Page 81 of Only for the Season

“I’m sorry, Jeremy, but I can’t be in the same room with you now. I’m fantasizing about hitting you with my rolling pin and we both know I wouldn’t last in jail. They don’t supply chocolate.”

“I’ll let Eli know.”

“Thank you.”

I hurry through the door to the café. Cindy calls out my name but I keep going. I need to be somewhere private before I break down.

The man I’m falling in love with doesn’t understand me at all. I’ve had a lifetime of my parents not understanding me. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t get me. No matter how much my heart yearns for him. I can’t do it.

Chapter 27

"I developed an app into a billion-dollar business. How hard can baking a cake be?" ~ Jeremy

Jeremy

Ipace the guest bedroom in Eli’s mansion as I try to figure out what the hell to do. I really fucked up. I treated Parker like a gold digger when she’s the farthest thing from one.

I pick up the phone to ring her to apologize but what good is a phone call going to do? I fling the phone on the bed and resume my pacing.

I need to apologize to Parker. This relationship has an expiration date, but I’m not ready to say goodbye to her. Not yet. I want to spend as much time with her as possible until I leave Smuggler’s Hideaway.

The phone rings and I rush toward it.Miranda calling.

Women like Miranda are the reason I’m in this mess to begin with. I treated Parker the way those women want to be treated.

But not Parker. She doesn’t care about money. She cares about this island, her community, her friends, baked goods, and chocolate.

Chocolate! That’s it!

I’ll buy her a cake. No. Buying a cake isn’t enough. I’ll bake her an apology cake. How hard can it be?

I check my watch. The bakery should be closed now. I still have the key to the back door. I can sneak into the kitchen and bake Parker a cake. When she arrives in the morning and sees it, she’ll rush to forgive me.

Thirty minutes later, I’m in the bakery googling a chocolate cake recipe. I choose one with only three steps. I’ve got this.

I dig around in Parker’s pantry. Once I’ve gathered all of the ingredients I need, I grab a bowl and get started.

I throw all of the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix them. This is easy.

I read the recipe,add the eggs, vanilla, and oil. Mix for two minutes on medium speed with an electric mixer.

Electric mixer. Electric mixer. Where is Parker’s electric mixer?

There’s a mixer with a bowl attached on the table but I already have a bowl. And, honestly, the machine appears a bit complicated.

I search her cupboard and come up with a hand mixer. Perfect.

I place the mixer in the bowl, switch it on, and bam! Flour flies everywhere. Shit. I switch it off and swipe a hand over my face, which is now covered in flour.

Easy cake recipe, my ass.

I gather up as much flour from the table as possible and add it back to the bowl. I mix the ingredients with a spoon. Once I’m confident there’s no dry flour to attack me anymore, I use the electric mixer to finish mixing the ingredients.

The recipe said to mix for two minutes but after two minutes, I notice the mixture is still lumpy. I decide to double the mixing time.

Now, we’re getting somewhere.

Pour the batter into a pan.