Page 11 of Breathless With Her

I’d shown him.

But I wasn’t going to succeed out of pettiness. I wasn’t going to excel just to show my ex-husband that I could.

No, I would do it because Iabsolutelycould.

If I could just get Nicholas’s voice out of my head, that would help.

“You’re thinking about him again,” Zoey said, tapping the tip of my nose with her finger.

I scrunched my face and shook her hand away.

“I’m not.”

“You are. But that’s fine. You’re allowed to think about him. Like cutting off certain parts of him. That would totally be okay.”

I shivered.

“You really need to stop watching the ID channel before bed.”

“I wasn’t, I was just listening to a murder podcast.”

“Okay, don’t do that before bed.”

“You like doing it, too.”

“That might be true, but not when it’s dark out. I only listen to murder when it’s light out.” I looked over my shoulder, making sure that a guest hadn’t dropped by.

I didn’t actually sell cakes at my place of business. Not in the way a bakery would. There were many bakeries in Denver, most a lot more productive and successful than I was. But mine was unique. I had a front area with a glass case that showed off a cake or two, but those were either ones ready to be taken to their new owners, or practice cakes that looked good enough to be out front but were actually ones that I would donate to a local shelter or something. Or, ones I would eat out of desperation. Not that I needed to eat any more cake, considering I’d gained fifteen pounds after my divorce. I liked the way I looked and didn’t mind, but I would make sure I didn’t throw myself into sugar. Even yummy sugar that beckoned me.

“You’re thinking again,” Zoey sing-songed, looking into the bowls of frosting.

“I’m not. And if you touch any of that frosting with your finger, that’s a health code violation, and I will murder you.”

“And murder isn’t a health code violation? Of course, then you would be your own ID channel special, and that would be interesting.”

“You need help. A lot of help.”

“Perhaps. Anyway, what are we working on today?”

“Today, I’m working on a retirement cake for someone who likes to golf. So, we’re going with a very large golf ball that reminds me of Epcot for some reason,” I said, laughing, pointing at the very white ball of frosted cake. “And then the base is going to be a four-hole golf course.”

“Four holes?” Zoey asked, frowning.

“We cut it down since we didn’t want the cake to be the size of the building.”

Zoey tilted her head, studying me. “Aren’t they usually nine? Or like eighteen? I really should know more about golf outside of the jokes you hear at a bar.”

“There are golf jokes you’d hear at a bar?” I asked with a laugh. “No, I really don’t want to know what type of jokes you hear. Probably have to do with a lot of balls and rods.”

“You got it in one. Hey, hole in one. Look at me, making all the jokes.”

“In order for it to be a joke, I think it actually has to be funny.” I ducked as she tried to punch me, even though I knew it wouldn’t have been too hard. Zoey was my friend and also someone that I worked with when our jobs overlapped. She was a florist who worked with weddings, and since I was a cake decorator, I tended to work with weddings, too. So, we joined forces when we could, and made sure our clients knew that we worked well together. Having wedding planners know that we could be a team, even if we weren’t under the same business umbrella, was very helpful when it came to getting referrals and making our businesses work.

“Anyway, they also want a bunch of little cupcakes that they want toppers for. So, I think I’m going to go for the miniature golf look because they have grandchildren that love playing that. And the cupcakes are for them.”

“They didn’t give you an idea of what they wanted?” Zoey asked, frowning again.

I blew some stray hair from my face, annoyed that it was starting to come out of its tie. “Nope. They just said they wanted golf and would be fine with anything I did.”

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