Page 35 of Cut The Cake

“That’s a whelk. This one’s a mussel,” he said, retrieving a shell from the damp, gray sand.

“And these?” She opened her hand. Tiny, cone-shaped shells scattered across her palm.

“Careful, that one is somebody’s home.” He pointed to a tiny pair of crab legs sticking out of the opening.

“Oops.” She bent down to whisper to the crab. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

She looked so sweet, her face so full of concern as she carefully tucked the shell into the wet sand, that Nick felt his heart lurch. Suddenly, he wished he’d met her earlier. Before she’d fallen in love with someone else. Long before she’d gotten engaged to another man. Certainly before she’d come to Heart’s Landing to plan a wedding to someone who wasn’t him. He watched as she trotted toward the water’s edge, where a piece of driftwood had washed ashore. Silently, he wondered what he’d gotten himself into. Or how he was going to go on with his life without her in it.

Jenny touched the granite at the base of the tall cliff on the far side of the cove and turned to retrace her steps. From behind dark sunglasses, she eyed the semicircle of beach. Small crabs darted from one strand of dark seaweed to another. Here and there, oddly shaped pieces of driftwood dotted the shore. Seagulls rode the air currents overhead. The periwinkles Nick had shown her how to find blew bubbles in the gray sand every time a wave receded. She smiled, glad she’d let him talk her into taking a day away from the troubling preparations for her cousin’s wedding.

She stole a glimpse of the tall baker at her side. Nick constantly showered her with concern. The cupcake he’d brought her last night was only one of many examples. When she ran into problems she had trouble solving on her own, he never rushed to take over like the few men she’d dated. Instead, he simply offered her advice and left it up to her to take it or leave it. Add in the fact that Nick was more handsome than some movie stars, and the most surprising thing about him was that not one of the single women within a hundred miles had snapped him up already.

They should have. It had certainly taken every ounce of willpower she possessed, and then some, to keep her eyes on the bike path and not watch his every move while they rode along the cliffs. As much as she struggled to keep her focus where it belonged, she hadn’t been able to keep from stealing quick glances at his muscular calves as he pedaled, or watching how the broad muscles across his back expanded and contracted while they labored up the hill. She stifled a sigh. It really was too bad Nick lived on one coast while she lived on the opposite one.

Or that your entire relationship is built on a tangled web of deceit.

Well, there was that. She rubbed the base of her throat where secrets pressed down like hundred-pound weights. Her closest ally in Heart’s Landing thought she was engaged to someone else. Yet, knowing their relationship could go no further, he’d still stuck around. She hated keeping the truth from him because, when it came to potential boyfriends, Nick had definitely raised the bar. Now that she’d met him, whenever someone asked her out in the future, she knew in her heart of hearts she’d always compare them to Nick. She was pretty sure anyone else would fall far short of the standard he’d set.

“Jenny?” Nick tossed a stick into the water.

When the twig rushed back to the shore on an incoming wave, she reeled in her thoughts along with it. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“You were a million miles away. Penny for your thoughts?” He held out a round, flat shell.

“Oh, no. You’re not getting off that easy,” she scoffed, unable to confess that her thoughts had been about him.

“No problem.” He flung the shell into a calm tidal pool and watched it skip twice before it sank beneath the surface. “I was saying I wasn’t sure I’d ever asked what you do for a living.”

“Oh. That.” Aware that the conversation had drifted into treacherous waters where one wrong step might lead to disaster, she paused. Kay had concocted a story for her to feed anyone who asked, but her stomach actually hurt when she thought about lying to Nick. He’d been such a good friend that he deserved to hear the truth. At least, as much of it as she could tell without betraying her family. “My cousin leads several companies that are pretty well known in the film industry.” That was the truth, though she dismissed Kay’s prominence with an airy wave of one hand. “I’m her personal assistant, which sounds far more glamorous than it really is. Basically, I wear a lot of hats. From travel agent to party planner to secretary and sometimes maid, to all-around gofer, I do whatever’s necessary to keep her life running smoothly and hiccup-free. I’m pretty much on call 24/7.”

Nick made a ticking sound with his mouth. “Sounds like a demanding job. Do you like it?”

“I do. Mostly. The work varies enough to be really interesting. I can be picking up dry cleaning and making dinner reservations one day, taking a meeting with one of the studio heads the next. I’ve made a lot of connections, met a lot of powerful people.” She hesitated. “Lately, though, things have gotten a bit complicated.”

“How so?”

“Hmm.” She searched for the right words to explain without making Kay sound self-centered. “Growing up, my cousin was as down-to-earth as they come. We played in the mud together. She pulled just as many weeds in my aunt’s vegetable garden as I did. Now that she’s a somebody, she’s surrounded by people who cater to her every whim. I try my best not to be one of them, to tell her when I think she’s drifting off-track and remind her to exercise some common sense. Recently, though, she’s not listening to me as much as she used to. It’s like, one day we’re on an all-vegan diet, and the next, I’m shopping for steak. It’s frustrating. Not only that, it makes it hard to plan.”

Nick nodded to himself. “And you’re all about the plan.”

She dragged her foot through a piece of seaweed. “You’ve noticed that about me, have you?”

“It’s sort of obvious. You never go anywhere without a list of things to do, and you’re usually working on it when you’re in the bakery. Tell me, do you ever just wing it? Fly by the seat of your pants?”

“Not often,” she admitted. She liked the stability of sticking to a plan. It made her feel safe.

“But you came with me today.” He plucked a plastic bottle cap from the sand and stuck it in the pocket of his shorts. “That wasn’t on your agenda.”

“I had set aside some time for sightseeing in my schedule.” She sidestepped an incoming wave. “Isn’t that what we’re doing now?”

“Maybe you should do more of that. Relax a little. Stop letting the plan drive you,” he said in answer to her questioning look.

“I don’t think so.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m a lists-and-schedules kind of girl.”

“Has that always been important to you?”

“Not always.” Her feet stumbled to a halt. Turning, she stared out at the ocean. As a kid, she’d been as carefree and spontaneous as the foam that floated on the waves. She knew exactly when things had changed—when she’d changed. It wasn’t something she talked about with just anyone. Was Nick someone she could confide in? Would he understand? She took a breath. “My mom fixed the same meals every week when I was a kid. Monday was either beef stew or chicken vegetable soup. Tuesday was taco night. Wednesday, we had hot dogs or hamburgers. Thursday, some kind of roast. Friday nights were family nights. My folks always ordered in pizza. We’d sit at the table, play boardgames, and eat. It was the best.” She plucked at the hem of her shorts. She rarely spoke about what came next.

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