How to Bake the Perfect Wedding Cake (3 page)

“No.”

Jack raises an eyebrow at me. “No?”

“No.” I shake my head as if it’s added confirmation of what I’m saying.

“Then why do you have them?”

My shoulders lift up past my ears, as if they want to sprout wings and flap me out of this kitchen and this horribly embarrassing moment.

I let out a deep breath. “I buy them at yard sales and eBay… It’s just a collection.” I shrug my shoulders. There, I said it. No big deal. I’m sure we can move on from this moment.

“You buy snow globes of places you haven’t been yet and store them in your oven?” Jack runs his hand through his hair.

Damn.
Now I seem like a crazy cat lady or something.

“I didn’t want them collecting dust all over my place. And since I don’t use the oven that much it seemed like a good spot. When I’m feeling down I peek at them in the oven and see all the possibilities.” I swallow. No one knows about my snow globes.
No one.
Not even Brianna. This is my secret that Jack now knows. I’m a ball of emotions and my insecurities are about to roll onto the floor and say, “Yes, I’m weird… Am I too weird for you?”

Jack smiles, pulls me into his arms and kisses my head. “I love you.”

My head tingles and a little rush of warmth flows down my neck and over my shoulders, making its way to my heart. He doesn’t care about my wacky collection. Can this be true? God, I love this man. He is so much more than I could have ever dreamed up in my mind. And my mind is a vast place full of all sorts of wild ideas and images. But Jack isn’t an image. He’s real. He’s going to be my husband. Wow. I take a step back and grip the counter. I don’t want to faint in the kitchen with the mere concept of how great Jack is. Especially given he is standing in front of me.

Jack flashes me a full-teeth grin. “Now that we’ve gotten your secret collection out of the way, which one do you want to try first? Let me guess—the fresh strawberries and sponge cake?”

I flutter my eyelashes. I’m not sure. “How about the white cake with raspberry crème and a drizzle from the red dish…mmm…oh and maybe a few drops of the chocolate fudge?”

Jack nods. “Good, start off simple.”

I roll my eyes while he cuts a slice of the white cake and covers it with the raspberry frosting, red glaze, and then drizzles the chocolate over the top in a zigzag motion. He takes a piece with a fork and offers it to me. The cake is fluffy and sweet and incredibly delicious. I want to say yes, this is the cake, but like the dress there are several more options to choose from on the counter and I can’t immediately fall in love with this one…or can I?

And I don’t want to end this sampling moment. Just like the dresses, which were fun to try on. So many possibilities. So many choices. I don’t want to peak too soon on the cake. It’s got to rise slowly and have the exact amount of bounce to it when it comes out of the oven. The cake is like the dress, each one has to be made with the right ingredients or fabric, sewn together with precision or mixed with care and then finalized in the oven or over me. Yes. I want to take my time with each one. I’ve got to find the perfect dress and cake. This is important. Just like Jack—he is so important. I owe it to both of us to be patient.

“Well?”

“It’s really good.” I take another bite. “Like it’s so good I almost don’t even want to try the others.” I let out a small laugh. “Is that bad?”

“No, it’s not bad. It shows you know what you want and you aren’t indecisive. I love it. And everything else about you. But since we have all this cake I think we need to eat it…yes?” Jack cocks his head to the right.

“Yes, I think it’s important for us to keep going and taste all of them. But there is no way I can eat all of that cake. Let me just sample each of them or I won’t be able to fit into any wedding dress, period.” I eye the cake and already feel the pounds attaching to my hips. “That’s enough to feed, like, ten pregnant women.”

“More reason to eat up. Once you’re pregnant you might lose your appetite for cake. Enjoy it now.” Jack wiggles his eyebrows at me while he takes another bite.

“Well that will not be happening anytime soon, so I’ve got plenty of time to enjoy cake.” I pop another piece in my mouth and melt at how good it is. I’m in heaven until I see Jack’s frown. “What?”

“When you say ‘not anytime soon’, what does that mean?” He sounds a little hurt almost.

“Well, just not anytime soon. We’re not even married yet.”

“Yes, but I figured as soon as we were, we could start trying.”

