Page 56 of Fairy Cakes in Winter

And just like that, I knew what I had to do.

* * *

I wasawake and out of bed well before dawn as usual the following morning. In fact, I wasn’t sure I slept at all. I was too busy orchestrating my half-cocked plan.

I baked like a maniac till it was a reasonable hour to start blasting text messages. The first was to Joanne, asking her to open the shop. The second was to Becca, reminding her to double up on the delivery to Bath today.

Then I typed,Code.

Code?

Yes. 7:13 at platform 2.

I turned my cell off so I wouldn’t drive myself nuts checking it, grabbed the fairy wings and the bakery box I’d put together with care all morning, and headed for the station to catch the 6:58 train to Bradford-on-Avon.

Fifteen minutes later, I stepped onto Platform 2 and craned my neck around the crowd of early morning commuters. He wasn’t there, and I had a sinking feeling he wasn’t coming. Last-minute code notice on the morning he was due to leave for the airport was a big ask. He’d probably texted to tell me he couldn’t make it and I had no way of knowing ’cause my cell was off.

I put the box on a bench and tucked the wings under my arm as I powered up my phone and—

“Scott?”

Have you ever had one of those out-of-body moments where you know something extremely important is about to go down, but your brain is stuck in la-la land? I mean, I had big things on my mind and all I could think was,Holy fuck, that man is beautiful. Second thought,He’s mine.

Except he wasn’t.

Not yet, anyway. I had to make this good.

I pointed at the pastry box on the bench and blurted, “Fairy cakes.”

Theo widened his eyes. “You brought me fairy cakes?”

“Yes. Well…yes, but not to eat. They’re a message. A code,” I explained…badly, if his confused expression was any indicator.

“O-kay.”

“Open it. No.” I waved him away from the bench and set my hands on my hips. “Don’t.”

“Are you okay, Scott?”

“No. I mean…no, I’m not.” I paced the length of the bench, pleased when a posse of business-y commuters steered clear of whatever drama I’d put into play. I waited till they moved on, sifting through my foggy thoughts for words that didn’t make me sound like a fucking caveman. “I couldn’t let you leave without giving you those.”

He glanced at the pastry box again. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. They’re for me. Not you. See, um…I’ve been thinking about you. About us. I don’t believe in fate or chance or any kind of hocus-pocus. But I think it’s kind of strange that you showed up when you did. I don’t like talking to people on planes, but we talked for hours. I like one-night stands, but I’ve slept with you every day for a month. I don’t like change, but I would’ve done anything you suggested if it meant spending more time with you—including fairy cakes. I don’t know if I told you this, but I donotlike fairy cakes.”

Theo blinked as if staving off tears. “No?”

I shrugged and briefly looked away. “Well…they’re growing on me.”

“But only in spring?”

“No, they’re good in winter too.” I picked up the box and popped the lid.

He peeked inside, then locked his gaze on mine. “Is this another code?”

I pulled the lid back, revealing two dozen mini fairy cakes aligned to spell a single word…STAY.

“It’s a request or a…plea. Maybe. I, uh…” I swallowed around the grapefruit in my throat and manned up. I was torturing both of us, for fuck’s sake. “I don’t want you to go, but if you have to…maybe I could come with you. Maybe not today, but tomorrow or next month.”