Page 31 of A Winter's Wedding

“The baker texted.”

“Why?” She drew out the word hoping he would stop her soon.

“There’s an issue with the cake.”

She finished chewing and washed down the powdered sugar with a sip of hot coffee so that he could hear her clearly. “What kind of issue?”

“There is none,” Leo said and hid his face behind a steaming coffee mug.

“But you just said there was an issue.” Using her fingers, she slowly lowered the rim below his mouth. “Do you mean there is none, as in no cake?”

He nodded. “Sorry, America. I was getting the whole story before freaking you out.”

“I’m not freaking out,” America spoke as calmly as possible, although inside, she was for sure freaking out. “What happened?”

“The storm knocked out the power and all the cakes thawed out. Then the freezer leaked caky juice all over and shorted out some of the equipment. Needless to say, there is no cake coming.”

“Can we call other bakeries? What about Alfonso, he can whip something up. Right?” America relaxed into her chair, more like deflated into it and thought through possible options including making cupcakes herself. “I can do it. We have plenty of time when we get back. This is fine. Everything is fine.”

“If that’s what you want to do? Sure, I’ll help.”

She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “This day had better not get any worse.”

“You better knock on some wood. That’s playing with fire,” Leo said and rubbed her shoulder. The gesture was nice, but not enough to fix her mood. “I’ll make some calls before we leave the hotel. As much as I love a good cupcake, I’ll see if we have other options, okay?”

“Thank you.”

“You want anything to go?” he asked, and America shook her head. Leo handed his card to the waitress. “What did your mom have to say, anyway?”

“You’re sweet for wanting to change the subject, but I’m afraid it’s not going to help this time.” America sipped her coffee. “Their flight got canceled too. But Mom did say that she helped you surprise me the other day. I know things have gotten a little out of control, but I want you to know it was a really magical night.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” Leo tapped the corner of his wallet on the counter and sipped his coffee. “Are they going to miss the wedding?”

“They caught a flight to Pittsburgh and are driving from there. We’ll probably get into town about the same time. Mom said not to worry, that we have all day tomorrow to pull everything together.”

“For our fake wedding?”

“Yes! For a fake wedding. Now can we go before anything else bad happens?”

“Knock on that wood,” Leo suggested again, though he meant it as a joke, she heeded his warning. With a balled-up fist and gritted teeth, she tapped her knuckles on the wooden counter three times.

“Happy?”

“Delighted,” Leo said and took his card back from the waitress. “Thanks.”

She leaned across the counter. “Your card was declined. I’m sorry, sir. Do you have another form of payment?”

Leo looked at America and rolled his eyes. “I guess our luck just ran out,” he said and tucked his card away.

America took a twenty-dollar bill from her wallet and handed it to the waitress. “Keep the change.” She turned to Leo. “If there’s just one more thing that goes wrong…” she said as a warning while Leo held the exit door open for her.

Chapter18

If stressing was America’s sport, Leo’s was walking things off, though he also enjoyed kicking rocks from time to time. Today had turned out to be the perfect day for a stroll to allow his irritation to subside. The motel was merely a block and a half away from the diner and, in addition to cooling down his nerves, walking the distance allowed Leo to stretch his legs before getting back into the car for a final day.

Dense snow and half-melted slush squished beneath their sneakers as they shuffled along the sidewalk. Steadying America with a firm grip on her gloved hand, Leo also hoped to keep her from checking her smartwatch for the hundredth time. It was clear the morning’s bad news had flustered his bride, and there was little else he could do while she worked out her deep moral conflict.

Feeling helpless tore at his heart. He wanted only one thing right now. Ensuring America’s happiness had become his whole objective and he felt like he was failing. There was no denying that he wanted a grand love of his own, but the more obstacles they encountered, the more he had to fight the little voice in his mind that he was sure was lying to him. He reminded himself that one rough day alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

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