Sweet Cheeks (44 page)

FOUR DAYS LEFT

TWITTER

@HayesWhitOffcl

You must be a banana @SweetChks because I find you a peeling. #10Days #GrudgeCupcake #Determined #MadA-Game

I
laugh when I see his newest tweet. I can’t help it. I’m standing with my hip against the butcher block, my hand to my mouth, and a smile on my lips. He’s relentless. And adorable.

He has over one million followers, and he’s posting cheesy pick-up lines and doesn’t seem fazed in the least by what people are going to say about them. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe he wants me to know he doesn’t care and neither should I.

I skim through my own account, surprised to find more positive than negative this time around, and notice a lot of people commenting on my cupcake-smashing incident with more amusement than degradation.

“He’s adorable, you know?” I look up to see DeeDee standing in the doorway voicing my thoughts out loud, tissue paper in her hand, and a smile on her face. And maybe it’s because he’s softened me with his humor, but I just stare at her for a moment and realize how lucky I am having her here to help me take this all in stride: making the bakery work and the chaos that comes with Hayes. “His tweets and his posts and everything . . . they’re just adorable.”

“I know. He’s the closest thing I’ve seen to the guys in those romance novels of yours, Dee.”

“Really? In all aspects?” Her eyebrows lift and a coy smile forms on her lips as I recall our conversation about romance heroes and guaranteed orgasms.

“Yes.
In all aspects
.”

“
Damn
.” It’s all she says, and I love that my comment has rendered the always-talkative DeeDee momentarily speechless. “What were we talking about?”

I chuckle at the flush in her cheeks. “His adorable tweets and posts and . . .
everything
.”

“Not many men would put that much thought into trying to win a woman over.”

“I know. He’s being ridiculous.”

“And you love every single second of it.”

I nod. “Yeah. I just wish he’d pick up the phone and talk to me. He’s already won me over.”

“Isn’t that the point though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Winning you over is one thing. But now, he’s telling the world he chooses you. He’s making a statement so you don’t forget. And so they don’t either.”

The phone rings by the cash register and she hesitates for just a moment to make sure I heard what she said. And I did.

Loud and clear.

@SweetChks It’s hard to breathe because you steal my breath every time I see you #10Days #GrudgeCupcake #Determined

There’s
no way
I could have just heard that correctly. I stop moving ingredients to the butcher block and walk out to the front where DeeDee is in a conversation with a customer.

“Can I help you?”

Dee’s eyes flash over to mine and silently thank me for coming out.

“Yes. One of the function organizers for The Club was saying she was looking for a bakery to supply morning tea on the third Thursday of the month. I am positive she would absolutely love your cupcakes. They’re the perfect combination of taste and presentation.”

“Did you say for The Club?” I swore I misheard her the first time from the back, know I heard her clearly the second time, but want to make sure one more time.

“Yes, dear. You know, The Club.” She pats her hair and smiles. “And pardon me for asking, but aren’t you related to one of the members?”

Once again, I’m left to look around for a hidden camera. This has to be a joke, right? But there is no camera. Just DeeDee’s eyes widening and teeth biting into her bottom lip as she holds back a smile.

This woman thinks I’m related to Rebound Sarah.

“No, I’m not.”

“Oh, because you could be the long-lost sister of the organizer’s new daughter-in-law. You’re the spitting image of her.”

The irony.

I swallow over the sarcastic laugh threatening to bubble out and try to remain patient
and
professional with this obviously clueless-to-The-Club-drama customer. “No. I don’t have a sister.”

“Well, good thing,” she whispers and leans over the counter and pats my hand. “The daughter-in-law is a tad . . . how do I put it politely? Pretentious? Conniving?”

“A bitch?” I provide the word for her since she’s too polite to say it herself. Her cheeks flush instantly and the diminutive smile she grants me says all I need to know.

“Something like that, yes. The whole family is for that matter.” She shakes her head indifferently and dismisses the matter. “Now where were we? Oh yes, cupcakes for The Club. It would be a great feather in your cap to get their business. The members have a lot of valuable connections you could benefit from. In fact, I’m so positive the organizer would love these, I’m going to go ahead and place an order for next week’s meeting.”

