Page 28 of Frosting and Flames

“What is it?”

“Huh?” I glance over at Sydney, who’s flouring her worktop before she rolls out dough.

“You look like someone said you need a root canal.”

“Ha ha.” I look back at the text, debating what to say. I guess tomorrow night would work. It’s not like I have plans. “I, um, agreed to do something I’m second-guessing now.”

She huffs as she rolls out her dough into a rectangle. “Cryptic much?”

I smile. She tries to act aloof, but the girl’s got a serious case of FOMO. “I’m helping Nick plan the fire station’s next fundraiser.”

She laughs, an edge of disbelief in it. “Seriously? You?”

My brows knit. “What, you don’t think I can?”

She sets down her rolling pin and picks up a bowl of butter to spread over the surface of the dough. “Oh, you could plan something like that with your eyes closed. I mean working with Nick.”

I think back to her saying I’ve always been weird about him, then push it away. “It’ll be fine. It’s good for the community.”

I cling to the scrap of an excuse I’d come up with when agreeing to the plan to begin with. It was my fault for blurting it out to Kyle anyway. Agreeing had nothing to do with Nick.

Not the way he stood up for me with Kyle or the deep, growly way he’d told him to fuck off. Or how sincere he was when thanking me for my help. Or how so many people had good things to say about him at the breakfast. None of that made me… intrigued about him.

“So what’s the fundraiser?” Sydney asks, rubbing a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture over the buttered dough. “Oh, you should do one of those hot firefighter calendars. The ones where their shirts are off but they still have the suspenders on and are all glistening with sweat and soot.” She pauses when she catches my horrified expression. “What? It’s hot. I’d buy one.”

My mind jumps to Nick dressed like that. I have no idea what he looks like shirtless, but if the size of his biceps are any indication… No, what am I thinking?

“We’re obviously not doing that.”

She shrugs. “Might be fun. You could creatively place props to hide their—”

“Oh my God, stop.” I theatrically plug my ears. She’s as bad as Jae. “Can you imagine if I actually suggested that to Nick?”

Smirking, she says, “I bet he’d be on board. He definitely wants to show you his—”

“Sydney.” I glance toward the double doors that lead to the public-facing side of the bakery, as if he’s going to pop through them at any moment. “Will you quit? Why would you even say that?”

Her smirk grows bigger. “Because it’s fun making you mad.”

I sigh and take my phone with me to the office, telling her I need to work on schedules. She rolls her eyes but doesn’t call me out.

Sitting in the squeaky chair, I lean back, my thumbs hesitating over the keypad on the phone screen. Why am I worried about this? I already researched fundraiser ideas for the past two nights. It’s not like we even have to brainstorm anything from scratch.

Me:How about Wednesday? I’m available after four.

That’ll give me time to go home and shower after work, but not too much time to obsess over what the hell I’m doing.

I set my phone facedown so I don’t check it like a stalker, then immediately pick it up when it vibrates.

Nick:I can do Wednesday at four. Where do you want to meet?

Oh, I didn’t think about that. I guess my place is as good as any. Unless we should meet at his? Actually, I have no idea where he lives. He doesn’t live with a girlfriend, does he?

The sudden thought makes my stomach sink.

I get up and grip the back of the chair, the office too small to pace in. What is my problem? Why am I being so weird about Nick? I haven’t thought about him in years and now all this?

It’s… I grasp for an answer. It must be because of what happened with Kyle. Yeah, that’s it. Getting cheated on would naturally make you wary of any man.

---