Chocolate for Two (27 page)

Yes, it was time to speak my mind.

This has to stop.

“Um, actually, Mrs. McIntyre…”

She put her hand on my shoulder and smiled. “Please, dear, call me Ava.”

I froze, momentarily taken aback.

Then I swallowed and cleared my throat.

“You want me to call you Ava?” I eked out the words in a whisper.

“Don’t you think it’s about time?” She smiled again and gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “After all, you’re going to be my daughter soon.”

Did she just call me her daughter?

I felt a lump forming in my throat.

I stole another look at Andie, whose face softened. She gave me a sympathetic nod.

She understood.

I turned back at Mrs. McIntyre and smiled a bit awkwardly. “Okay, um, then Ava it is.”

“Wonderful. That reminds me, I have something for you.” She opened her purse and pulled out a small rectangular box wrapped in silver paper with a tiny blue bow.

I smiled in genuine surprise. “For me?”

“Happy birthday, Waverly. It’s from Walter and me.”

I carefully unwrapped the box, then slowly removed the lid.

Inside lay a delicate strand of pearls.

I put my hand over my mouth.

“Oh my gosh, it’s gorgeous.” I wasn’t even lying. It was.

She smiled. “I thought you might like it. Pearls will look lovely on you because of your nice jawline and neck.” She looked at Bee. “Doesn’t Waverly have a beautiful jawline and neck?”

Bee stood up to stretch. “Waverly’s a looker, that’s for sure. I think I may have mentioned that yesterday after my fourth glass of champagne. That bubbly certainly did a lot of talking for me.”

Andie laughed and put her arm around Bee. “I like you more every time I see you.”

Ava gestured toward the necklace. “Would you like me to put it on you?”

I felt my hand fly up to my bare neck. “Sure.”

“Here, let me help you. Can you move your ponytail out of the way?” We both stood up, and she placed the strand around my neck. When she was done with the clasp, she pointed toward one of the enormous mirrors. “There you go. Have a look.”

I walked over to check out my reflection and couldn’t help but smile at what I saw. “Wow, it’s beautiful, Ava. Thank you.”

“It looks lovely on you.” Then she nodded toward Andie, who I knew hated pearls almost as much as she hated exercising. Back in high school her mom had made her wear them for every special occasion, which blunted her efforts to be the trendy girl. “Come to think of it, pearls would look lovely with that bridesmaid dress, don’t you both think?”

Andie and I exchanged a look that said we understood each other.

“Yes,” we both answered with a smile.

Once we were back in the car, Ava turned to me and Andie.

“I have a little surprise for you.”

“A surprise?” At that point all Andie and I wanted to do was go lie out by the pool, but it looked like that might not happen.

She nodded. “We’re headed to Sugar Chef.”

Our blank stares indicated we had no idea what she talking about.

“You’ve never heard of it?”

We shook our heads.

Bee gave her a look. “Ava, they don’t live in Florida.”

Bee was cool.

Ava adjusted the rearview mirror. “Well, it’s a very popular bakery. And I’ve made an appointment for us to taste some wedding cakes!”

Say what?

We were going to taste wedding cakes?

If there was
one part
of the wedding I actually wanted to take care of myself, it was selecting the cake.

Actually, unless it was solid chocolate, I wasn’t all that interested in cake. If it were up to me, I’d be celebrating my nuptials privately with a yummy plate of chocolate—for two, of course. But I knew better than to hope for that.

And if I
was
going to go cake tasting, I wanted to do it with Jake, not his mother.

Sigh.

His mom was so excited that I couldn’t bear to let on how I really felt, so I held my tongue as we pulled up at the bakery. She introduced us to the owner, who soon brought out a huge selection of cake bites for us to taste. Over the next hour, we tried every type of cake I’d ever heard of, plus several I hadn’t. Red velvet. Carrot. Raspberry cream. Vanilla custard. Lemon chiffon. It was endless.

By the time we’d finished, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to fit into my wedding dress anymore.

“I feel sick,” Andie said as we climbed back into the car.

