Page 138 of Some Like It Hot

And worst of all, I’m in love.

I suck in a breath.

I need the bakery.

I pivot on my heel and stomp toward my door. Not only do I need the routine of baking and frosting right now and plans that someone else put together that I just need to execute, I also need to surround myself with bright colors and sweet smells and baked goods that I can sneak samples of as I work.

I know Luna isn’t here. She’s catering a baby shower somewhere. But Lydia is holding down the fort and baking and frosting something like twelve dozen cupcakes for a going away party tomorrow.

That will be perfect. I’ll be busy, feel productive, and won’t think about the fact that I have a husband.

"Oh my God! You got married?!"

Okay, so I was wrong about one part of that.

I smile at Lydia, who pounces the second I step into the kitchen. ‘Well…yes?” I maybe shouldn’t make that sound like a question. I shake that off and try again. “Yes,” I say enthusiastically. “It was really spontaneous. And romantic. And fun.”

She laughs. “Obviously it was spontaneous. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your new husband?”

The ironic thing is, I would be more enthusiastic about this, and selling this fake marriage harder if I wasn’t in love with him. Which sounds so stupid. But if this was still just a part of the plan, and I had stuck to it, and was just doing this for Blake as a friend, I would readily be smiling and talking about the ceremony, and my dress, and how swept off my feet I was when he proposed going to the courthouse.

But my stupid-in-love heart just keeps reminding me that I would have rather had a real wedding with the man I’m in love with, with my friends, like Lydia, there watching us. And right now, three hours after that ceremony, I would rather be at a big party, with all of those friends, eating cupcakes just like the ones Lydia has spread out on the countertop.

Dammit. Do not cry.

I force a laugh. “It was so spontaneous, it didn’t occur to us that we both still had to work today. He has a game tonight. So he’s getting ready. I came home thinking I could get some work done on a dress. Turns out I’m too distracted.” That's the truth at least. I smile at her. “Thought I could help you out.”

“Sure! That would be fun.” Lydia picks up her piping bag again and waves me to the spot across from her. “You have to tell me how he proposed. Actually start way back at the beginning when you first realized you wanted to date him."

I sigh. I can definitely tell the story, but it’s going to be twisting a none-of-it-matters knife into my in-love-and-married-to-my-dream-man heart.

"And what about Aidan and Simon?" Lydia asks. “Where are they?”

Aidan and Simon have been around enough that our bakery family has met them. It doesn’t phase Lydia that I’m dating three guys. Her boyfriend's dad is one of Luna‘s boyfriends. She is very familiar with poly relationships.

"Oh yeah, still… around. But both at work today.” That has to be the strangest way I could’ve described that. And it suddenly dawns on me that Blake and I are going to have to tell Aidan and Simon that we got married.

It probably would be nice for them to hear it from us before they see it on social media.

Good thing they’re both busy at work.

We begin frosting cupcakes, and I launch into my story about how I fell for Blake. I can mostly stick to the facts, including all of the things I love about him.

But I do give my mouth a squirt of icing after every three cupcakes. I need the strength that only pink buttercream can give me.

We’ve got three dozen cupcakes done, and I’m feeling a little sick from all the sugar I’ve eaten, when the bakery phone rings.

“I’ll grab it,” I say. I wipe my hands on the apron as I cross the room. “Books and Buns, how can I help you?”

“Yeah, uh, I’m calling for Elise Starling, please.”

I frown. I never get phone calls here at the bakery. “Can I ask who's calling?”

“My name is Mark Gordon.”

I don’t know a Mark Gordon. “Can I tell her what it’s regarding?”

“Yes. It’s about her recent wedding to Blake Wilder.”

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