Page 105 of Fire and Icing

“Goodnight, Firecracker.”

She smiles softly, holding my gaze.

I could speak my mind.I want you—want us. Take a chance on me. I won’t let you down.

Cody’s advice rings through my head.Give her time.

I can’t tell which way is best, so I follow the advice he gave me.

The next morning, I leave the house early, meeting the guys at the park just across the street from the town square. We don’t have anything like this on Marbella. We’ve got the ocean and the wild backside of the island, but we don’t have acres of grass on softly sloping hills and flat expanses, surrounded by so many trees you can’t count them all. Trails and paths wind through the grassy lawns. And today, there are booths set up all around the area just off the parking lot.

The festival isn’t for any given holiday. It’s an annual tradition the guys tell me started so long ago no one quite knows the roots. Cody tells me it’s when the original Founder’s Day was held. As soon as he says that, Patrick claims it was to mark the beginning of summer without interfering with Memorial Day. Greyson seems to think it was one of the former mayor’s daughter’s birthdays … and the speculation and lore continue.

There’s a bandstand further into the park with a dance floor under a pavilion. Musicians are setting up their equipment on stage.

I pass by Emberleigh and Sydney’s stand. She’s already got customers lined up waiting for her baked goods. A little boy reaches toward the display of cake pops and grabs one out. It’s decorated like a cat.

“I’ve got a kitty at my house,” he tells Emberleigh. “His name is Rufus. He lives out in the barn though ’cause Mama said cats stink up everything.”

“What color is he?” Emberleigh asks the boy. She’s busy, but she drops everything to give him her undivided attention.

“It’s a lot like you.”

Emberleigh looks down at her arms. “White?”

“No. Him’s got orange hair.”

Emberleigh smiles big and laughs good-naturedly.

“Benson!” a woman standing about ten feet away hollers over.

“Yes, Mama! Coming!” He runs toward his mom, but then turns back. “Thank you, Miss Emberleigh. I love you!”

“I love you too, Benson!” She shouts.

Funny how the first time I hear those words cross her lips they’re for a little boy. She said them so easily it makes me believe it’s possible. She could say them again one day.Give her time.

Her eyes dart up and she catches me watching her.

“Here for the cupcakes?” Syd teases.

“I’m here for whatever you think is best,” I answer Syd, but my eyes are on Emberleigh.

“Oh, I know what’s best,” Syd says.

“Cupcakes,” Emberleigh cuts in. “Cupcakes are best. Chocolate or strawberry?”

“Impossible choices are not my forte.”

Emberleigh smiles. “Well, have one of each, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t want people asking for two.”

“Special treatment …” Syd muses not so quietly.

“He’s my baking partner. He earned it.”

Syd grins at me. Emberleigh places two cupcakes on a little paper plate and hands them to me. Her knuckle grazes across the icing of another cupcake. When she pulls her hand back, shebrushes a hair out of her face, effectively smearing the icing on her cheek.

“You’ve got a little …” I make a smearing motion on my cheek.

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