Ava was delighted. She thought the raspberry cream was the best choice, and I just didn’t have any strength left to tell her that the only flavor I wanted was about as far away from that as it gets. So I just smiled and thought about spending our last hours in Florida relaxing at the hotel. Andie and I weren’t leaving until this evening, so we still had time to enjoy the sun.

Pool, here I come.

We’d barely left the bakery parking lot when Ava called over her shoulder to us in the back seat. “Would you two mind if we stopped at the mall for a few minutes?”

I looked at Andie.
The mall?

She shrugged, her eyes already half closed.

“Um, okay,” I said.

“Bee needs to pick up some eye cream before she heads back to Miami, and there’s a Jordan Brooke right on the way to your hotel.”

My ears perked up.
Jordan Brooke?
That was one of our biggest accounts at Waverly’s Honey Shop.

“Sure, no problem.” I looked over at Andie again, who was nearly asleep.

Eventually we pulled into The Gardens mall. I nudged Andie awake.

“You okay?” I whispered to her as we approached the entrance.

She yawned. “Good as new. I’m a champion, remember?”

“I’ll just be a few minutes.” Bee looked at her watch. “Meet me here in fifteen?”

“Sure,” Ava said. “I’ll have a peek at the shoes.”

As Bee wandered away, Andie said, “Maybe I’ll visit the makeup counter too. I could use a new lipstick.”

“Okay.” I gestured toward the directory. “I’m going to check out the second floor. Jordan Brooke is one of our biggest accounts.”

“Excuse me, dear?” Ava said.

I cleared my throat. “Um, Jordan Brooke is one of our biggest accounts.”

“Biggest accounts for what?”

“For my, um, my Honey products.”

“Your Honey products?”

Andie put a hand on her arm. “You don’t know about Waverly’s Honey Shop?”

Ava raised her eyebrows. “Waverly’s…Honey Shop? No. What’s that?”

Andie waved her forefinger in the air. “Shame on Jake for not telling you. Waverly created an entire line of products based around
Honey on Your Mind
.”

Ave looked a bit stunned. “You did?”

I smiled and nodded.

“But how?”

I cleared my throat. “Um, out of my apartment?”
What is up with all the throat clearing?

Andie shook her head. “Not out of her apartment anymore. She’s big-time now. Let’s go have a look, shall we?” She pointed to the escalator, and Ava and I followed her up. When we reached the second floor, she beelined to the first employee she saw.

“Excuse me, where do you sell the Waverly’s Honey Shop line?”

The young woman smiled and pointed to her left. “On the other side of lingerie, right before you get to juniors.”

“Thanks.”

Andie motioned for us to keep following her. “Ladies, if you will.”

We passed through a sea of bras and underwear, and soon I saw my Honey products. The small display was much like the one Paige and I had used to present the line at trade shows, back when we were trying to land our first account. Honey Tees, Honey Totes, Honey Eye Pillows, even a few packs of Honey Notes. It wasn’t a big selection, but there it was, my imagination come to life under a blue-and-green sign that said
WAVERLY’S HONEY SHOP: SOMETIMES WE ALL NEED A SPOONFUL OF HONEY
. The line wasn’t in the Manhattan Jordan Brooke yet, so this was first time I’d seen them on display like this.

Ava picked up a light-blue eye pillow that said
DREAM
.

“These are…your products?”

I smiled. “Looks like it.”

“You came up with these on your own?”

I nodded. “Originally, yes. I have some help now.”

“And you do this in addition to your work on
Love, Wendy
?”

I nodded again.

“How in the
world
do you find time to do both?”

I smiled. “I’m still trying to figure out how to be in two places at once, but for now, I just race around a lot and drink a lot of coffee.”

“She’s a rock star.” Andie put her arm around me. “I’m sure you already know it, but you’re quite lucky to have this one joining your family.”

Ava turned to set the eye pillow down, and as she did so, Andie nudged me. I looked at her, and she mouthed the words
That should shut her up about Holly.

“Waverly, is that you?”

