Chapter Nine

He'd never had a better weekend in his thirty-two years. They’d spent most of the time inside getting to know one another, but had also taken a long walk in the woods behind his house, walking the dog and playing in the snow. He spent an hour on the phone with his family, enjoying the fact that they'd gotten his presents on time.

 

Sara ended up spending two nights. She'd convinced him to drop by the bakery the first day, just for a few hours. She had to make some calls and promised to bake him a large chocolate cheesecake. He couldn't resist.

 

Her tables and chairs had been delivered and were heaped up along the south wall. He helped her unstack them and they spent an hour moving everything around until she was happy with the placements.

 

“I've got some white tablecloths that will go over them. That small table,”—she pointed to a rectangle table—“goes to the right of the door. There will be a trash can to the left and people can clear their own tables.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked around the room, nodding her head. “Allison is going to hang some of her art along that wall.” She pointed to the bare wall, across from the one full of refrigerators.

 

“What's going to go in those?” He pointed to the large display units.

 

“Cakes, pies, sandwiches.” She tilted her head. “Party trays, salads. The cupcakes, cookies, and tea cakes will all go up here, along with some of the smaller specialty items.”

 

He turned to her and took her shoulders. “Sara, just one question.” Her face turned serious.

“Yes?”

 

“What exactly is a tea cake?” She laughed at him.

 

“It's a cookie made out of cake batter, covered with a thin layer of icing.”

 

Looking around the place, he could just imagine it all finished.

 

“When are you opening?”

 

“I was shooting for the fifteenth. My best friend, Josie, is moving down from Seattle to work for me. I still need to find two more employees. One part-time, who will work when Becca is in school, and one full-time baker.” She chewed her bottom lip and he knew she was already thinking about other things she had to accomplish.

 

“So much goes into running a business.” He shook his head. “I would have never thought.”

 

She smiled at him and walked across the room to wrap her arms around his neck. Her lips were an inch from his when Becca walked in the front door.

 

“Oh, hey.” Her sister didn't even look embarrassed about catching them in an embrace. “Did you hear that Amber and Luke are having an engagement New Year’s party?” Becca texted as she said this.

 

“No.” Sara pulled away and looked down at her phone as a message came in. She smiled. “We're invited. It's an 80s theme.” She laughed. “Luke says you should dress as Tom Selleck since you're his twin without the ’stache. Actually,” she tilted her head and looked at him, “when I first saw you, I thought you looked a lot like him myself.”

 

He chuckled. “I've heard that before.” Becca looked at them.

 

“Who's Tom Selleck?” They both looked at each other and laughed.

 

 

After leaving the bakery, Allen stopped by Marcus's place to check up on him. The man's whole family was crowded into the small living room. Marcus was propped up on the couch, watching football. He stayed for an hour, then headed out. Knowing the man was going to be okay helped ease the guilt that he still felt. By the time he headed to the Boys and Girls club for a weekly game with the guys, he was pumped for the rematch with the teens who had almost whooped their butts a few weeks ago.

 

When he walked in, the guys were all standing around, no doubt waiting for him.

 

“Sorry, went to check up on Marcus. He's doing fine. He's back home and on the mend.”

 

“That's good to hear. We heard it was a bad fall.” Aaron shook his head. “I wasn't on duty at the hospital that night, since I'm still out on maternity leave.” Aaron smiled quickly. “But I heard they were overrun with immigrants with hypothermia.” He shook his head and frowned a little.

 

“Yeah, it was a long night for everyone.” He turned to Luke. “So, getting hitched, huh?”

 

Luke's smile doubled. “You're coming to the party this Friday?”

 

“Yeah. I'm not sure about Tom Selleck, though.” He frowned. He really just wanted to wear something normal.

 

“No,” Iian shook his head and stared at him. “We all have to do what our wives tell us, and since I have to go dressed as Ace Frehley, according to Allison, then you have to go dressed up as well.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

 

Allen shook his head. “One big difference…I'm still a bachelor.”

 

Iian and Aaron shook their heads. “You're seeing Sara. You have no choice but to dress up.”

 

“What does that mean?” He frowned a little.

 

Todd laughed. “Sara is the queen of costumes. You wouldn't think it to look at her, but the girl has more costumes than a costume shop. Every year for Halloween, costume balls, or even school plays, she always outdid everyone else.”

 

“She actually walked around one year in a big plastic bubble when she was dressed as the good witch from the Wizard of Oz.”

 

“Glenda,” Aaron piped in. When everyone looked at him funny, he shrugged. “Lacey loves old movies. We watched it a few weeks ago.”

 

“Well, whatever. She had a huge ball dress, white wig, and a wand, and she rolled around town in that thing. It was great.” Todd smiled.

 

Before Allen could reply, a group of teens walked in and all through the game, as they were getting their butt's handed to them by kids half their age, Allen wondered what else there was to discover about Sara and why he was looking forward to finding out.

