How to Bake the Perfect Wedding Cake (14 page)

I laugh. “Jack, you are not going to be able to eat all of that. You’ll get sick.”

“Not a chance.” Jack begins to taste the frosting and work his mouth over my body and I can’t help but be turned on and want a sample for myself. Jack must sense this as he offers his finger to me to lick. And I do. It’s delicious fluffy strawberry goodness.

“And I need to try out the rest of this frosting before it gets too hard.” He lifts up another bowl.

I giggle. “Oh really?”

“Really.” Jack paints me with more frosting and stands back as if he is admiring his artwork. His eyes are full of passion and love and he nods at me. Before taking my mouth and kissing me. We’re both naked and exposed and I should feel vulnerable under these bright lights and the idea of being frosted and devoured but I couldn’t be more at home under the icy blues that reflect Jack’s
warm, warm
heart.

He sends me into moments that I could never have imagined and never dreamed. And yet, here I am in this room of mine that will no longer be mine in a few months. We’ll be in our home in a different bed and a different room. Will our love remain this way forever? Or is this moment based on small moments that may or may not lead to our happily ever after? I can’t help but worry if we are only a page of happiness versus a lifetime of a successful marriage. I want it all with Jack.

Jack’s slicks on more frosting and suddenly there’s only one thought passing through my mind.
Pleasure.

***

I seriously should be in a sweet-induced hangover this morning but the only thing that is floating around in my body is how sweet I am over Jack and how much I want to test out frostings again. We had to have eaten at least three different batches. And by eaten I mean licked off of each other for hours. My tongue should be sore and tired but I couldn’t feel more revitalized and ready to take on the day and Trent—if that needs to happen as well.

Our night consisted of an overindulgence of frosting and each other. We just enveloped each other in deep passionate kisses that went beyond subtle tastes of frosting. I’ve never felt so erotic in my life. Jack takes me to places that I’ve never contemplated and he makes it all seem so natural, safe, and ever so satisfying.

I slide into my desk chair with my coffee carafe in hand. Jack, ever the early riser, made me a to-go cup and I couldn’t be happier. My anxiety seems to have faded and coffee actually tastes good today. My team meeting is in a few hours and I’m going to handle it like a real boss.
Ha!
I pull up my schedule and I have a red alert flag on one of my calls. Hmm…I haven’t had a red alert in months. I click on the customer’s name.

Sheralyn Crowley, whoa…talk about numbers. She’s got over seven of them. This is perfect. This is the type of account I need right now. I quickly scroll through all her various funds before hitting call on my computer. With my headset firmly in place, I’m ready to move this person from the potential client list to my current client list.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Ms. Crowley?”

“Yes, that’s right, who’s calling?”

“My name is Lauren Hauser, and I see you put in a query about some account management at Calstone Corp?”

“Oh, Lauren, how nice it is to hear…from you.”

“The feeling’s mutual. Speaking of, I see you have a few mutual funds that haven’t really been bringing in the types of returns that I think are possible.”

Ms. Crowley laughs. “Oh I couldn’t agree more. But listen, I really would like to meet in person to discuss matters and such. I don’t like discussing things over the phone.”

“Okay, how about we meet for lunch?”

“Yes, that would work much better for me. How about tomorrow at noon?”

I don’t even check my calendar. Whatever is on it can be cleared for this woman. “That’s perfect. I see from your address you are near downtown. Are you familiar with Hollow Moon?”

“Oh, I am indeed. I’ll see you there at noon tomorrow.”

I go ahead and give myself a really nice high five with the click of the phone. This is so awesome. If I’m able to move all her money over to Calstone Corp…I will be sailing on Javier’s stellar lists for months. This client could carry my team, even if they were under on their own numbers. Little beads of sweat form along my hairline. I blow air up over my face. I need to calm down. It hasn’t happened yet and I still need to get through the rest of the day and meet with my team.

I look around me and my eyes land on the Human Resources form. I put it away. I can’t report something like that now. I don’t want there to be any distractions from the moment when I land this huge deal.