My smile widens to epic proportions as I lower my voice just like she did a moment ago. “While I’d love to provide them, you make sure to tell the organizer I am currently backlogged on orders for the foreseeable future. Besides,” I shrug, trying to be cordial because she seems like a nice lady, which is a rarity for a member of The Club, “I think my cupcakes might be a bit too sweet for their tastes. Thank you, though.”

“Well, I think they’re delicious. It’s a pity but I’ll be sure to deliver the message.”

“Yes, please do so,” I say in my kindest voice as she nods to me in farewell before turning to leave the store.
With a box of cupcakes in her hands.

I’d love to see the look on Uptight Ursula’s face when she receives that message.

“Say, there’s a phone call for you.”

I murmur an acknowledgment, but keep my head down where I’m working on some elaborate icing designs. The convention center’s catering manager requested some samples so they could decide if we were worthy to make their preferred vendor list.

“And not from The Club.”

“Ha. That’s funny.” And now she has my attention. “Can you take a message? I need to—”

“No. I think you need to take this.”

I look up, her expression one of guarded excitement as she holds the phone out to me. Curiosity has me to standing to full height and taking the phone from her.

“Sweet Cheeks, this is Saylor. How may I help you?”

“Hi. Yes. My name is Sally Destin and I’m calling on behalf of the organization Divorce Support California.”

“Hello.” I narrow my eyes at DeeDee and am feeling slightly had here, but uncertain exactly how. “How may I help you?”

“Yes, I was just explaining to your assistant and she thought it would be best if I spoke with you. Is this the owner?”

“Yes, my name is Saylor. How can I help you, Sally?”

“I was wondering what your capacity and reach is for your delivery range. Are you just local or all of California?”

I grab a pen and pad to make notes. “Well, that depends on the quantity needed. If it’s a couple of dozen, then just local, but if we’re talking a larger volume we can deliver.”

“Much larger.” She chuckles and I glance back over to DeeDee whose smile is growing wider as she watches me. “We are a company who runs, manages, and coordinates California’s largest network of divorce support groups. We have on average five different events a week in varying locations with an average attendance of a hundred or more members.”

“That’s a lot of members. So how can I help you?”

“We saw you on camera yesterday with those breakup cupcakes and would like to place regular orders.”

My head starts swirling with specifics. Finding a reputable courier service. Volume packaging. Endless possibilities. I shake my head in hopeful disbelief, the excitement bounding off DeeDee starting to make sense.

“You mean the grudge cupcakes?”

“Yes, but we’d like to refer to them as
breakup cupcakes
.
Divorce cupcakes
or
fresh-start cupcakes
.” She chuckles at herself. “Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself naming them. We can decide their name later once we schedule a standing order for them. Typically, I’m looking at about needing approximately five hundred a week. And once we establish those demands, I was thinking of creating some kind of partnership with you where when we unfortunately add a new member to the group, we send them a sampler as a welcome to the group type of thing.”

Five hundred plus a week? Did I hear that correctly? Holy. Shit.

I think I blink a few times. Open my mouth and close it as I try to gain my composure. “Oh. Okay. I’d love to work with you and figure something out.” My voice sounds calm but my trembling hands reflect my excitement. “I’d have to see the delivery range and work with you on what you’d like them to say . . . the details . . . and then I can come up with a proposal for you.”

“That sounds great. I’m on your site right now so is that the email to use to send the info over?”

“Um. Yes. That’s perfect.”

“And you know, we do have someone from our main office typically go to each of the meetings, so if some of the events are out of your delivery range, maybe you can ship them to the main office and the counselor or staff member heading to the meeting location can bring them. Just a thought.”

“That’s perfect. Thank you, Sally. I look forward to getting the information.”

“I hope it’s not out of line to say this, but you’ve been put through the wringer this week. Someone needs to tell you that the way you handled yourself yesterday—smashing the cupcakes for the cameras—was inspiring. And the idea is brilliant. We’ve been looking for an idea like this for a while now. I’d love nothing more than to give the okay to issue a contract for your company. It’s only a matter of time before other companies come knocking and I want to make sure we reserve our spot before you have to start turning orders away.”

“Thank you. Truly. Thank you. And I look forward to making this work.”

I hang up the phone and with eyes probably as wide as saucers look at DeeDee. We both give a little scream at the same time.

“Holy shit,” I whisper.

@HayesWhitOffcl

You must be a keyboard @SweetChks because you’re just my type. #10Days #GrudgeCupcake #Determined #MadA-Game