Page 12

Chapter Six

One and a half years later

One more minute.

Only one more minute until the bakery is out of my hands for a full two weeks and in the hands of my—hopefully—competent employees while Lance and I enjoy our wedding and then our honeymoon.

That also means I’ve been running around like crazy making sure everything is perfect so I’m not leaving anything behind to cause some great inconvenience for my employees.

“You look like your ass is on fire,” Wanda says as she comes into the back with a cake box in her hands. “Literally, you’ve had everything ready for days now, yet I feel like you’re looking for some fire or natural disaster or something. Calm yourself. I got it. I already slid the closed sign in place, all orders for pickup today are gone, and orders for tomorrow are ready. I’ve practiced piping to perfection. Hell, I made a damn neon unicorn today.”

“You did, and you did a great job.”

“A goddamn unicorn , Owen. And the best part? It looked like a unicorn. I know the last one looked like a pig on steroids but this one was clearly a unicorn. The lady teared up when she saw it.”

I grin at her. “You’re right. If you can make unicorns, I’m pretty sure you have a good handle on things.”

The door dings, telling me it’s Lance since he’s the only other person with a key to get in when the door is locked.

“Ready?” he asks since we’ll be heading to the rehearsal dinner as soon as I can drag myself away from here.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I say before turning to him and looking him dead in the eyes. “Do you have butterflies with tiny little knives stabbing at your stomach?”

“Um… am I nervous? A little bit. Do I have carnivorous butterflies ripping through my organs? No.”

“We should have just gotten married at the courthouse,” I decide.

Lance reaches out and takes both of my hands, squeezing them gently. “It’s fine. It’s already super casual. We’re just setting up chairs for the wedding then going to have a nice dinner with family.”

“Right. Right, right, right.” I squeeze his hands in return, feeling better now that he’s here with me. “I’m just… excited and nervous, and all of those things, you know? But most of all, I’m happy to be sharing it all with you.”

He leans in and gives me a quick kiss before smiling at me.

“I remember a time in my life where I had to live lonely and sad, prepared to be a spinster for the rest of my life because you refused to love me,” I say, making sure to sound extra dramatic.

“It wasn’t that… we’ve been over this!” he protests, trying to save himself from looking like the bad guy.

“A time where devastation ruled my every move as I longingly watched you everywhere you went!”

“Everywhere?”

“Everywhere.”

“In the shower?”

“Maybe by accident that one time we took a shower together innocently when you were drunk.”

“You told me your parents’ cabin only had enough hot water for one shower.”

I smile at him innocently. “Yeah…”

“Did you lie ?”

“No. I might have just exaggerated the truth a bit. Like it did only have enough hot water for one super-long, like an hour-long shower! You’re the idiot who crawled right in with me, so I feel like this one is not my fault in the slightest.”

“Huh.”

“Okay, you’re just making me seem like a monster. Let’s go. We have places to be and you’re distracting me by making me face my prior lies,” I say.

Because everything is already closed up and ready, I just need to change and head out, which Lance patiently waits for me to do.

Since I didn’t want anything overly big, we’d decided to have our wedding at my grandma’s which has a large yard with plenty of flowers and beautiful trees for shade. The reception will take place at a small hall down the road, but the catering company is dealing with setting that up, leaving us to set up my grandma’s place.

When we arrive, my parents and grandma are waiting for us with eager smiles and look proud of me for some bizarre reason. I mean… I guess it makes sense, I did manage to hook the hottest guy around.

My mom beams at us as we walk up. “My two lovely boys. Oh, my heart.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. Lance is the only one allowed to be dramatic here,” I say, even though he looks quite calm and collected. The butterflies in my stomach are holding chainsaws at this point and screaming war cries I’m hoping no one else can hear.

“I hope you invited some good strong men because all of the chairs are up there,” Grandma says as she points to the rafters of the garage.

That’s when I notice my grandma get distracted by something behind me. “We’re about to get robbed,” she says. “I’ll get the shotgun.”

I turn to look as Donny gets out of his car. “No, it’s fine… that’s Donny.”