Startled, I turned to my left. The woman’s face was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Her dark-blonde hair was pulled back in a messy bun, the kind that didn’t look messy on purpose, just…messy. And a little dirty. She wore a navy-blue suit with what looked like a coffee stain on the lapel.

“That’s me,” I said with a smile.
And you are?

“It’s me, Rebecca Clark.”

The look in my eyes must have been blank.

“Becca Clark? I’m the buyer here?”

Oh my God! Rebecca Clark from Jordan Brooke!
My memory flashed to the year before, when during a life-changing brunch meeting (for me at least), she had decided to carry Waverly’s Honey Shop products at hundreds of Jordan Brooke stores across the country.

“Oh yes, Rebecca, of course. I’m so sorry. I just…wasn’t expecting to see you here. You live in Ohio, right?” I could feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment. How had I not recognized her?

She nodded with a smile, and I remembered how friendly she’d been to me and Paige that morning. “Please, call me Becca. And yes, I live in Cleveland, but I’m on the road a lot checking on the merchandise. I see you’ve found your Honey products.”

“Yes, I was, um, just showing them to my friends.” I gestured to Andie and Ava. “This is Andie Barnett, and this is my, um, my fiancé’s mother, Ava McIntyre.” I stumbled over the word
fiancé
, and all I could think was,
Davey was so right.

Becca eagerly shook their hands. “You’re getting married?”

I nodded. “In February. I live in New York, but he’s from Florida, so we decided to get married down here. Ava threw me a beautiful shower yesterday.”

“The wedding’s at the Breakers,” Ava added with a polite smile. I cringed and wanted to yell
Who cares!

Becca, probably used to South Floridians like Ava, politely ignored the superfluous comment and nodded her head toward the product display. “We just love Waverly’s products. They’re so creative, don’t you think?”

Andie nodded. “They’re amazing. Waverly’s amazing.”

Ava nodded slightly but didn’t speak.

Becca crossed her arms in front of her chest. “So how’s Paige? I haven’t heard from her in a while.”

I hesitated. We hadn’t told any of our buyers about Paige’s pregnancy. Or imminent departure.

Stay composed, Waverly. You don’t need to share that information.

“She just had a baby,” I blurted.

Oh, crap.

A look of compassion and concern crossed over Becca’s face.

“A baby? Really? I had no idea she was pregnant.”

I wanted to kick myself.
What is wrong with you?

I swallowed “Um, yes, well, she was. She um, she had a little boy named Graham. He’s super cute.” I remember Becca had mentioned her kids in the meeting Paige and I had with her in Cleveland, so I hoped this news was no cause for alarm.

I was wrong.

“Who’s taking over for her while she’s out? And how long will she be gone?” she asked.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Andie and Ava watching this uncomfortable conversation unfold. I was mortified that they were witnessing it and wanted to shoo them away, but I couldn’t see any way to do it without making everything worse.

I thought about how to answer Becca’s question.

Should I lie?

I didn’t want to lie.

Plus I’m a terrible liar.

So I opted for the truth.

Or mostly the truth.

I forced a smile. “I think we’ve found the perfect person to transition into the position. In fact, I’m about to offer her the job tomorrow.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You didn’t find someone before Paige had her baby?”

I willed myself to keep smiling. “Oh, believe me, we tried. But dynamos like Paige don’t come around every day, as you can imagine. Plus she was working up until the day she gave birth, so we didn’t want to jump the gun.”
Jump the gun? Ugh.
I hated when clichés flew unexpectedly out of my mouth.

Becca nodded, but concern was written all over her face.

In block letters.

As it should have been.

She was a bit rumpled, but she was no idiot. She knew Paige had been running the show.

“It will be fine, I promise. Paige put everything in excellent order. Encyclopedic, actually. Your account managers will hardly notice that she’s…um…not there.” I couldn’t bring myself to use the word
gone
. I could only hope she wouldn’t press the
When is she coming back?
issue, because no amount of clever semantics could gloss over the meaning of
never
.