Page 12 of Breathless With Her

“I hate that. Because if you don’t get it a hundred percent right, then they’ll be sad. Or they’ll complain. A bad Yelp review can ruin everything.”

“Tell me about it,” I said, going over to the sink to wash my hands again before moving to the corner to fix my hair, then back to the sink to rewash my hands. I had been working all day, knew I was covered in flour, probably some frosting, and a little egg yolk, but that was fine. I had two people that worked for me part-time but were off today because of their kids’ school functions. So, I was alone and a little behind. But it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle on my own.

“Anyway, we’ll make it work. And if they don’t like it, then I just won’t think about it.”

“They’re going to love it. You really get the heart and soul of what people want. Even when it comes to cupcakes with little windmills on them.”

I rolled my eyes and went back to mixing the frosting. “I cannot put an actual windmill on top of a cupcake.”

“Well, that’s the thing I think of when I think of miniature golf. Of course, now I’m picturing like the Moulin Rouge windmill. That would be great. A whole Moulin Rouge cake with red icing, and Ewan McGregor just lying prostrate, readying himself for me.”

“I really want nothing to do with that imagination of yours. And never again will you say the wordprostrateor the phrasereadying himself. Ever.”

“What? You know you’ve thought about it.”

“Not in this bakery. This is a penis-free zone.”

Zoey snorted and took a step back when I glared.

“What?” I snapped.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just the idea that you think this could be a penis-free zone.”

“It can be a penis-free zone. And stop making me say the wordpenis.”

“Do you likedickbetter? Orschlong. Orcock. Ormeaty magic rod. Orpogo stick.”

“What the hell have you been reading?”

“Hey, a lot of those were from songs. And most books these days use the good words. Likecock.Dick. Andlength.”

“Please stop talking about that appendage.” I closed my eyes, holding back a smile.

“Dick dick dick dick dick dick dick.” Zoey danced and sang the word over and over again. I couldn’t help but laugh with her while shaking my head.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“I am. But back to work.”

“Yay.”

“So, I take it you’re not going to make a dick cake for the next bachelorette party that comes in?” she asked, waggling her brows.

“If we weren’t at my place of business, I would throw this frosting at you. You’re very lucky I don’t kick you out of here.”

“What? I’m making you laugh. I like making you laugh. You haven’t done much of it these days.”

“I’ve been doing much better, thank you very much.”

“I know. And I’m happy for you. Proud of you, in fact. But we will talk about work. I promise.”

“Good.” Because I didn’t want to talk about what hurt. Or what I was going through. Because I had already gone through it. I was okay. I was a single woman now. And wasn’t that thought fun? I had my own business, and I was doing just fine. I wasn’t going to throw up thinking about the fact that Nicholas wasn’t with me anymore. That I lived in a different home. That I lived alone. I wasn’t going to think about the fact that the only reason I had this business at all anymore was because it had been in my name and not his. He hadn’t wanted anything to do with it. Hadn’t wanted anything to do withme. No, I wasn’t going to think about any of that. But it still hurt.

It hurt that I’d had to move to a different house, as had he. Because the house we’d bought together had to be sold so it could be split up properly. I didn’t want to think about the fact that I still had some of his boxes in my garage because I’m too nice and, God forbid he help clean out the place when we were packing and moving out. I didn’t want to think about the fact that he was still bopping that woman.

And I didn’t want to think about the fact that I kept calling her “that woman.”

She had a name. And she had her faults. Just like Nicholas did. And I couldn’t just call her names and be done with it. Because I had to call him names, too. Or I had to stop thinking about it altogether. That would be best.

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