My eyes bulge. The wedding is only three months away. If we had a honeymoon baby I’d be delivering this time next year. I’m so not ready for that! “Jack, I’m not ready to be pregnant. I’ve been a manager for a less than a year; I’ve still got ground to cover in my career.” I place my fork on the plate.

Jack’s eyebrows wrinkle. “But what about our babies that are ready to be born?”

I roll my eyes. “They need to listen to their mama and wait.”

Jack laughs. “Fine, but I reserve the right to open this discussion again at another time.” He looks at me expectantly.

I nod. Of course we can
talk
about children. We both want them; I’m just not ready to
have
them yet.

He nods back and smiles at me. “Okay, so back to this cake…”

“Jack, seriously, I have to fit into a wedding dress!”

“I’m sure we can figure out a way to burn some extra calories.” Jack offers me a bite from his fork. I open my mouth and the fluffy sweet cake mixed in with the vanilla frosting is amazing. Almost too good, just like Jack. He is almost too good.
Almost.

My cheeks warm. “What do you have in mind?”

Jack pulls me in close and kisses me hard. His lips press against mine as if he is answering my question but with more intensity than I could have imagined. He lifts me off my feet and carries me out of the kitchen and into my bedroom.
Our bedroom
. My chest tightens. I’ve never shared a bedroom with anyone. Even in college, my room was in a suite. Brianna and I shared a bathroom but had separate small rooms. Jack lays me down on the bed.

“What’s wrong?” He traces my face with his thumb.

“Nothing.” I reach for the back of his head to pull him closer to me.

“Lauren, what are you thinking about?” He runs his fingers through my hair. “Tell me.”

I glance at the sheets. The sheets that I picked out on my own. Everything in this room is representative of me. “I think we should buy new sheets together.” I want there to be more of Jack in my house so it seems more like our house. I want him to be comfortable here and know it’s our place.

Jack squints. “Is there something wrong with these sheets?”

I laugh. “No, they’re fine. I like them. But I just feel like maybe…well not maybe, but I think we should buy some together so my place…will seem more like our place.”

“This is your place and it’s only temporary that we’ll be living here together.” Jack kisses my neck.

“Wait, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that we won’t be living here that long.” He trails his lips along my neckline and up to my face.

“Why wouldn’t we live here? It’s a great location and I love it.” I shake my head.

“I love it too. But we need a bigger place. This is nice for a single woman, but you aren’t going to be single for much longer.” Jack’s lips meet mine and I fall into a place of love as our tongues move together. He runs his hands all over my body as he peels off each item of my clothing. My heart is racing. I love being with him and can’t focus on this conversation right now. All I’m seeing is sparkles of pleasure and my mind is moving towards a place where thoughts are not possible.

Chapter Two

It’s the middle of July and despite the air conditioning I’m sweating like I’m back in Texas outside in the heat. The letter on my desk is one I wasn’t expecting. Hallie Brooks has resigned. Now, I have to find another person for my team. This wouldn’t be so bad except I’ve got an email on my computer screen that makes this situation even worse. Trent has been promoted and given his own team. Trent. I roll my eyes. I just hired him in January and six months later he is managing his own team? How does that make sense? This seems too fast, considering. Why did this happen?

Back in December, I got the biggest promotion of my life thus far—given that I hope I haven’t peaked too soon. And I was assigned the task of finding and hiring my own team. And one of those new teammates happened to be Trent. He seemed to hold lots of promise at first and then his true character began to show, and it was uncomfortable and danced along the lines of sexual harassment. Harassment that I never reported. I just tried to handle it on my own and hoped it would go away. But it hasn’t and now I’m being dealt another bad hand. How many times can I fold?

Now, I’ve lost two people from my team and Trent will be competing against me in every aspect of my job. I swallow hard. I don’t understand why Javier wouldn’t consult with me before promoting Trent. I know he’s the boss but shouldn’t he have considered my thoughts on taking someone from my team? I blow air up over my face. Little beads of sweat are popping up along my hairline. I can’t show how stressed I am. I’ve got to remain calm and turn this ship around. I think I’m going to need to get a fan for my office. That will help my temperature out, but this situation…

My chest tightens. Good grief, not again. Simmer down. Push it down. Handle this. Deep breaths. It’s okay. I can get through this. I’ve been through worse. This is a drop in the ocean. The ocean. Focus on the ocean. Yes the cool water. Its waves. I can do this. The waves are smooth and soft on my skin. I’ve got to push past them and get to the shore.

