Page 59 of Cut The Cake

From the other side of the door, her voice rose above the sound of running water. “Go away, Nick.”

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. He propped one shoulder against the wall, determined to wait her out. Minutes passed. He tapped his foot and cracked his knuckles. He had nowhere else to go, nothing he’d rather do than be right here, in this moment.

At last the door crept open, and she stepped into the hall. Though she’d splashed water on her face, the tracks of her tears lingered. The black smudges under her eyes offered further proof that she’d been crying. Hard. Hard enough to turn her skin blotchy.

His heart squeezed painfully. His fingers curled. Whoever had done this to her, they’d answer to him. But first, he had to find out who, or what, had upset her. He wouldn’t waste time trying to figure it out on his own. There was only one question to ask. Straightening, he stared at the woman he’d do anything to love and protect. “How can I help?”

She tried and failed to muster her composure. She pressed tissues against her damp eyes. Finally, a breath shuddered through her. She peered up at him through glistening lashes. “There’s… there’s something I need to tell you. Before I do, I want you to know that I tried to tell you earlier.” Her eyes pleaded with him for understanding. “That night in the bakery—I’d made up my mind to tell you. But then, you—I got sidetracked.” Her voice shook. Her head dipped. Her gaze dropped to the floor. “After that, it didn’t matter anymore. I, uh, I should have told you anyway.”

“Told me what?” Whatever secret she was keeping, it would never change the fact that he was crazy in love with her. Or that it was impossible for him to ever let her know it.

“I came here under false pretenses.”

Powerless to stop them, he felt his eyes narrow. “What, you aren’t from California? You don’t work for a big movie mogul? You’re …” His mind filled in the rest with the least likely two words in the English vocabulary. Not engaged?

“I’m not getting married.” Jenny threaded her fingers together. “I never was. It was all a lie.” More tears leaked from eyes that wouldn’t meet his.

“You’re not?” His heart stalled. He tilted his head, trying and failing miserably to understand. “Why the act?”

“It was my cousin’s idea, but I went along with it. She’d just gotten engaged and was scared to death that reporters and fans would ruin her wedding. She cooked up a ruse to keep that from happening. She knew I’d always dreamed of having a Heart’s Landing wedding, so she sent me here to plan one. Only, it was hers, not mine.”

As if she couldn’t bear to look at him, Jenny studied the end of the corridor. “It was supposed to be so simple. I’d fly in, get everything set up, and leave. I wasn’t supposed to be here long enough to fall in love. Not with Heart’s Landing. Not with the people here. Not with … anyone else. But once word got out about Kay’s engagement to Chad, everything snowballed into this huge production. I couldn’t leave. I had to stay here to make sure everything was all set for their big day. From the very beginning, I hated not being able to tell everyone the truth. Most of all, I wanted to tell you.”

“Why didn’t you?” His mind reeled. His head felt too full. His heart, not full enough.

“I couldn’t betray her. She’s my cousin. She and her mom have done so much for me, I didn’t think I could let them down. Then, tonight, when everyone showed up, I knew I couldn’t keep this secret another minute. I decided to tell you—to tell everyone—the truth. That’s what I was going to do, come clean.”

“But then you ran out of the room.”

“Because, after everything she—after everything I—put us through, Kay eloped.”

“Kay?” He hit rewind on the last few minutes in the conference room. The television show. The ashen expression on Jenny’s face when the host had broken the news. No wonder she’d looked like she’d been hit by a semi when the camera had focused on the newlyweds in front of the chapel. He brushed hair out his eyes as the first domino in the chain crashed into the next one. “Kay—Karolyn Karter is your cousin?”

“Yes.” Jenny stared at the floor as if she wanted a hole to open up and swallow her. “She and Chad Grant ran off to Vegas and got married tonight.”

“And the changes? The number of guests, the color scheme, the naked cake—they were all Karolyn’s ideas?”

“Hers and her fiancé’s. Yes.”

“So there’s no wedding. You were never engaged to Bob.” His thoughts churned, slow and thick, like hand-beaten batter. It came down to one thing—she wasn’t getting married tomorrow.

“No.” Jenny shook her head. “I’m so, so sorry about everything I’ve put everyone through.” She studied the door that led to the conference room. “How do I go back in there and tell them there won’t be a wedding after the time they’ve spent on it, the effort they’ve put into it, the supplies they bought? The flowers. The food.”

“You’re not getting married.” The words fell from his lips. Though his heart leaped at the idea that Jenny wasn’t engaged to someone else, his brain was having a little trouble adjusting to this new reality.

A fresh round of tears seeped from under Jenny’s eyelids. A powerful urge to swipe his thumb under her eyes rocked him. Not quite sure how he resisted it, he stumbled back. First one step, then another. Now that he knew the truth, now that he knew she’d lied, he needed to think, to sort out how he felt. He just … He couldn’t do that standing here, not with Jenny within arm’s reach.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m going to need some time to process all this.”

Turning away from her was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, but he forced his feet to move, ordered his legs to carry him down the hall, out the door, and into the parking lot. His strength nearly gave out on him before he made it to the van parked at the end of the lot. Climbing inside, he stabbed the keys into the ignition. The engine responded with a throaty rumble. He put the vehicle in gear.

But there was nowhere to go. Every single place in Heart’s Landing held a memory of Jenny and him. Together, they’d visited the shops on Bridal Carriage Drive. They’d ridden bikes along the cliffs overlooking the ocean, had a picnic at his favorite beach. He’d watched her try on wedding gowns at Dress For A Day, dined with her at Bow Tie Pasta, and grabbed sandwiches for them from the sidewalk cafe. He couldn’t even retreat to I Do Cakes. With her carefree smiles and ready wit, she’d invaded his kitchen, the one place he kept private from the rest of the world. He’d never again make cupcakes without thinking of the time they’d spent together there.

He might as well stay right where he was until he decided where to go from here. He had fallen in love with Jenny. Even now, he couldn’t deny it. But could their love survive the lies she’d told? Because she had lied. There was no doubt about that.

Was she still lying?

No, he’d seen her face when the newscaster had broken the story about Karolyn and Chad’s wedding. The news had shocked Jenny more than it had the reporter.

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