Page 40 of Cupcake of the Month
“What’s this ‘we’ stuff? I wanted to hold you down until you dished about your hot and heavy moments, but my stick-in-the-mud cousin wouldn’t let me.”
“Imagine the visual,” Wendy said. “She’d scare the guests.”
“Oy. You guys.” Jordan pitched the ball, her heart full for these two women. “It’s… complicated.”
“Do you like him?” Wendy asked.
“We’re just having fun.” The words tasted sour in her mouth, but she chose to believe them anyway.
“Not that much fun. You guys haven’t had sex yet,” Brandi declared. “I’d know.”
“She would,” Wendy agreed. “It’s a scary gift.”
Jordan nodded as if in agreement. Brandi meant recently. Though her friends had noticed when Josh stopped hanging around in college, she had glossed over his absence. At the time, being left alone in bed after a wild night had been too mortifying. Now, she chalked it up to experience. “So, now you know.”
“We don’t know anything we didn’t already know, but we’ll let that go for now,” Wendy said.
“For now,” Brandi echoed with her own self-satisfied grin. “And if we’re done with you, let’s talk about me.”
Jordan was only too happy to let the attention shift. “What about you?”
“Weelllll,” Brandi said, dragging out the syllable, but excitement flashed in her unusual eyes. “I met a guy. His name is Blake.”
Jordan and Wendy exchanged a glance, but didn’t mention Prince Charming. Sebastien could’ve held a class on pining for Brandi from afar in college while she had gone through men like their Georgia bullpen went through bubble gum.
“When did you have time to meet anyone?” Wendy asked. “You’re always here or at Belle’s.”
“Hey, you met your guy at work. I wanted to follow in my way smarter cousin’s footsteps.” She gave Wendy a hug.
Jordan ignored the twinge of guilt over Sebastien. The man had his chance. “What about the guy you met at Plates of Macon?”
“Sunil? No, we chatted a few times and went out for coffee, but decided that was enough. Blake and I had more chemistry when we went out, and I think it might go somewhere. You guys, he’s amazing. I really like him.”
“Good for you,” Jordan bumped her friend with her shoulder. “It’s about time you learned to have fun.”
Brandi pointed her bat. “Wrong cousin.”
“Damn straight.” Wendy smacked her glove a few times and crouched down.
They spent the next half hour laughing about nothing and chatting about everything in between pitches and hits and balls that sailed into the orchard. When the sun dipped below the tree line, they gathered the balls in the quickly waning light, then puteverything away in the rec room closet. Jordan said good night to her friends and headed to her room.
It was hard to conquer the urge to check her phone for one last message from Josh, but she made it into the stables first.
No texts.
She fought the chaos in her body as she got ready for bed. Josh had said he was going to sleep. So what if she wanted his last thought to be of her?
***
The catered Friday night gathering was a casual affair with a slow pace at the house of a nice, older couple. It was a relaxing change from the constant in and out of larger events. Josh dipped his gloved hands into bowl of briny olives just as his phone vibrated in his pocket.
The text brought a rush of dopamine that surged through him like he was in a constant state of foreplay. He glanced at Zach, peeling a carrot, at Barb, putting something into the oven, and at the time. Damn. They were barely on schedule.
Josh hadn’t been spending as much time as he wanted with his brother, so bringing him to this catering job was an easy decision. Zach liked helping in the kitchen.
“I’ve been thinking about Mom and Dad.” Zach peeled a carrot and kept his gaze averted.
The rush fled into brittle, jagged pieces. Josh eyeballed the wine measurement for the olive dish and tried to keep his voice casual. “Yeah?”