I need to figure something out and fast. Trent works faster than anyone I’ve ever known. I’m sure he already has his team figured out and I need to replace two members of my own. I shake my head.

I still have the stack of candidates from January when I picked the first round of people for my team. Maybe there are some winners in this pile. I flip through them. Leena’s résumé stands out at me.
Absolutely not.
Not after the way she acted last time I didn’t hire her. I do not want her on my team, under any circumstances.

Brett Barron, he could be a contender. I take his résumé and stats and put them aside. I get through the whole pile with only his papers in my “contenders” stack. I press my lips together. This isn’t good. There must be some new candidates to choose from. I dial the only number that might provide some answers.

“Hey, Javier.”

“Hello, Lauren, I assume you got the email about Trent?”

I sigh. “Yes, I did. I wish you would have spoken with me first, however.”

“Yes, well you were on vacation and we needed to move on this. Trent threatened to leave if we didn’t promote him and we really didn’t want to lose him.”

I nod. “I see. All right, do you happen to have any new candidates since January that you would recommend for my team?”

“Yes, you’ll have to get them from Trent.”

I roll my eyes. “Great, thank you.”

I should have known Trent would pull something like this. He always seemed so shady and that was before he cornered me in the elevator and tried to kiss me. I toss my hair over my shoulder. I wish I could toss him off a bridge. Ha! Not really hurt him but just kind of kick him off my island or something. I exit my office and head towards Trent’s cubicle. Which is empty, of course. The desk is barren of any personal items and the computer is missing. I tap the laminate with my finger.
Great.

“Trent has an office now. You know, since he has the same position as you.” Leena is peeking her shiny auburn hair over her cubicle wall and staring at me with her red lips pulled up higher than would seem possible. I get it—she’s happy.

“Right.” I nod and exit the cubicle area. Trent is standing in the doorway next to my office watching me. His eyes darken as I get closer.

“Hi, Trent, congratulations.” I do my best to smile. Even though every centimeter of my lips is protesting.

“Thanks, Lauren, it came as such a surprise.” His eyes twinkle with such cynicism I can hardly stop myself from rolling my own eyes.
A surprise.

“So I’ve heard. Hey listen, since you are no longer on my team—”

“And Hallie’s gone too now.” Trent makes a hissing sound with his teeth.

“Yes, anyways, I need the candidate list. Are you finished with it?” I press my lips together.

“Sure, come on into my office.” He opens the door for me and makes his way around to his desk and sits down.

I’m not going to sit down. I just need the list and I’m out of this toxic room.

“Hey, have a seat. Tell me about your vacation. Did you finally choose a wedding date? Or did you decide to call things off?” He cocks his head to the right.

I sigh. “Trent, do you have the list?” I tap my foot against the floor.

“Yes, but what’s the rush? Come on, sit down, talk to me. We’re both managers now. You don’t have to worry about not being on the same level anymore.” He stands up and closes his office door.

Trent’s hand is on the small of my back as if he is trying to guide me to the chair. I take a step towards his desk.

“Trent, I don’t have time to talk. Please just give me the list.”

“All right, let me see if I can find it.” He opens up his desk drawers and begins sifting through papers. “So, I’m taking by your demeanor that you and Jack broke up?”

I roll my eyes. “No, we did not break up. Seriously, Trent, you have to stop this.”

“Stop what? I’m just a concerned co-worker—is there a problem with that?” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“Do you have the list?” I’m about to leave and just go up and down the cubicles and see if I can spot new people on my own. Our floor is not that big—maybe fifty or more rows. I should be able to run the whole floor before noon.

“Yes, Lauren. You seem really on edge. You’re not worried about competing against me, are you?” He winks at me.

“Oh come on, Trent. I’m not worried about you being a new manager or competing against you. My love life is great. The only thing I need from you is the list. Now do you have it or not?” I glare at him.