Page 2 of Cakes for the Grump

For him to?—

Yes, I’m jobless, closer to penniless than before, and being reprimanded by Luke Abbot for one tiny cake mind blip...

But to threaten to throw my food in the bin?

My smile cracks—and that is a big deal.

Normally, I pretend to be okay, using a fake, cheery persona for times when it becomes hard to be genuinely happy. I’m so good at it that many men assume being with me means they’ll get a gregariously happy girlfriend.

Case in point, my ex-boyfriend. The dick. Manjinder.

He loved to brag about me.

My girlfriend is great, she’s so confident, and people in her life always have crazy stories about her. She loves her curves. She’s got it all figured out. People love her. She’s making me laugh, making us all laugh. I love that shine.

He liked me at my brightest shade of light and kept needing me to keep that wattage high, enough that I noticed him love me less when I tried to dip a toe into my pool of real-life problems.

Even his voice was ingratiating.

Babe…he would whine.Don’t talk about your dad. It’s such a depressing topic. Forget about it and go back to being you. The happy person I fell in love with.

Back to the present, all of this is why I can’t believe I’ve stopped smiling at Luke Abbot. I think the stress of being fired has gotten to me and I’ve somehow broken my fake-cheer persona. I look around the room, glancing in several directions including down below at my feet.

He leans forward. “What are you looking for?”

“A man of principle. Where is he? Are you intending to introduce us?” Before Luke can react to the insult, I continue. “For the record, the termination of my contract was unjust. I won’t go into details, but I’ll have you know I was scapegoated by a nanny mastermind. If I wasn’t sofired,I would be impressed at the con she continues to run, and the victims she has racked up. Gardener, tutor, swim instructor...none have been spared.”

“What con?” asks Luke. “What is she running?”

I’ve been wrongly accused of stealing from another client, Mrs. Pedro, even though it’s obvious to anyone that her nanny is the one with the sticky fingers. Not that I haven’t tried fighting it. I have because Ireally, really, reallyneed the money…but the company isn’t picking up my calls and they won’t let me into their headquarters.

I step forward. “Are you going to help me? Is that why you’re asking?”

A good word from a powerful man might make my ex-employer reconsider letting me go!

“No,” he says. “I haven’t brought you in to help in that way.”

I feel it. The little bit of hope deflating. “Then I don’t have to answer your question.”

Why waste time being here? I’ve got to leave and figure out my life…soon…quickly…today.

“If there’s nothing else worth me staying,” I snip out, “then I’m leaving.”

“For someone who relies only on salt and pepper as flavoring agents, you certainly seem bold, Rita.”

My mouth drops open. “You are faultingmefor the salt and pepper? Excuse me, but the brief for your meals washealth-conscious. I assumed a man who hates sugar and only stocks his kitchen with vanilla-flavored protein powder is not a man who enjoys complicated flavors.”

“Health conscious. What an odd descriptor. Is that what you would call the cake you left behind?”

He stands up and looks down at me—easily done since he is taller—with a victory squint in his eyes. As if we’ve been competing with each other this whole time...which I think is not an inaccurate description. We’ve only met and we’re already burning each other’s nerves. Why? How? I can normally charm anyone, even the crustiest of personalities. Why is my fake-cheer persona malfunctioning so badly?

“I’m glad we’re finally getting to the real reason I am here,” I say. “The cake I shouldn’t have baked. Out of curiosity, is there an arrest warrant with my name on it? Have you called theconfectionerypolice?”

“No.” Luke levels a bored look my way, and I hate that indifference still looks good on his attractive face. A man with his personality should be mousey and Scrooge-like, not a modern incarnation of Adonis.

“Do you need me to pay you for the inconvenience of having to throw away the cake?” I wonder.

“In case you are unobservant, I don’t need your money.”