Page 27 of Sweet Summertide

“Could have fooled me,” Holly said and rolled the balled-up note between her fingers. “And the second thing?”

“Youdowant to know what that note says. You’re not the only person who can read the room. Do you want me to look first?” Millie presented an open palm and pumped her fingers open and closed. “We don’t have all night for you to decide. Give it.”

A dozen possible responses ran through her mind. She might have blamed him for being rotten, but she knew she had crossed a line that morning. Even though getting arrested was a wake-up call, she still needed to win the money. She could play nice and not work against him anymore, but she didn’t know how her previous actions would impact what was left of their relationship. She tossed the paper to Millie who caught it and wasted no time in unfurling it.

“I shouldn’t have written that last note.” Holly hung her head in her hands.

“Probably not. That’s always been your biggest problem. You act or speak before you really think things over.” Millie bit her lips between her teeth and her brows pinched together in the middle.

“What? Millie, what does it say?”

Millie turned the paper around already giggling in her throat.

“‘Made you look!’ That’s all it says.” Confusion warped her own face. “What does that mean?”

The answer was standing in the glow of the twinkle-lights strung across the road outside, tapping on the windows. “Made you look!” Teddy yelled through the glass and waved.

By the time she shot to her feet and ran to the door, he turned tail and ran down the street with his little sidekick, Alfonso, trailing behind. She let out a grunt and stomped her feet. “That man drives me crazy. Why do you think he’s still teasing me, after everything?”

“Perhaps he’s not done with you despite your best efforts.”

Holly shrugged and flopped against the floor, harder than she had wanted to, and let out an exasperated sigh.

“That man is your soulmate, you know that right?” Millie tossed the paper back to Holly. “You’ll see it eventually, if you don’t ruin it first.”

“You’re one to talk,signorina,” Holly said in her best Italian accent and threw the paper back.

“Let’s just get this done, and you can go back to plotting against that sexy man later.”

“Maybe my plotting days are over,” Holly said as she considered if she had already dashed any chance of a relationship with Teddy. The way he had pressed her back against the tree and breathed her in, his hands holding her firmly, and his lips … “I don’t know what to do.”

“Yes, you do.”

Could Holly truly have been wrong about everything? She considered Millie’s words, despite her best efforts to ignore them. Holly was the one causing all the problems. Millie was only trying to save her from herself the way a best friend does. “I think I should just focus on making the creamery the best establishment in town, and I’ll win the money fair and square.”

CHAPTER 14

Theodor wason a mission to win. He couldn’t afford to not be a success at this point. After being arrested, even though it was totally not his fault, his father had cut him off, and he knew his mother would go along with whatever his father dictated.

There was little else his mother cared about than keeping her busy charity gala schedule going. If she spent a fraction of the time that she gave to needy libraries, art exhibits, and political candidates on him instead, Theodor was convinced he would be a more well-adjusted adult than he felt. She was a good mom in the sense that she loved him and provided for all of his physical needs. He had never gone without the best clothing, and their home was a magnificent apartment that overlooked Central Park with a floor to ceiling view from north to south. He was grateful for having a privileged upbringing, but one thing people don’t understand about growing up as a rich kid is how life can feel so empty. No number of friends and acquaintances could satisfy the space in his heart reserved for his parents’ approval.

Now that it was clear he would never get anything more from his father, he had no choice but to fill that vacuum with his own contentment. His new road was one he would walk confidently and unapologetically, and if that meant the first step was to startby plastering the street with advertisements for his shop, then he would take all night if he needed.

He had used a photo of his storefront windows and made a few changes using photoshop. His shop’s sign in the photo now read ‘Up State Chocolaterie, for Whenever Your Sweet Tooth Strikes.’ He would play fair with Holly, and the other shop owners vying for the money, and get the last laugh when his shop was overflowing with customers.

He slapped one of his flyers beside one Holly had put up a few days earlier on a light pole. His was far more eye-catching with the gold foiled lettering catching the late afternoon sun.

“Take that, Blake Holly Hollis!”

As the words left his mouth, a blonde-ponytailed, pink-ribboned, frilly-dressed woman stepped out of the boutique to his right. He turned and stood behind the post. As narrow as it was, it was nowhere near wide enough to cover more than a sliver of his body. “Shoot,” he scolded himself. There was no way she didn’t see him hiding there. He had two choices, face her, or skedaddle.

Theodor knew that no matter how much he wanted to get back at Holly, he wasn’t cut out to be a vindictive son of a you know what. He hoped his light-hearted teasing would be an olive branch to her. He didn’t like what she had done to him, but he did understand her desire to win, especially after learning that her family had cut her off. He was just glad she had tamped down her antics for now.

“Saint Teddy, is that you?” Holly said, and he could hear the tapping of her heels against the pavement as she approached.

Run, he told himself, but he was glued in place. She was on him in the span of three deep breaths and drummed her fingers on his shoulder. Theodor twisted his head and looked at an empty street. Turning his head the other way, Holly’s proximity caused him to jump back like she was a rattlesnake. In reality,she was a little scarier than a slithering reptile, though far prettier.

“Made you look,” she said in a teasing tone and waved her little fingers. She ripped a flyer from his grasp and read the words. “A chocolate tasting this weekend. Good idea.”

---