The Matchbaker (A Romantic Comedy) (28 page)

I look up to find Joe still lying on the couch, staring at me with a hungry gaze. My cheeks flame and my self-consciousness creeps in. I wouldn’t be so awkward if I wasn’t carrying an extra ten pounds or so, but I am, so I wrap my arms around me, as if that’s going to hide my rolls and jiggly parts from him.

“Aren’t you going to get dressed?” I ask, turning around so he can’t see my burning cheeks.

“I like watching
you
get dressed.”

I snatch my tunic off a chair and throw it over my head. “Well, show’s over,” I say. “Your turn.”

I have to admit, I revel a little in watching him get dressed, too. The way his muscles work as he brings his jeans up around his waist or when he pulls his t-shirt down over his head. Hot
and
nice. I’ve definitely hit the jackpot. Now to see if we’re both still magical.

Turns out to be just before eight in the morning, so we have a little more than an hour before the coffee shop opens, and two hours before I have to open the bakery. I don’t know how I’m going to make it through a full day of work on so little sleep, but at least we close early on Sundays.

I stand on the opposite side of the counter while Joe whips up a couple of coffee drinks for us. I’m nervous. What if he’s not magical anymore? It will be my fault because I just couldn’t stay away. I know he said he doesn’t care, but I do. Not about my own powers, but about his. What if he’s lost them and ten years down the road I find out in a marriage counseling session that he resents me for stripping him of his powers? Oh, God. It’s too much. I should have stayed in New York when I had the chance. I would have figured everything out. I would have made it. I’d done it before, I could do—

“Candy?”

I look up. My heart is racing and my tongue feels stuck in my throat. I can’t answer, so I just wait for him to speak again.

A smile spreads his lips wide. “I’ve still got it.”

Relief washes through me and I nearly collapse against the counter. “Oh, thank God!” I say. “Now hand over the coffee. I’m gonna need it to get through the day.”

I’m in no rush to test my abilities, so we sit in the window seat of A Latte Joe’s, sipping cappuccinos and reminiscing about events that had taken place only a few hours ago. Besides, I won’t know if my abilities are still with me until someone actually eats the cupcakes, which means we have to wait for Holly or Colin to show up.

Once I’ve slurped down every last drip of my cappuccino, we walk across the street together and I set to baking a batch of cupcakes. I’m doing something fun and simple, and I’m going to infuse it with a very special childhood memory.

By the time she comes in, the cupcakes have cooled and are ready for consumption. She peeks around the door, I assume for dramatic purposes, and asks, “Did it work?”

I hold up the tray of completed cupcakes. “You tell me.”

Joe has gone back to his own shop. Colin is rifling around in the office next door, so it’s just Holly and me in the kitchen. She bursts through the door, full of excitement and anticipation. I wish I could say the same. Not that I’m not curious to know if I still have my powers, but I’m realizing that I really don’t care that much. I’ve already got what I want:
Joe
. And he’s still got his powers, which relieves me of any possible guilt or resentment further down the line.

“These are beautiful,” Holly says as she picks one up off the tray.

The pastel swirl frosting is topped by a piece of cotton candy. I would have added more decoration, but I don’t want to give anything away. Besides, it’s the intent I used on the final stir that will determine my fate, not really the cake itself.

Holly bites into the cupcake and closes her eyes with a moan. “Oh, man, this is
good
,” she says with a mouth full of frosting. “What
is
this?”

I laugh. “I can’t tell you that,” I say. “It would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise.”

“I know,” she replies, her mouth still teeming with cake. “You should serve these out front today, though. Really good, Can.”

“Thanks.”

Holly leaves the kitchen without another word, and when she returns a few minutes later, she doesn’t say anything other than to rave about how tasty the cupcake was again.

I know I said I wouldn’t be disappointed if I lost my powers, but I might have been lying. In truth, I’m kind of sad now that it seems they might be gone. I barely had time to use them. It’s only been a couple months—I have no idea what I might have been capable of.

I can’t stop the sigh that escapes me as I move back to the mixing station to start a batch of basic vanilla.

“You okay?” Holly asks from her perch on the stool. I turn around and see she’s rolling out pastel colored slabs of fondant.

“What are you making?” I ask, ignoring her question.

She shrugs. “I thought it would be cute to make little fondant rainbows for your cupcakes. Oh, and maybe miniature lollipops, too.”

I furrow my brow, wondering if her idea is a result of the spell or just the general candy-shop look of the cupcakes to begin with.

“Sure,” I say, returning to my work. “That sounds great.”

We work the rest of the morning in silence, humming along to the Muzak CD now and again. Just before noon, the bell to the front door jingles and a moment later, Mom yells, “Girls, I’ve got lunch!”

“Be out in a minute!” Holly yells back as I shove a batch of chocolate cupcake batter into the oven.

“I’ve got twelve minutes to eat,” I announce as we walk through the office door.

Mom and Colin are already sitting at the table and the food’s been laid out in front of each chair. Sandwiches and chips all around.

“Thanks, Mom,” I say. “Where’s Dad?”

At this, Mom gets really quiet and flustered, and pink circles show up on her cheeks. “Um, well…he, ah…”

“Mom?”

Her throat works as she swallows convulsively. Oh, my God.

“You remember, don’t you?” I whisper. I’d known it was a possibility but I hadn’t expected it to really come true.

“You mustn’t blame yourself, Candy,” Mom says, as if that’s going to help. “We told you we were prepared for whatever happened.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No buts.” Mom holds up her hand to stop my protests. “What’s done is done. You’re father and I…we’ll figure it out, all right?”

It’s not all right. Not at all. I stare at my sandwich and clutch my stomach. My appetite is completely gone. I’ve ruined my parents’ marriage. And I might not have the magical abilities to repair it anymore.

