Page 15 of Make Mine Sweet
She lifts her eyebrows. “I made them fresh this morning. They’re not day-olds or anything like that.”
Still feels too much like a consolation prize.Sorry about your leg. Here’s a pastry.
My stomach tilts. I never thought to ask just how much Amy told her about me. Does she know about my accident? About the high-profile career I won and lost? About the magazine article that put me on a list of “career-ending tragedies?”
August leaps onto the porch, panting hard. “Hi, guy! We brought you cupcakes.”
I keep my gaze on his mom. “I see that.”
Tess still holds the purple box out to me, undeterred by my lack of enthusiasm.
The little boy ambles closer, Dutch at his side. “Mama said you need a friend. We can be your friends.”
I need a friend, huh? I guess I’ll have to stop by the diner and visit with my aunts, after all. Find out exactly how much they shared with my new neighbors.
“I said it’s the neighborly thing to do,” Tess jumps in. “And his name is Ian.”
“Yeah, Ian,” August repeats. “It’s the neighborly thing to do.”
The boy’s speech impediment makes the word come outneighboryee. It’s kind of cute.
Still. The whole situation smacks of making me out to be a charity case.
“It’s neighborly to accept cupcakes when they’re offered, too.” Tess’s voice is gentle, her smile soft like she’s teaching me a life lesson the same way she would her son.
Great. Cupcakes of mercyandgetting treated like a child. Although…I can’t deny that I need a refresher course on manners. It’s been too long since I cared enough to put in the effort. What have I become that I’m side-eyeing baked goods brought to me by a pretty woman?
I take the box from her. “Thank you.”
Her expression brightens even more, without dipping once to my legs. “You’re welcome. I brought you two each of strawberry cream, lemon blueberry, and piña colada.”
I lift the lid. “Wow.”
Six fat cupcakes rest inside, topped with piped frosting flecked with strawberries, blueberries, and what must be pineapple. I catch their sweet scent and suppress a groan. My mouth immediately starts watering.
Would eating one in a single bite be neighborly, too?
“Mama makes the best cupcakes.” August gives the box a longing look. “The strawberry ones are my favorite.”
“I’ll eat those first,” I tell him.
He grins and goes back to running around with Dutch. I replace the lid on the box and go on standing around with it. If I set it down, ants or wasps will show up to inspect all that sugar.
“They’ll keep in the refrigerator for two or three days,” Tess says.
“You underestimate me.”
She smiles up at me, apparently unfazed by my ragged appearance and unfriendly attitude. Her eyes shine in the sunlight, a dark sea-blue ringed with thick lashes. Her golden hair is tucked into a loose knot on her head, strands trailing around like a halo. Like an angel dropped down from heaven to bless me with cupcakes.
I’ve grown skilled at pushing people away, but she makes me want to draw closer. And if I did? What happens when this dream woman finds out about my reality?
“I’d better put them away,” I growl as I stalk past her and into my apartment.
If she is an angel, God’s got a real brutal sense of humor.
SIX
TESS
