Page 12 of Combust
“Why are you angry at both of them?” Mom looked puzzled. “From what I can tell, the other guy rescued you from what was turning into a bad situation.”
She handed Maggie a pan of festive Linzer cookies, filled with huckleberry jam and dusted with powdered sugar. “Would you mind putting these in the case next to the gingerbread teddy bears? I’m going to start on the bearpaw cookies next.”
As always, Cinnamon + Sugar Café & Bakery smelled of vanilla, butter, spices, yeast, and freshly-ground coffee, with the added perfume of the fresh fir wreath and festive swags of greenery hung on the walls.
Maggie and her mom Annabeth had taken down the Halloween decorations before opening this morning, and replaced them with the first winter holiday decorations.
On the weekend after Thanksgiving, Dad and her uncles would come by to deliver a freshly-cut Christmas tree from the ranch. And then the countdown to Maggie’s favorite holiday would begin.
She loved everything about Christmas—the music, the food, the smells, the big Swanson family gatherings, presents, and most of all, the deep serenity of a snowy forest when she allowed her bear to run free.
In a couple of weeks, they’d be prepping Annabeth’s famous boozy fruitcakes by marinating dried apricots, figs, cherries, raisins, and cranberries in dark rum. The alcohol fumes in the work area would be enough to make Maggie’s head spin, but it wouldn’t be Christmas without the potent magic of her mom’s holiday baking.
Maggie had grown up helping her mom here, and it felt as much home to her as her parents’ house at the Grizzly Creek Ranch. She’d started in middle school by sweeping floors, emptying the trash, and wiping down tables after school for pocket money. She had graduated to working as the afternoon and weekends barista in high school, interspersed with shifts as a hostess at Justin’s Wildcat Springs BBQ restaurant. She’d been promoted to Cinnamon + Sugar’s bakery manager and assistant baker after attending the Sun Valley Culinary Institute.
“But I didn’tneedhis help,” Maggie protested. “And I sure as heck didn’t appreciate him fighting Andrew in the parking lot, with a bunch of out-of-towners gawking and filming them. I wanted todieof embarrassment.”
She’d spent a lot of time rehashing the situation after she got home last night. She’d eventually convinced herself that she could have resolved the situation with Andrew if only Cade hadn’t gotten Andrew all riled up.
She’d told Malia as much when her cousin phoned to get all the juicy details.
At Mom’s skeptical look, she explained, “Plus, if that guy hadn’t interfered, then Kymber wouldn’t have had to phone Kenny for help, I wouldn’t have had to leave the club and spend an hour at the police station writing out a witness statement, and there wouldn’t be videos of those two bears fighting posted on every social media site. Do youknowhow many text messages and phone calls I’ve gotten this morning? And it’s only—” She glanced up at the big clock on the wall above the espresso machine. “Seven-thirty.”
“I can guess.” Mom smiled at her, tucking a stray wisp of red-gold hair back under her turquoise-colored pastry chef’s cap. “Probably twice as many messages asI’vegotten, asking me what on earth my daughter was up to last night, and what kind of men is she dating these days?”
“No way!” Maggie protested indignantly. “How old do they think I am? Twelve?”
Mom chuckled ruefully. “I know for sure that your Grandma Elle’s friend Barb seemed to be less scandalized about those two men shape-shifting in public than you being out on a date with one of them on a Friday night.”
Maggie paused her task of arranging the cookies in neat rows inside the illuminated glass case. She recalled the flash of fear she’d felt when Andrew had ignored her request to let go. His mocking words rang in her memory.Or…what?
Not that Cade Hunter had made her feel any safer. Andrew had been scarily powerful. But compared to him, the stranger had appeared positively feral.
If Kenny hadn’t shown up to break up the fight, could Cade have won against Andrew?
Despite her determination to put the unsettling incident behind her, Maggie heard herself blurt, “You know, Mom, I wasn’t sorry to see that guy grab Andrew and force him down to his knees. It’s just all the stuff that happened afterwards…and the fact that everyone’s talking about me right now!”
Mom shook her head. “No secrets in a small town,” she said. Then, with a wry look, she added, “and that took a fair bit of getting used-to when I first moved here from San Francisco.”
The old-fashioned shopkeeper’s bell fastened to the bakery’s front door chimed. Maggie looked up to see her dad enter the bakery.
“Hard at work, Maggie-may?” he asked as the comforting scent of fresh hay and healthy horses wafted towards her.
“Are you kidding? I’m a slacker, but I happen to know the owner,” Maggie teased. “She won’t fire me.”
Dad grinned, his hazel eyes warm. “You mean Annabeth? I may have met her once or twice.” He looked past Maggie and winked at Mom, adding, “She’s a mighty pretty lady. You think she’d date me if I asked her?”
Mom giggled. “Dane, don’t be silly!” she chided him. With a radiant smile, she added, “I wasn’t expecting you to drop by, but I’m so glad you did.”
She lifted the countertop pass-through, and rushed out into the café’s seating area.
Dad’s face lit up. He opened his arms and caught her up in an embrace, holding her tight against his sheepskin jacket.
Maggie looked away as he bent his head to kiss Mom.
She told herself that the surge of emotion wasn’t jealousy. It was disappointment at the reminder that, try as she might, she couldn’t seem to find someone who wanted her like that.
Maybe I’m not meant to have a mate.The thought brought almost unbearable sadness with it.Was Andrew right? Am I too bossy to be loveable?