I take a deep relaxing breath and scan through the rest of my queue and respond to some other queries from some of my clients. Even if I don’t land this client, I’ve got to make some huge strides numbers wise today. I make a few more phone calls and check my clock. It’s a quarter after noon. My meeting is at 1:00 p.m. I’ve barely enough time to go anywhere for lunch; it’s going to have to be the deli across the street. I grab my purse and rush out to the hallway.

I see Trent walking down the aisle towards me and in a millisecond of a moment he does an about-face and charges off in the opposite direction. Fine by me. At least I don’t have to say anything to him. I don’t need to be making waves at this point, not when things could seriously being turning around for me in a really great way.

I glide down the elevator and a rumble in my tummy makes me pat it and think about Jack and something he mentioned last night. He asked how I was feeling and if I had been sick at any other point. I told him no and that it was nothing. But that was a lie. I’ve been a bucket of nerves and if I’m not throwing up—in or out of people’s mouths—I’ve been nauseated. I have cut myself off from calling my doctor on no less than five occasions. I’m embarrassed to reach out and tell her that I’m having anxiety issues again. I know I shouldn’t be embarrassed and that seeking out help is a good thing. But, it’s been so long since I’ve had to deal with this and I don’t want to go back to being on medicine. Not if I can help it. I just need to get through planning this wedding and bringing my team up and avoiding Trent…argh…too many things.

The hot air from the asphalt hits my nose hard. It stinks. I’ve never considered Baltimore to be a stinky city but sheesh today it’s really bad. And it’s amplified by the whisking of the cars around me. I’m woozy. The deli is only twenty feet in front of me. As soon as I make it across the street and inside air conditioning again, I’ll be fine. I didn’t eat anything for breakfast. I’m probably going to pass out from hunger. The light finally switches, giving the pedestrians an all-clear signal. I hustle as best as I can across the black stinky street. The door to the deli is like a life raft and I grip on to it hard and swing it open. The cool air flows over me like an army of gladiator men are fanning me. And yes, it’s gladiator men because the stickiness of sweaty bodies pressing up against me is what’s happening underneath my skirt with my thighs. Did I not clean off all of the frosting from last night? I laugh and find my place in the line.

There are so many items to choose from…I don’t know how I will ever decide. Which means only one thing. The triple-decker sub. Ha! I’m such a pig. I can’t help it. I’m famished and I’ll eat it at my desk in privacy. I might even make grunting noises as I devour it. Okay, I probably won’t go that far. But I’m ready to chow down.

I list off every single option, much to the amazement of the sandwich artist, and then for good measure I ask for lots of spicy mustard. My mouth is watering as I anticipate the first bite touching down in my mouth. I pay and hustle back through the desert heat of the greasy streets and immediately it’s like heaven back inside the cool air of my building. I make it to my desk in record time and pull the blinds on the windows of my office. This is going to be some scheduled Lauren time.

The sandwich wrapping can’t come off fast enough and I scoop up the humungous sandwich to take an enormous bite. The type of bite that definitely would not pass for ladylike by anyone’s standards. The flavors should be delicious and amazing. I watched the guy prepare this sandwich. It contains bright and shiny vegetables and nothing looked rotten, yet that’s what it tastes like. Nasty rotten food. I drop the sandwich on the crinkled-up paper in disappointment. I was so hungry and now I’m grossed out. I roll my eyes and sigh.
Great.
Oh well…I definitely overindulged in calories last night. I suppose it isn’t a big deal if I go extra light on the cals today.

My team’s numbers and stats have been printed out and I’ve highlighted some major areas that need to be addressed and some areas to encourage and say positive things about. The meeting reminder flashes in my calendar on my computer. Yes, Bill…I’ve got it. I lock my computer and make my way with my stacks of reports to the conference room. Little flurries of excitement and nervousness run though my body.
You can do this.

The conference room is empty except for Marcus. I nod at him.

“Hey, good to see you’re here early.” I give my most professional grin. I can’t deny I don’t feel awkward and uncomfortable given our first meeting with Trent present.

“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind but I wanted to have a quick word with you.”

I raise an eyebrow and sit down.

“You know that first day with Trent… Does he always act like that?”

