I pulled the third batch of snickerdoodle-oodles out of the oven. The smell of cinnamon and sugar and chocolate filled the bakery. Perhaps this batch would be the winner. After three years of being a runner-up, I sure would love to win the Magnolias and Moonshine County Fair Bake-Off.

The front door squealed open, and I couldn’t help but imagine a sweet-sounding chime that would fill the room with jingling music each time a customer entered. That was what I’d want in my own bakery.

“Where’s my beautiful bride?” Ashton called, his voice heating me a few degrees hotter than being surrounded by three ovens.

“Back here,” I hollered and set the hot pan on top of the trivets. “Be right there.” I plated the cookies, even though I knew they should cool a few degrees first, and raced into the small dining area. One glance at Ashton and the world rotated at a greater speed. “What are you doing here?”

He stood in the center of the room, his hair falling over his brow in that free, imperfect sort of way that always made me smile. “I can leave.” The Ashton gesture with his crooked smile and head tilt tease made my heart flutter.

“Don’t be stupid.” I set the plate down on a glass-topped table and threw my arms around him. “I’ve missed you. I can’t wait until we don’t have to be apart so much.”

“I’m waiting for the same thing.” He kissed me, in that toe-curling, knee-weakening, snickerdoodle-oodle melting kind of kiss. He set me on my feet and steadied my swaying.

“Wow. Hope no customers saw us. I don’t want them to report me to my boss.”

The smell of his freshly showered skin drew my nose to his neck.

“You checking for another girl’s perfume or something?”

I savored the mixture of smells. “If so, it blends beautifully with the cinnamon aroma. Perhaps I should write to Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger and let them know I’ve developed a new fragrance.”

Ashton roared with laughter. “A fragrance that would only turn a baker on.”

I lifted the plate and offered him some cookies. “Well, I enjoyed a whiff. Now I need to woo you with my special cookies. It’s the way to your heart, right?”

Ashton snagged one and eyed it as if to check for poison. “Or to an expanding waistline. What’s in this?”

“A little sugar, a little chocolate, a little arsenic. Your basics.” I winked.

He turned the cookie to my mouth. “All right, Sassy Sadie. Then you get the first bite.” With little warning, he shoved the cookie against my teeth, and I took a bite. The sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate mixed in a euphoric blend of sugary goodness. “Mmmmm.” I closed my eyes and savored the flavors.

“That good?”

I opened my eyes to find him about to take a huge bite out of it, but I grabbed his arm. “No way. You don’t deserve any now.”

He backed me into the table and planted another window-fogging kiss on my lips. Lost in his attention, we savored our few minutes alone. He nibbled and nipped at my lips until he smiled and took a huge bite of cookie.

“No fair. You distracted me,” I huffed.

“Good, because you distract me every time you enter a room.” Ashton pulled out a chair for me then sat beside me.

“Flattering me won’t get you out of telling me what you think of my snickerdoodle-oodles.”

Ashton swished his lips back and forth then took another bite, and another, and another until the cookie disappeared completely. “Well…”

I smacked him in the arm. “Tell me. You know how much I want to win this.”

“I think I need to try one more to know for sure.” Ashton grabbed another cookie and devoured it. “I think you could sell these and make a fortune,” he mumbled despite the crumbles of cookie still in his mouth.

“That good?”

Ashton smiled and reached for another cookie. “That good. You’ll win for sure.”

My heart surged with hope and appreciation. “Thanks for supporting my crazy dreams.”

Ashton raised an eyebrow. “They’re not crazy. You’ve been entering the contest since you were a child. Your aunt started you baking when you were only three. It was the only real motherly time you had with anyone growing up. Of course, I support you. I support you in this and everything else in life.”

“How did I get so lucky?” I sighed, not just from the happiness, but from the troubles, too. It was funny how love could turn a person inside, outside, right side, and stupid all at once.

“I’m the lucky one.” He abandoned his cookie and took both my hands. “Listen, I want to thank you for making an effort with my mother. I know she can be…challenging. She isn’t always like that. Actually, she can be kind and generous. I know she’s going to come around, and you two are going to adore each other.”

