Page 73 of Cupcakes and Kisses in Micklewick Bay

‘Didn’t take long for me to make you change your mind, though, did it?’

‘I didn’t change my mind. If anything, it made me realise I had to be a bit more careful and sensitive about the way I approach things.’ Max stopped walking, turning to face her, his shirt fluttering in the breeze. ‘But I realised I’d started to develop different feelings for you. Strong feelings. And the speed they arrived took me by surprise. In fact, at the risk of making you run very quickly in the opposite direction, I felt something that first day at my house, but I put it down to the fact that we’d been such close friends when we were kids; a connection we’d never lost.’ His eyes searched hers, making her heart perform somersaults. It was time to open her heart.

‘It was the same for me,’ Jasmine said. ‘I felt it that first day too and it threw me into a right old tailspin.’

‘So, now we’ve established we both feel the same way, what do you think we should do about it?’ The look he was giving her made her insides turn to jelly.

‘I don’t know.’ She couldn’t tear her eyes away from his, sparks dancing in the air around them. ‘I’m a bit scared, Max,’ she whispered.

‘Don’t be, Jingilby, it’s me. There’s nothing to be scared of.’

‘Are you sure?’ Jasmine’s heart was galloping, her emotions flying around inside her. She suddenly recalled how good it had felt to be in his arms; she’d felt safe.

‘I’m sure. I don’t think we should ignore these feelings.’

‘Neither do I.’ She felt a shiver of anticipation rush through her.

‘I’m so glad you said that.’ He gave one of his heart-melting smiles.

‘But where do we start? I mean, it’s been so long since I’ve been on a date, I’m out of practice. I feel like a girl on her first date with her first boyfriend.’

‘Well then, let me give you your first kiss.’ He leant forward, cupped her head in his hand and tentatively pressed his lips to hers, his kiss slowly deepening, the sound of waves in the background slowly fading away.

The touch of Max’s lips on hers was intoxicating. She slid her arms up around his neck and pulled him close, never wanting this moment to end.

When they finally pulled apart, he rested his forehead against hers. ‘I don’t know about you, but I think that was a pretty good place to start.’

‘It was the best.’ Euphoria flooded Jasmine’s chest.

‘Do you think we should try it again, see if we can make any improvements?’

‘Well, they say practice makes perfect.’ Jasmine’s eyes twinkled at him as her heart soared with happiness.

EPILOGUE

NOVEMBER

The last four months had been a total whirlwind for Jasmine. The wedding planning service offered by Lady Caro and her team at Danskelfe Castle had been well received. As had the option of the smaller, more intimate ceremonies, with couples thrilled to find a castle wedding within their budget. As a consequence, the newly available dates were being eagerly snapped up and Lady Caro had taken great delight in informing Jasmine that they were fully booked for the next eighteen months. Furthermore, of the couples who hadn’t gone down the wedding-planner package route, many had ordered their wedding cake independently from Jasmine thanks to Lady Caro’s generous promotion of her designs.

Indeed, Jasmine was still basking in the glow of a wedding cake she’d made for well-known social media influencer Demi Constantine-Powell who hailed from the city of York, and whose brief had been for “six tiers of glorious English country cottage garden in cake form”. It had been Jasmine’s most elaborate design to date, and one that had taken the most time, but she’d enjoyed every minute of its creation. As expected of someone in her line of work, Demi had shared her wedding photos on all of her social media channels which had created a huge clamour ofinterest, with a particular image of the elaborate wedding cake going viral overnight.

That had been a real “pinch me” moment for Jasmine.

Unsurprisingly, this interest had generated a whole tranche of publicity for her and the Danskelfe Castle weddings, resulting in a busy diary for both parties.

Jasmine had been thrilled to find that her dream of dedicating her time solely to creating celebration cakes had become a reality, and far sooner than she’d anticipated too. This was, in part, down to her taking on board Lady Caro’s advice that the prices she charged should reflect the amount of work involved in her beautiful creations. It had seen a dramatic rise in her profits. That, and the orders from Lady Caro, meant that she’d been able to hand in her notice at the bakery and Spick ‘n’ Sparkle. However, Jasmine was true to her word, and still hung on to her weekly cleaning session at Hilda’s, where her friend had delighted in hearing all of Jasmine’s cake decorating news and, in turn, Jasmine had taken great pleasure from her weekly catch-ups with her friend.

That wasn’t the only change recent months had seen for Jasmine and her two children. In early July, they’d moved out of the tiny house on Rosemary Terrace and into the property on Wilkinthorpe Road. Jasmine had been thrilled and relieved in equal measure to see that Zak and Chloe had settled quickly, playing out in the generous-sized garden at every opportunity. Connor had been a regular visitor, he and Zak spending endless hours practising kicking a football into the net she’d set out at the bottom of the back garden. Chloe’s friendship with Sophie had gone from strength to strength too, and the little girls spent many happy hours playing in the Wendy house Jasmine had picked up for a song on the Micklewick Bay online selling site.

Her children were thriving, and it brought Jasmine a great sense of joy.

But it wasn’t just Connor and Sophie who were regular visitors to the house on Wilkinthorpe Road. After their first kiss on the beach, Max had asked Jasmine if she’d consider letting him take her out on a date. After the riot of emotions that had exploded inside her when his lips had touched hers, she’d found herself unable to refuse. If Max was prepared to put his trust in love after all he’d been through, then she should do the same.

She hadn’t had a moment’s regret.

If only her friends would stop teasing her, then everything in her life would be perfect. A recent Friday night at the Jolly had been particularly excruciating.

‘It’s so good to see you all glowing and happy, Jazz,’ Lark said, beaming.

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