I nod my head. I’m uncomfortable thinking about everything that’s happened since that day. “Yeah, I’ve tried to tell him on many occasions how I feel about his interjections and things of that nature.” I eye the ground.

“Obviously he’s taken it to heart.” He laughs and I can’t help but laugh as well. Because really it’s so ridiculous. I can’t stop myself from laughing and it’s nice to know that someone else witnessed Trent’s behavior and wasn’t okay with it.

“No, he hasn’t.” I shake my head.

“Have you tried reporting him to Javier?”

I sit in silence for a minute and Bethany enters the room. “Oh, I hope I’m not late. The meeting was at one, right?” Her eyebrows furrow.

“Welcome, you’re right on time.” I motion for her to take a seat.

The rest of my team hustles in and searches the room for the best spot.

Once everyone is seated I clear my throat. “All right, so this is our first team meeting for Q3. Our new team members, Bethany and Marcus, are settling in well. So let’s share some numbers. Here are the highlights…” I tap on my mouse and pull up the numbers that I’ve highlighted on the big screen so that everyone can see. I’ve printed out the reports as a paper guide for myself but I’ve made a slide show of numbers and goals for everyone to check out on the overhead.

After I’ve gone through all the slides I flash the last one. Goals.

“Tell me your goals for this week. But not here. I want each of you to send me an email before the end of the day of what your goals are for this week and how you are going to hit them.”

Everyone nods and I stand up. “All right then, great meeting.” We exit the room and I deliberately avoid chatting any further with Marcus. I can’t answer his question because I don’t know the answer. Other than I didn’t think to tell Javier about things when they first began; I thought I could handle it myself. Now things have gone on too long and I could come off badly. Some people might not view me as innocent and I can’t have any issues at work right now. I’ve just got to stay the course and get to my final destination, which is success.

I make it to my office with another moment of success—no sign of Trent. I turn on my computer and see a barrage of emails from my mom. Oh
lawd.
I was supposed to send her some information about our wedding.

Instead of responding to any of her emails. I send her a new one.

Mom, as I mentioned Jack and I have decided to have our wedding in Texas so not everyone will have to travel. And we would really love to have it at Tibor’s Pecan Farm. I still haven’t heard back from them. Do you think you might be able to speak with them about it? Love, Lauren

I click send. There, I’ve tasked my mom with something that will take up quite a bit of time. Talking to Tibor’s Pecan Farm and then figuring out all of the logistics of having a wedding there and what that will mean for everyone.

My desk phone rattles from side to side.

“Lauren Hauser, how may I help you?”

“Honey, did you not read my emails?”

“I’m sorry, Mom, I haven’t had a chance.”

“Okay, honey, that’s fine but one of the messages was about your grandmother.”

My heart hits the floor. I’ve always imagined this day. But I never wanted to ever experience it or even have the reality of it come into fruition. “What happened?” I let escape from my mouth.

“Grandmother is okay now, but she fell and broke her hip.”

“What, when?”

“Early this morning. Corinne found her and got her to the hospital right away. She’s already had surgery and is doing fine. But you know at this age…”

Tears fill my eyes. “Should I fly down?”

“No, honey, she’s okay and you are going to be taking time off soon for your wedding.”

“We can put the wedding on hold. I should be there with her.”

“Lauren, you need to get married before it’s too late. No more delays. Listen, I’ll give you a call later from Grandmother’s room and that way you can speak with her, okay?”

“Okay.”

We say goodbye and I’m anything but okay. My grandmother and I have a very deep and connected relationship. She’s always been there for me and always guided my way. To think that she might be slipping away is too much for me to contemplate.

Chapter Eleven

Jack is waiting in the garage as I pull in. I barely turn off my car and his hands are at my door. I crash into him.

“I can’t lose my grandmother.” Tears stream down my face. I’m not normally a crier but buckets are falling from my eyes and they aren’t giving any sign of stopping. I could barely see on the drive home. Jack called me right after I got into my car. Apparently Corinne had called him as well to tell him about my grandmother. My grandmother. And he asked if he could come and pick me up. I told him no. One, I was already in my car and two, I didn’t want any possibility of an encounter between Trent and Jack. That is one thing I definitely could not deal with today.