“How about tolerate?” I teased.

Ashton toyed with the bits of my hair that had fallen from my bun, my usual hairstyle when I was at work. “Let’s not waste time talking about my family anymore. I have some good news.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I found us a place. A perfect place. I want you to go look at it tomorrow. It’s got everything you wanted. Three bedrooms with a split floor plan, but not huge and it’s close to town so you can drive to any of the colleges you choose to attend. It isn’t far from my office, and there are two bedrooms for your sisters to visit whenever they want. Avery is ecstatic that she’s going to have her own room for the first time in her life, even if it is just on occasion. Her and Zoey can fight over who gets the bigger closet, though.”

My mood fell faster than a chocolate soufflé after slamming an oven door. “Oh. Okay.”

Ashton quirked his head to the side. “I thought you’d be happy. They can mooch off us the entire time they remain in college, and with the split floor plan, we’ll still have our privacy. Listen, I knew you were having a tough time leaving your sisters, and I love your sisters. I thought this would make you happy.”

“It does.” It should, so then why am I not more excited? I have a man who is willing to invite my sisters to stay with us whenever they want. “I don’t know how I got so lucky. I’m overwhelmed. You’re too good to be true.”

“Ah, don’t put me on a pedestal. Remember, I’ve done things wrong over the years.”

The flash of Jenny Benton and him kissing the night we broke up two years ago flashed in my mind. “That’s true.” Of course, I did my fair share of getting back at him.

Ashton squeezed my hands. “I’m so glad we’ve grown up and know what we want out of life. To think of how many times we almost walked away from each other. It hasn’t been easy, but I know we can have a great life together.”

“Forever love is never easy,” I added, mimicking my aunt without realizing. The memory of Cathy’s words bridezilla-punched me in the stomach. “What have I done?”

Ashton scooted closer. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I shook my head and eyed the floor, unable to face Ashton with my shame. “I was so wrong.”

He tilted my chin up to face him. “It can’t be that bad. Wrong about what?”

“Not about what? Whom. I was evil to Cathy today. I belittled her in front of your mother, berated her outside in the driveway, and broke our relationship when she was only trying to be there for me. I was awful. I acted like a spoiled little girl.” Tears filled my eyes. “I didn’t want her here. I thought she’d alienate your family by being too…too country. The one thing I judged those people at Eagles Landing Country Club for being, I am myself. I was a snooty and superficial person.”

“Is that what you think of me?” Ashton asked.

I shot a worried glance at him but saw his teasing grin.

“You are none of those things. You were in a difficult place, and let’s face it. You have some unresolved issues with Cathy. She didn’t come to help when you asked her to, and I think you have a right to ask why. You lashed out because she was here now when you feel like you don’t need her.” Ashton cupped my cheek. “It amazes me how you protect and care for your sisters, how you always know how to help them with their issues, but you never face your own.” His thumb brushed my lips with a distracting touch. “But you need to think about something. She is here, and your mother isn’t. That tells you something right there.”

I knew he was right. Cathy made the trip down. She made an effort, but was it too late? “She’s the only family besides my sisters I have left in this world. I doubt my mother will even make the trip up from Miami for the wedding.”

Ashton nodded. “You need to ask yourself something. Who do you want to be the mother of the bride?”

That one question stung me with the realization that there would be no choice. The only one that would show up would be Cathy. The only person I ever thought of as motherly was Cathy. “I don’t even know if Cathy’s still in town.”

Ashton stood and kissed me on the forehead. “There’s one way to find out.”

I eyed my cell phone on the front counter.

“I need to head to my parents’ for a few hours and then I have my last final exam in the morning. I’ll see you after that.” He paused at the front door. “The cookies are amazing.”

I sighed. I’d finally accomplished something I’d been working on for years, something Aunt Cathy had introduced me to, yet if I didn’t find a way to fix things I couldn’t share it with her.