Page 54 of Take A Number
A thousand times yes.
I grin as I top the batch of croinuts off with shavings of white chocolate to give it a bubbly champagne finish and then set them aside as Rachael approaches. “Girl, you need to beinspiredmore often. This flavor is one of your top three bests. Look at our croinut count!” She points at the back of the machine that gives us our printout so we know how many to make. “Zander looks stressed out making dough in the kitchen. It’s hilarious.”
“You should go help him,” I state while shifting to the next tray.
“Zander’s fine. You need to finish your Aspen story. What happened when you guys finally emerged from the bedroom?”
I sigh in merry remembrance and set down the frosting as she begins to plate the finished croinuts for the customers and glances at me excitedly. “Well, Dean was already out there with everyone because I’d passed out after we…well…ya know.”
“Oh, I know,” Rachael says, nodding with greedy eyes.
“And it was kind of embarrassing because all his friends clearly knew what we were doing since we bailed on the scavenger hunt early. God, the way Kate looked at me made me feel like I’d just lost my virginity.”
“Born again virgin maybe,” Rachael chirps. “You have got to be hurting, considering you went from famine to feast in the span of twelve hours. I’m actually surprised you’re not walking funny this morning. Is he more of a donut hole than a donut?”
“What?” I ask dumbly, and then her euphemism hits me like a ton of obvious donuts that has me scrunching my eyes closed with laughter. “Oh my God, stop. Too far!”
She laughs and shakes her head. “I get it. He looks like he’d pack an average white boy donut hole.”
“No! He’s not an average white boy donut hole,” I state defensively and then lower my voice and lean in close. “In fact, he’s…well above average. He’s dark chocolate with a champagne filling croinut level, okay?”
She hoots with laughter, and I can’t help but laugh along with her. This is so, so embarrassing. But also so, so fun. I’ve been neglecting this part of my life for so long, and it feels good to gossip with a friend about something other than work.
I lick my lips and lean in close to add softly, “And I am a bit sore, which makes it impossible to stop thinking about it. God, I feel like such a kid.” I adjust my Journey bandana on my head and shoot wide eyes at her. “I’m thirty years old for goodness’ sake. I shouldn’t be this sex-crazed. What is wrong with me?”
“You’re finally living a little, girl,” Rachael replies and sticks her tongue out at me playfully. “You’ve had your head down and focused on the bakery for so long you forgot what it’s like to let your hormones rule you for a hot minute. Just embrace that feeling. It’s fun. And it’s clearly helping you in more ways than one.” She points at the sex-inspired croinuts, and I can’t help but giggle.
“That’s very true,” I reply smugly as I prepare to start on the next batch.
“So, what now?” Rachael asks, grabbing her mug of coffee on the back counter and taking a sip.
I drop the hot croinuts into the cinnamon-sugar mix. “I don’t know exactly. I’m assuming he’ll be coming into the bakery today because it’s Monday, and he always comes in on Mondays, so I’m going to feel him out when he gets here.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” Rachael exclaims, her dark eyes accusing. “You do not wait until he decides when you do it again. You want more donut hole, right? It was good, and you’d like seconds?”
“I’d like seconds of his very sizeablecroinut, yes.”
Rachael’s dimples pierce into her cheeks as she smiles at me. “Then you call him right now. Take the croinut by the balls ’cuz you need all the sex you can get, honey,” she booms, her voice carrying out to the entire bakery.
“Oh my God, lower your voice,” I hiss and grab the tray of finished croinuts off the counter and shove them at her. “I thought our euphemisms were working quite well!”
“Sorry, I got carried away.” She gets a guilty look in her eyes and glances at the customers.
I relax. “Just go deliver these before they get cold, please.”
She takes the tray from my hands. “Okay…I’m just saying thiscroinutyou’re working with has an expiration date, so if I were you, I would watch my timer very closely and try to get in a lot of batches before that bell dings.” She shoots me a dirty wink and slinks off to deliver the goods.
However, her parting words leave a lasting impression because anxiety creeps inside me. I don’t want to wait until Dean comes into the bakery. What if he doesn’t come in today? Maybe he’s going to do that guy thing and wait three days so he looks aloof and cool. I’m zero aloof and cool. I have zero chill. I managed not to be horribly awkward yesterday morning in the car ride home with him, but if this is all fake, then there’s no need to play it cool. How can I make the most of this arrangement while I have it?
Rachael returns, and it’s like she can read my mind. “Just call him and invite him over tonight for dinner. No man would turn down a well-cooked meal by you. He’ll know what you want.”
I bite my lip and nod. “You don’t think I’ll look desperate?”
Rachael quirks a brow. “I repeat, no man will turn down awell-cooked meal,especially the no-feelings-attached kind of dining.”
I nod knowingly. “Okay, here…take over.”
I hand her the chocolate frosting and wipe my hands on my baker’s coat before pulling my phone out of my pocket. Rachael is watching like a hawk, and I can’t handle that sort of pressure, so I head toward the back alley. I prop the phone on my shoulder and begin picking up some stray trash while the line trills.