Lance decides to save the day because my grandma loves him so much she’d believe anything he has to say. “He might look like a bad man, and he might have once held us at gunpoint and threatened our lives, but it’s okay because he’s now Owen’s best friend. BFF, even,” Lance says with a huge sarcastic smile.

Mom and Dad laugh like this is a huge joke as I glare at him. “Says the man who went with him to see a football game last weekend and told me that Donny made you blush.”

Lance’s smile drops a little. “I just said if he wasn’t a crazy person capable of murder, he could make a person blush. I didn’t say he made me blush.”

I realize after Donny exits the vehicle that he’s brought company with him. They pile out looking like a gang ready for some good smack-down, weapons-out violence. Donny beams at me as he struts up. “Don’t fret, these guys are just here to help set up and they’ll be on their way.” He gives me a hearty pat on the back, then gives one to Lance before he smiles at my parents. “How do you two do?”

“Um… good?” Mom asks more than says for some reason. I guess Donny does take some getting used to. I literally spent the better part of six months writing death threats on every cake and pie he bought before I was able to warm up to him. Him telling everyone, whether he knows them or not, how I’m the best baker to have ever lived might have helped with the warming-up process.

“And this lovely lady!” he says before giving my grandma a pat on the head like she’s a little kid. “Wonderful to meet you! Now, where are the chairs?”

I point and just like that, his boys get to work, pulling them down with their sleeves rolled up, tattoos on display. Before I can even try to help, Donny shoves me out of the way and Mom ushers me over to a corner.

“Honey, did you join a gang again?” she asks.

“Again?” Lance asks. “What did I miss?”

I wave it off. “Ignore her, I didn’t join a gang.”

Mom, of course, won’t be waved anywhere. “He joined a gang that summer you went away to stay with your grandparents. He was really sad without you around, so he started hanging out with these people who made him deliver their weed.”

“I didn’t know it was weed! I thought they were just brownies!” I exclaim.

Dad shakes his head like he’s thinking back on one of the lowest points of my life. “Until he ate one, tripped the fuck out, and ended up under our neighbor’s bed. Called me up and was like, ‘Dad… an alien wants to probe me and I’m not sure if I want to be probed or not.’”

My face is all shades of red at this point as Lance looks delighted by this information. I glare at the people I once called family. “Oh. My. God. You two promised me you’d never tell anyone this story.”

“You were like seventeen, right?” Lance asks with the most gleeful look on his face.

“Yes! I was! A wee innocent child!”

“That’s like an adult,” Lance says, sounding apologetic for some reason. Like he has to apologize for something I did well over ten years ago.

“Back to the point. Did you join a gang?” Mom asks as Donny barks orders.

I glance at Lance. Lance glances at me.

Did we unwittingly join a gang?

“Donny, have we accidentally joined a gang?” I exclaim.

Donny looks over at us. “I don’t know, did you? Was it one of those spam texts that says if you follow the link the woman of your dreams will be on the other side and is willing to smother you with her honka titties? My wife said that if I touched that link, she’d chop off one of my balls, so I’ve never clicked it,” he says. “But boy, have I been tempted. A man can live with just one ball. They’re like the kidneys of the genitals.”

“See?” I say, smiling at my parents. “Not a gang.”

Mom and Dad hurriedly whisper to each other as I watch my grandma bark orders at the men who really do look like they’re part of a gang. But Grandma has them marching into her backyard and placing chairs, putting up a table, and picking up sticks all before Lance’s parents even arrive.

“There we go,” Donny says as he whips out a cigarette and lights it.

“There we don’t go,” Grandma says as she yanks the cigarette out of his mouth and takes a hit before wandering off, a smoke trail following her.

“Mom, you are not allowed to smoke, you’re on oxygen! Dammit, Mom!” Dad yells as he runs after her.

“Well, let’s eat,” Donny says as he rubs his hands together.

“Yeah… let’s eat,” I agree as we head to our cars. We’re going to be a bit early for our reservation after Donny’s gang’s speed, but hopefully that means they’ll get us in sooner.