Page 44 of Cut The Cake

“There’s just one little problem.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jenny relaxed. Whatever it was, it was Madame Eleanor’s to fix.

“My gown isn’t exactly made for dancing. I’ll probably bust out a seam if I so much as breathe wrong. I need a second dress for the reception.”

No problem. “Madame Eleanor would be only too happy to sell you another one.”

“She would.”

Sensing trouble, Jenny stiffened. “Why do I think there’s a but at the end of that sentence?”

“My gown needed some alterations. Madame couldn’t handle those, plus the fittings for my second dress. So I spoke with the owner of Dress For A Day. She has the gown I want in stock, and she’s put her seamstress on standby. I need you to go there, try the dress on, and buy it for me.”

Jenny rubbed her forehead. Working for a Hollywood mega-star, she’d handled some strange requests. But this had to be one of the oddest. “How is that even going to work?”

Kay paused. “We’re practically the same height. And the dress laces up in the back, so it’s very forgiving. It should look the same on both of us as long as you haven’t, like, gained thirty pounds or anything since you’ve been out there.”

“Not hardly.” She might have eaten a dozen cupcakes, but between the stress of arranging the not-so-simple wedding and her daily workouts on the treadmill in the little gym downstairs, she’d burned off every one of the extra calories. “That’s one thing that hasn’t changed.”

“Okay, then. This will be easy.”

“Uhh …” There were a lot of words she’d choose to describe trying on her cousin’s wedding gown. Easy wasn’t one of them, but she stopped herself before she could protest. In California, whenever Kay needed a special dress, she’d picked up the phone and called her cousin’s favorite designers. Within hours, their assistants would wheel racks of options into the house. To help narrow down the choices, Jenny had often modeled their top picks.

Trying on a wedding gown wouldn’t be that different, would it?

“Sure,” she said, glad Kay had finally given her a task she could accomplish without upsetting half the shopkeepers in Heart’s Landing. “Any particular instructions?”

“Well, the one I want has a mermaid silhouette. Strapless, of course. I plan to dance the night away, so make sure it’s not too low in front. A wardrobe malfunction would ruin everything. I’m sending you a picture of it now.”

As her phone chimed an incoming text and the image scrolled across the screen, Jenny tried to imagine dancing in a dress that called for industrial-strength Spanx despite a corset-laced back. “Better you than me,” she murmured, thinking the gown wasn’t her style in the least.

“What’s that?”

“It’s going to look beautiful on you,” she assured her cousin.

“Thanks, Jen. You’re one in a million. Just call the shop tomorrow and see when they can fit you in.”

Jenny swallowed a long-suffering sigh. She should have known better than to expect Karolyn to schedule an appointment. Dutifully, she added it to her list of things to do.

“I owe you a big hug when we see each other. I miss you so much!”

“Speaking of seeing each other, it won’t be long now.” Even though Kay had copies of the itinerary on her phone, it never hurt to remind her cousin of the schedule. “You and Chad, your attendants, and Aunt Maggie are flying out of LAX Thursday night. Your plane gets in at ten on Friday. I’ve arranged for limos to pick everyone up. The driver will take you straight to the Captain’s Cottage, where you’ll spend the weekend. I’ll meet you there. We have a lot to do, so be ready to jump right into it.” Mentally, she added time for a fitting to a list that included the rehearsal dinner and assembling the gift bags.

“Uh-huh. I’ll run everything by Chad and get back to you. We’ll talk later. I’ve got to dash now. Ciao.”

Listening to dead air, Jenny shifted uneasily. She couldn’t put her finger on the exact cause, but something Kay had said didn’t ring true. She tugged on a loose strand of hair. Whatever her cousin had up her sleeve, she’d find out in due time. For now, she had more immediate problems. Her stomach sinking, she flipped to the picture of the naked cake.

She tsked. The ugly layers looked worse than they had the first time. “Nick will never forgive me for this,” she whispered. Gathering her courage, she drew in an unsteady breath and prepared to tell him about the most recent change of plans. “Nick,” she called, plunging through the swinging doors long before she was ready. “We have to talk.”

Just talk. Their almost-kiss had evaporated like the morning dew the instant her phone rang. She and Nick wouldn’t pick up where they’d left off. In fact, she’d count herself lucky if he didn’t cancel her entire order once he heard her latest demands.

Nick was nowhere to be seen when she walked into the kitchen, but he’d obviously been busy while she was in the other room. The bowls and implements that had littered the counters had either been washed, dried and put away, or loaded into the dishwasher. Every trace of powdered sugar had been removed from gleaming countertops. Except for a tray holding ten cupcakes on one end of the counter, no one would ever guess they’d spent two hours making a mess of things.

The soft squeak of a door opening and closing drew her attention to the back wall. Warmth flooded her when the tall baker appeared. She gave him her best smile. “I was wondering where you’d gotten off to.”

Crossing the room, Nick brandished an empty tin can. “Had to feed the cat. I’ve sort of adopted a stray. That was her crying in the alley.”

Without warning, tears stung Jenny’s eyes. A lesser man would have lost his temper when she’d plowed into him the day they’d first met. Nick hadn’t. In fact, from that moment on, he’d plied her with cupcakes, helped her line up appointments, offered advice, and given her a place to hang out when the other shopkeepers looked at her like they couldn’t decide whether to wring her neck or ply her with tea and sympathy. When she’d needed a break from the pressure of planning a wedding, he’d even adjusted his busy schedule to spend time with her. The man who did all that fed stray cats, too? Without a doubt, he was one of the best people she’d ever met.

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