 

Sara looked at the fake hair in her hands and smiled. It was going to be perfect. Her outfit was already in the shopping cart when she'd spotted the fake mustache from across the room. She hadn't planned on buying Allen's costume, but everything was there. The Hawaiian shirt, the big sunglasses and now the mustache. She stuck them all in her cart.

 

If he decided not to wear them, she told herself, she wouldn't mind. Dressing up was one of her guilty pleasures. Most women had wine or chocolate. She didn't like the taste of wine and since she was around chocolate all the time, it just wasn't that desirable to her.

 

By the time she made it back to Pride, full dark had settled in. The small town's lights welcomed her as she drove through the side streets. She'd met with the elderly woman who owned the house that she and Josie were going to rent. Since Josie was absent and couldn't sign the lease, Sara had put everything into her name and paid the deposit. She'd worked it out that Josie's deposit would come after she'd gotten her deposit back from her landlord in Seattle.

 

Now all Sara needed to do was move in some furniture and wait for Josie to arrive, which would be after the new year.

 

When she drove up to her house, she noticed a shadow cross the side of the house. Shutting off her car, she stepped out and yelled.

 

“Nick, you'd better run home before I tell your mother you were sneaking around here.” When Nick's head popped out of the bushes, reminding Sara of a whack-em game, she almost laughed. “Why don't you just ring the bell next time.” She grabbed her bags and started towards the house.

 

“Don't tell my mother.” Nick rushed over to her, helping her with her bags. “She doesn't know I'm seeing Becca tonight. I'm…” He looked around. “I'm kinda grounded.”

 

She laughed. “Well, since you're helping me in with these”—she held up her bags—“I suppose I can let it slip this once.” Before they made it to the front door, Becca opened it and looked out wearing very short pink shorts and an almost see-through white tank top. Sara stepped in front of her. “No, you don't. Get back inside right now and put some clothes on. Nick can't stay, anyway.” Sara turned towards Nick, whose eyes had almost popped out of his head. “Goodnight, Nick.” Sara grabbed her bags and shut the door in his face, then turned on her sister. “Just what do you think you're doing?”

 

“What was Nick doing here?” She looked innocent, but Sara knew better.

 

“Listen, that probably works with Mom, but I've been in your position before. Having boys over here, dressed like that”—Sara waved her hands up and down her sister—“will only get you one thing. You don't want to go down that path at your age. Not yet.” Sara picked up her bags and walked into the kitchen.

 

“Oh, hello, dear.” Her mother turned and smiled at her. “How was your shopping trip?”

 

“Beneficial. Want to see what I bought?” Her mother stood and walked over to the table. She had always loved her eccentric taste in costumes.

 

The next day, she gave Allen his costume when he stopped by for lunch. He'd actually laughed and looked pleased when she told him that he could wear comfortable jeans with the shirt.

 

“The mustache might get a little itchy, but after a while I bet you forget it's there.” She smiled up at him.

 

“If all I have to wear is a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, and a fake mustache, I guess I'll survive.” He pulled her closer, “So, what are you going as?”

 

“Oh no,” she shook her head. “You'll just have to wait and see.” She went up on her toes and placed a kiss on his mouth. “But I can promise you, you are going to love it.”

 

“Does it involve fish net? I don't know why it ever went out of style.” He shook his head and she laughed.

 

“I'll give you that much. It does involve some fish net.” When his eyebrows shot up and a large smile crossed his face, she laughed.

 

“Amber stopped by earlier and ordered almost everything on my menu.” She laughed. “My second gig and I haven't even opened. I'll spend all day today and tomorrow baking.” She smiled.

 

“Just wait until you open. Birthday parties, graduations, weddings…I'll bet you'll be very busy.”

 

“Hmm, hence the need for more employees.” She frowned.

 

“Well, I'll let you get back to work.” He pulled her up for one more kiss that left her thinking of him while she finished her work. By the end of the day, she had two employee prospects. To be safe though, she posted a “help wanted” sign on the front door. By the next evening, she had three more names to add to her list.

 

Since she had to arrive at the party early to deliver all the goodies she'd baked, she'd told Allen she'd meet him there. Becca had agreed to help out and before leaving the bakery, they had taken their time changing into their outfits. Getting all the boxes into the back of her car was a pain and she gave serious thought to buying a small van for deliveries.

 

When they arrived at Luke's house, Nick was standing in the driveway and he helped them carry everything in, after which, he and Becca had quickly disappeared.

 

She set up everything with Amber's help and ran her car back home, just a few houses down. She walked back and was just sitting down to a drink when the first guests started arriving. She stood back and enjoyed seeing all her friends and the other townspeople dressed up, enjoying themselves.

 

Half an hour later when Allen walked in the door, she held her breath at the sight of him standing in the doorway. How had she ever gotten the attention of someone so kind, so generous, and so good looking? He was every bit the part that he looked tonight. Strong, handsome, the protector. What had she been thinking? How had she let things escalate this quickly? More importantly, what was she going to do now that she knew she had really fallen for him?