did as she asked, wanting to make sure she wasn’t going to bolt.
“I’m hoping you heard every word I said and believe them all. I heard about sprinkles today, and it changed things for me.”
“I’ve known you loved me. But aren’t I just the cake? What is the significance of sprinkles?” He braced himself for the answer. He wanted to be the sprinkles, whatever it meant. He wanted that badly.
“No!” She yanked at her hair, pulling the pins out of her beautifully arranged waves. “God, how stupid am I?”
He didn’t think he was supposed to answer that question, under penalty of death.
“I mean every word and regret every moment I haven’t recognized you as more than Nate-my-friend.”
“I’ve liked being Nate-your-friend, though. Maybe it just wasn’t time for us.”
“I think it’s time for us now,” she said.
“This doesn’t have anything with Peter leaving, does it? I don’t want you to settle because you’re panicked.” Though it was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to say, there was no way he was going into this with his eyes clouded. Though it was many years since she and Peter had last been together, he was her last significant relationship and Nate did not want to be the rebound.
“There is no Peter. He just wanted to see if he could get a ready-made family without any of the work. Without any of the work you’ve done all these years without me even realizing it.”
“Oh no.” He held up his hands. “You’ve done all the work with Justin. He loves you and is a great kid because of you.”
“And because of you. You always have been there for him and for me.”
“So I’m the sprinkles?” He was almost afraid to ask in case his hearing had been faulty earlier.
“I don’t know if I’d call you sprinkles, actually.”
He felt his face fall into a frown. Why couldn’t he be her sprinkles? “I want to be the sprinkles.”
“No, Nate, what I need is the sugar.”
“Huh?”
She came and sat on his thighs, snuggling into him as if his lap had been made for her. And maybe it was.