Not that I’d be able to use them to mend their bond, anyway. Unless one of them asked me to, it would be for selfish gain. And we all know where that leads.

“Come on, Candy, cheer up,” Mom says in a cajoling tone. “It’ll be fine, I promise. Now eat your lunch so you and your sister have time to play your little game.”

I jerk my head up to meet my mom’s eyes. What did she say?

“Oh, you found it?” Holly asks excitedly. “Yay!” She claps her hands together like a circus monkey and jumps up and down in her seat.

“I’m sorry,” I say, bringing her squeefest to a halt. “Found what?”

“Candyland!” Holly squees again. “Remember how much we used to love that game? I don’t know why, but I just—”

Holly stops midsentence when she finally takes in the look on my face, which I’m sure is one of pure stupefaction.

“—felt like playing,” she finishes, her voice down to a whisper now.

And then, as if we’ve both been ejected from our seats, we jump up and start squeeing together. It worked. The spell worked. I still have my powers. And I have Joe.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that all is right with the world. Not with my parents’ marriage on the rocks. But at least I have my powers. At least there’s a possibility I can fix what I’ve broken.

When we come down off our excitement I turn to Mom and Colin.

“I baked her a batch of Candyland cupcakes this morning,” I explain. “To test if I still had my powers. I didn’t tell her what the cupcakes were.”

“Congratulations,” Colin says, a genuine smile on his face. Despite how difficult and humiliating I might have made our relationship, he doesn’t hold it against me. That’s a good thing, since I’m fairly certain he’ll be my brother-in-law some day.

Mom smiles sweetly at me. “I never doubted you for a moment, Candy,” she says, and her tone makes me want to cry. She knew this was going to happen, and I wonder if she and Dad spent this week preparing to say good-bye.

I shake my head. I can’t even fathom the thought. They’ll be together again. They’ll be fine. They have to be.

“Thanks, Mom,” I say. “I’m going to run across the street to tell Joe the good news. Do you mind getting the cupcakes out of the oven in a minute?”

Holly practically shoves me out the door. “Go on. We’ve got it covered.”

I stumble out onto the street a moment later and pull my sweater around my shoulders. The sky is darkening—it’s going to start raining soon. A chilly wind whips the stray strands of my hair across my face. I close my eyes briefly as I brush the hairs back, and when I open them again, Joe is standing right in front of his shop, smiling at me.

I can’t stop the smile that comes to my own lips. Things are still a bit of a mess, what with my parents’ marriage and all, but they wanted this for me, didn’t they? They gave us their blessing to break the curse, knowing what it would do to them. I can’t let their sacrifice be in vain.

Joe cocks his head in the direction of the town square and I nod in agreement. We both make our way there on our respective sides of the street and stop before each other, right in front of the fountain. He’s got a worried frown on his face, and I’m eager to turn it upside down.

“So?” he says. “Any news?”

I shrug, playing it cool. “Maybe.”

He grabs me around the waist and shoves his hand under my arm to tickle me. I’m laughing hard because I’m incredibly ticklish—which he found out last night—but I finally catch my breath enough to yell, “Uncle!”

Joe lets me go but we’re both laughing too hard to say anything.

“Not cool, Vandermark,” I say, once I can breathe again.

“No,” he replies, drawing out the
ooooo.
“Holding out on me when you have valuable information is
not cool.
”

“All right, fine.” I saunter closer and press myself right up against him. He draws me close, so that we’re practically nose-to-nose. “But this information is worth something, you know?”

“Name your price.” His voice is gruff, in a pretend superhero kind of way, and it makes me all gooey inside.

“One kiss.”

He shakes his head and huffs out a sigh. “I’ll do what I have to do.”

I’m smiling when he brings his lips to mine, which makes the kiss a little awkward, but I don’t really care. I’m too happy in this perfect, romantic moment.

When we end the kiss and pull away, I casually look up into Joe’s eyes and say, “I still got it.”

“Yeah, you do,” he groans, and I have to push him away, laughing.

“No, you dork!” I say. “I’ve. Still. Got. It.”

He stills, trying to take in my words. “You…you do?”

I nod, feeling giddy inside. He must feel a little giddy too, because he picks me up by the waist and swings me around. I barely register the fountain is going haywire next to us—a side effect of magical people getting excited, I suppose.

When he sets me down, he kisses me again and we stand for a moment in the brisk autumn air, just staring at one another. A drop of rain pelts me on the nose and brings me back to reality.

“I’ve got orders to fulfill,” I say, feeling a little guilty that I’ve left Mom and Holly to do my work.

“I better get back too.” Joe drops his arms from around my waist and grabs my hand. “Can I walk you back?”

“I’d like that.”

We walk a few paces before I speak again. “Listen,” I say, trying to figure out how to tell him about my parents without ruining our beautiful moment. “There was a…side effect of our spell I think you should know about.”

“Side effect?”

“If hours of watching
Once Upon a Time
has taught me anything, it’s that magic always comes with a price.” I wait for him to make fun of me for watching
Once Upon a Time
, but he doesn’t, much to my surprise. “The price, in this instance, is my parents’ marriage.”

Naturally, he furrows his brow in confusion as he stops and faces me on the sidewalk. “What do you mean?”

I explain the curse to him, and how it relates to my parents, trying not to get worked up over the whole thing. When he grabs my shoulders in that firm, but gentle manner, I collapse against his chest and fight back the tears that are threatening to spill over.

“I wish so badly my happiness didn’t have to be the cause of their
un
happiness,” I finish, breathing in his warm coffee scent for comfort.

“Candy.” Joe’s voice is tender as he pushes me back and looks me in the eye, still holding me by the shoulders. “I have no idea if we can fix your parents, but I promise you, if there’s a way, we will find it…together.”